Where's the Vision in Supervision

All leaders from front line managers to CEOs are supervisors. Supervision is commonly referred to as overseeing another person’s work. Suppose, however, it means to hold a super vision of the person as they could be, not how you wish them to be but a more expanded and well developed version of who they actually are – their authentic self. In this definition of supervision the person’s hidden talents and capabilities are revealed to you. You see a picture of what is possible when their potential is realized. You, like Dorothy on her way to Oz, gather your charges and lead them on a path where each encounters a challenge requiring him to use undiscovered talents. Like the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man, your supervisees discover capabilities they thought they lacked.

Lydia, a senior manager, believes and acts as a super-visor. Recently Rich sought her guidance about responding to a situation with an employee who had slighted Rich. Lydia could hear that Rich wanted a bit of revenge. She described what someone with less integrity than Rich might do to exact that revenge, and then said, “But you would never do something like that.” The conversation ended on that note. Rich, in turn, acted with the level of integrity that Lydia held as a “super” “vision” of what he could do and who she knew him to be at his best.

To see others as they could be requires you to pay exquisite attention to the person behind the words and the actions. You must listen all the way through to the heart and mind of the do-er. You must see them. This means letting go of your own agenda at times. It does not mean losing sight of goals and objectives. Dorothy never forgets she is on the road to Oz, but she does stop long enough to listen to what each of her charges most desires and then allows them the opportunity to discover it within themselves.