fill in the title later

I want to discuss some ideas I have about supervising people.

Many of my ideas are about leadership and not supervision. But I do have opinions that link the two (different) ideas nicely together.

First and maybe most importantly, is having the ability to listen to people. Not just hearing people but listening (you know where you actually know and pay attention to what the other person is saying). Communication is not just me talking and you listening but it's a street that moves both ways. There is a good quote that I think about and that is "People don't care what you have to say until they know you care about them". Sometimes a person just wants someone to hear what they have to say. They want someone to understand what they are going through. And no one wants to do hard work without some appreciation, even if it's just a verbal "Good job".

Second I think being a good supervisor means being well organized. People will follow you (this is the leadership part so pay attention) if you know what you are doing. You cannot be a "just whatever" person and have people believe in you. What they do is important and if you show that it's important by making things better for them they will follow. I see a big part of supervision as being support staff for getting work done.

Third, and by no means the final, is that you need to have integrity and set an example. I want people to know that if I say something I mean it. People will need to have a reason to trust you. And don't make someone do something that you wouldn't jump in a do yourself. Maybe you can't be an overall great example and appear like a perfect person but if you do the best you can others will appreciate that you care.

After all supervision is about building a relationship.  To me it's important to build that relationship on the strongest foundation that you can.