Episode 8 - Not the Best Supervision Philosophy

Transcript

It’s a very well-meaning philosophy. I totally understand where supervisors are coming from. Unfortunately, this philosophy is sabotaging your success as a supervisor and diminishing your impact as a team leader.

Welcome to the Provider Power Moves Podcast. I’m your host, Sara Sherman. Here, I leverage my 35 years of experience in the field to give you practical steps that create big results in your agency and in your workday.

It usually happens at the end of a frontline supervisor training. Someone pops into the chat or proudly strolls up to me and says, I don’t ask my staff to do anything I don’t do myself.

As gently as I can, I have to say — mmm… that might not be the best approach.

This is where I say, I’m sorry. If I didn’t say something here, I wouldn’t really be serving you.

Here’s where this idea of not asking anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself comes from. And there are many sources. See if any of these resonate with you.

We’ve been abandoned. The people in our lives who were supposed to help us and support us simply didn’t. We were left alone to struggle and figure things out — at home, at work, or both. And we know what that feels like. It feels bad.

Our response to this trauma is to make sure no one else feels that pain — at least not within our circle of control. And that is noble, kind, and loving. Not very effective — but noble, kind, and loving.

We view being a good boss as pitching in, leading by being willing to get our hands dirty. We did that job. We earned internal promotion because we were good at it. The work is familiar. It feels comfortable. And sometimes we think it’s just faster or easier if we take care of things ourselves.

This is our first management role. And we don’t want to be seen as above getting our hands dirty. The team we are managing — they were our coworkers. We know what they said about the boss. And we don’t want them saying those things about us.

We’ve had crappy, hands-off bosses. And quite frankly, they sucked. We saw and felt the burden of having ineffective bosses — and we don’t want to behave like that. We’re disgusted by the idea that we could become like them.

We don’t know what else to do.

We want to be productive. We want to be a team player. But we didn’t get very good supervisor training. We want to be busy — or at least not look unbusy — so we default to what we know and what we see needs to be done. Hopefully, we’ll figure out what else we’re supposed to be doing.

Our team demands that we help them do their jobs. They smile and complain that they have too much to do. They accuse us of being lazy — thinking we’re so fancy now.

We feel pulled in to help because we feel bad for them, or we’re concerned they won’t follow our instructions. And that will hurt the individuals we support. And that will reflect badly on us. And we might even lose our position — along with the increased income. And we really need the money.

We don’t know what else to do. The staff aren’t doing the work. There’s no support from above. And the work has to be done.

So we jump in. We want to be a team player, and we don’t know any other way to show it.

Staff are grateful for the help — and that feels great. Or maybe they’re just less mean — and that feels great too.

I get all of this. I really do. I once held this philosophy myself — for all of these reasons.

Then I hit a snag.

I wasn’t getting my work done. Staff came to expect that I would pick up at least a portion of their tasks regularly. They began to treat me poorly — demanding I do more, following directions less, talking about me behind my back, rolling their eyes when I gave instruction.

I was exhausted. Confused. And not really seen as a leader.

Think about it.

If something goes wrong on the computer soldering line, would you expect Bill Gates to run down to the line, put on a welding cap, and start melting parts together? If the Amazon website crashed, would you expect Jeff Bezos to log in and start coding?

No. Of course not.

Because it’s not their job to do these tasks. It’s their job to make sure the tasks are done.

If these leaders leave their post and slide into a frontline role, our first thought is, Who’s manning the ship? And our second thought is, These are not good managers.

Even if they could do the work well, they can only fill one role at a time. That’s great risk for small benefit.

We don’t even expect frontline supervisors to jump in and do all the work. We expect them to coordinate the team so the work gets done.

Why?

Because if a supervisor drops down the table of organization into a frontline role, they can no longer see what the team is doing. They aren’t available to support others, prevent mistakes, or confirm work is being done correctly and on time.

They’re locked into that position.

I teach frontline supervisors to stay in their metaphorical fire tower — that big tower over the forest where rangers sit, scanning for danger.

When the ranger comes down from the tower to deal with something on the ground, the entire forest is at risk. The ranger needs to spot trouble, come down briefly to deal with it, and then scramble back up the tower.

Frontline supervision is exactly the same.

A supervisor needs that 30,000-foot view. And when they come down from the tower unnecessarily — or for too long — the entire team and the individuals served are at risk.

While a supervisor is absolutely part of the team, their role is different.

They are the coach.

And the coach does not run the ball.

The coach prepares, observes, instructs, and encourages. And we all recognize that if the coach is on the field, nobody is coaching — even though coaching is critically important.

There are two real-life exceptions.

First, in an emergency, the supervisor jumps in. Absolutely. In true emergencies, it’s all hands on deck.

Second, if a supervisor is filling a scheduled shift, then for that time, they are a frontline worker — and that’s appropriate.

But if you supervise supervisors and your supervisor has dropped into a frontline role, they are no longer in the fire tower. Someone else must fill that oversight role — either you or another assigned leader.

Expecting someone to be a tree and in the fire tower at the same time is a recipe for disaster.

No one will be successful. Everyone will be frustrated. And no one is watching the forest during a period of great risk.

Not asking people to do things you wouldn’t do yourself sounds noble. In reality, it undermines leadership and puts your entire team at risk.

Instead, support your team so they can do the work. Advocate for their needs. Be clear and concrete about what you see and what needs to change.

Dropping down to do the work is a band-aid at best. It is not a sustainable long-term solution.

What do you think? Leave me a comment, or shoot me an email at Sara — (S-A-R-A) — sara@providerpowermoves.com . That’s in the show notes. Or ask me a question. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind and turn it into a podcast to give you the answers you’re seeking.

Until next time — power on.