Supervision Assessment Reflection Paper

Christopher Jones

EDU 803B

Helping Skills for Student Affairs Professionals II

Instructor: Dr. Lee A. Brossoit

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What is affective leadership? How do you know when you are working under a good

supervisor or when you yourself are performing as a good leader of a particular department?

What does successful management look like in the work place? How do you know when you are

hitting on all cylinders and your area is absolutely reaching its full potential? These questions

may sound simple, but the answers could be very difficult to answer.

A successful supervisor is one who builds effective interpersonal relationships within the

department, is well respected and trusted by staff members and colleagues, communicates

effectively in person, print, and email and understands the importance of team building and

agreement within the work place. Strong supervisors also spend a great deal of time creating an

environment in which people experience positive morale and recognition and assist staff

members with individual growth and development. In short, a good leader possesses outstanding

communication skills.

In my opinion, communication is the key ingredient for a supervisor or an aspiring

supervisor. Having the ability to clearly express oneself in a non-threatening or confrontational

manner is a true skill to have. In today’s work place that is much easier said than done because

so many individuals have hidden agendas, attitudes, and overall behavior issues they bring with

them inside the department and have a difficult time with not allowing these issues to affect their

work performance. I feel affective communication encompasses all of the other competencies

we are learning about in the program. An individual who exemplified strong communication

skills was the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King had the ever elusive “it” factor. Dr. King

demonstrated great communication through verbal, nonverbal, eye contact, body positioning and

tone.

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As a former supervisor at Bunker Hill Community College in the athletics department,

although my staff and I were very successful and experienced many triumphs, there are many

things I could have done differently or perhaps better to further enhance our overall productivity.

One component I wished I had developed better was the usage of technology communication.

Looking back on my tenure at BHCC, I should have done more with staff development training

in the area of technology. Now that I possess a deeper understanding and overall knowledge

regarding technology and how to use it more effectively, as the department supervisor I should

have been doing more with it along the lines of communicating internally as well as externally.

Employee Training Sessions is a component that many institutions of higher education

are getting away from, but is sorely missed in our colleges and universities today. I clearly

remember in August of 2002 when I was awarded the position of Coordinator of Athletics at

BHCC. My first day on the job, I had a scheduled meeting with my supervisor to go over some

details and particulars. During this meeting I was expecting to receive some sort of training

schedule to assist me with getting acclimated to the college and perhaps some important details

relating to policies and procedures. That training never took place and if I was going to be

successful at my new position, it was going to be up to me to get the information I needed for my

area. As a result of this action, not only did I take upon myself to learn more about the college in

general and develop and cultivated those relationships between other offices, but I also

implemented a three day training session for all new employees coming into the athletics

department and set up multiple personal meetings for all veteran and rookie coaches to ensure

that they stayed on track in terms of policies and procedures at BHCC.

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As a former supervisor if I had to evaluate myself and my areas of strength, I would have

to say I am strong Advising, Leadership, Communication and Teaching and Learning. My

personality is an easy going, peaceful natured person. I have a pretty good understanding of how

to read people and I can usually detect when a person has a hidden agenda. I am a very honest

person, almost to a fault because sometimes I am too frank with people and sometimes

inadvertently offend some individuals. I’m very good at problem solving and conflict resolution

as long as the individuals I’m working with are honest with me as well as themselves. Areas I

need to improve in are Legal Issues, Multicultural Awareness, and Student Development Theory.

I feel I need to continue to improve in these areas because it will only help me with

communicating more effectively with the students. In my opinion, a good leader should be

knowledgeable and well versed in theories and practice. These two areas run parallel with each

other.

Finally, for a current supervisor or aspiring leader, I believe that each person owes it to

themselves and their fellow man to continue to educate themselves and others of the dangers

of unfair treatment and discrimination regarding multiculturalism. Educating, raising

awareness, and changing negative views when needed are not only my plans for the next

several months, but for the rest of my life. In terms of working in Student Affairs as a

practitioner, these components are vital to our success as an individual, and will be particularly

important in enhancing the institutions we ultimately represent.