Leading from the Middle: A Supervision Sandwich

When I think about my career, and sit to reflect on the highlight reel of my many jobs over the course of the past two decades, I can categorize this time into two different buckets: jobs will great supervisors, and jobs with…not so great supervisors. Now, there are many different character qualifiers as to what a great or not so great supervisor may have entailed, but my level of success, for better or for worse, was inextricably linked to my perception of how those characteristics interacted with my own. Supervision has that affect. Fortunately, I was rarely in a position to have to supervise while being supervised by a supervisor with whom I did not see eye to eye! As referenced in an early blog, poor supervision (re: management) is frequently cited as a main reason that people leave their positions. As I think about how being a mid-level “middle” manager might play out, I cannot help but to think how difficult of a position it is for someone to be in.

In Authoring Your Life: Developing an Internal Voice to Navigate Life’s Challenges (2009), Baxter Magolda shares the story of one of her research participants, Kurt, who struggles with the transition from a non-managerial to a managerial position. Throughout his journey, I can really feel for him as he faces challenges with trying to remain true to himself, while also trying to garner support from his staff and praise from his own manager. This is such a difficult balancing act. In his story he refers to a poem his parents shared with him called The Guy in the Glass (Wimbrow, 1934) which talks about how no matter what you do throughout the day, you need to be able to look at yourself at the end of the day and still be able to respect that person that you see looking back at you in the mirror. I think that this is hard enough in a situation with a manager, but to also have the added stress of supervisees, can be a tremendous weight.

Some of what Kurt talked about in his transition I found to be a cautionary tale. One passage discusses how one of his approaches was to get people to do things but for them to believe that it was because they wanted to do it, not because he was mandating it. This to me is a not so thinly veiled form of manipulation, which I think that he later sees. For myself, I know that I would not be able to look myself in the eyes at the end of the day if I were manipulating my staff into doing my bidding – even if it directly affected productivity that I would then have to explain to my boss. Part of being a supervisor is taking responsibility for what your staff are up to, whether it is directly your fault or not, and then finding a way to remedy whatever might be causing an issue. Later in the Kurt’s story, he figures out that relationship building, and communication are much more effective tools than subterfuge. He also learns that although there are going to be struggles and issues and growing pains, like Greek philosopher Epictetus once told us, he cannot control everything going on around him, but he can absolutely control his own reaction to life's events. I think this is a powerful lesson for anyone to learn, and one of which I am constantly trying to stay mindful.

The few times that I have found myself in a position of being wedged between a supervisor and supervisees, I have had relatively painless experiences. My very first job in higher ed was an example of this, and I was supervising my peers to boot. What started off as a rocky road, with resentful supervisees wondering how the heck this kid walked in the door and got promoted in two weeks over their many years of service, ended in respect and camaraderie. When the people I was supervising realized that I was appreciative of their skills and knowledge, listened to them, and allowed them to teach me, they realized that I wasn’t trying to become some tyrannical henchmen spy for our higher ups, and we were able to have open dialogue and an understanding of how best we could all work together.

They took direction when I planned projects and set schedules – things that they did not have the skillset or desire to direct or create – and we worked together to achieve goals big and small. I took the heat from higher ups when something didn’t get done that needed to as a result of my supervisees maybe not taking initiative, or skipping a shift, because I was their supervisor, and it’s my job to ensure that despite obstacles, things get done. I learned to plan for eventualities and create a system where there was backup in all scenarios, which can only be done with effective communication on both ends. I didn’t need them to like me, or approve of me, but I think that was a product of not having a longstanding relationship with them first. In the case of Kurt’s story, for him, not needing this approval was much more difficult because of his rise through the ranks and having worked so closely with the people he was managing beforehand. In my story though, I was fortunate that in the end, my staff did like and approve of me because they saw that I was on their side. It was especially fruitful because while I got along with our boss, most of the other student staff did not. So, I was able to relieve a lot of pressure and stress from them by being the intermediary, which led to a much happier work environment for all. By the time I left that job two years later, everything was running smoothly, the staff and our managers had never been happier, and we all left with a net positive.

I know that this experience is one that although gives me hope for the future, is not representative of every situation I’m going to find myself in. Though my few other experiences have had similarly positive outcomes, the higher that I climb in the ranks, the more difficult it will be to maintain this balance of leading from the middle. I think the only thing that I can do is learn from my experiences and continue to be the person that I have been throughout my time in education. My lack of needing to have people like me is something of a benefit over all that I think will continue to be a boon the next time I find myself in this position. Again, not that I don’t anticipate having good working relationships with my staff, but I am comfortable being unliked if it’s necessary to get a job done that I believe in. I hope to always, at the end of the day, know that I did the right thing for my staff, my superiors, my institution, and most of all, for myself, and I hope to always be able to look at that person in the mirror, and rest easy knowing that they’re all right.

Again, I'll leave you with a song. My Own Two Hands by Ben Harper - a reminder that we can make a difference in someone's life, or the world, despite how small we sometimes feel, and that with your two hands, and my two hands combined, we can exponentiate the good that can be done by working together.

Cheers,

Brianna

References:

Baxter Magolda, M. (2009). Authoring your life: Developing an internal voice to navigate life’s challenges. Stylus.

Wimbrow, D. (1934). The guy in the glass. Retrieved from https://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm

Ben Harper. (2003). With my own two hands. On Diamonds on the inside [CD]. Virgin Records.