Last week, we started to explore the power dynamics that can get in the way of a successful supervisor/supervisee relationships if we don’t pay attention to them. We also explored the games that supervisees play in an attempt to balance the power. Catch up here:
- The power dynamics of the supervisor/ee relationship
- Games that supervisees play to regain some power
Let’s now look at the games that supervisors play. You might recognise some of these, either as things you have done yourself, consciously or not, or things that you have experienced from a supervisor. (Hawthorne 1975)
- They won’t let me – a game where the supervisor blames his/her superiors for not being able to act upon a request from the supervisee
- I’m one of you – a game where the supervisor agrees with all complaints from the supervisee about management, not recognising that they are management themselves.
- Remember who’s boss – the supervisor will not accept any challenges or include the team in decision-making. This disempowers the supervisee from making decisions that affect the business, leading to a bottle-neck as they escalate every decision. Not very satisfying for the individual or the business.
- I know you cannot do without me – the supervisor withholds resources, or has low expectations that the supervisee can do something without the supervisor’s intervention. This can lead to even more dependency on the part of the supervisee, who stops trying. Again, not satisfying for the individual or the business.
Familiar?
We’ll talk next time about how to rebalance the power dynamic, starting with things the supervisor can do. And remember, this is all in service of making it easier for the supervisee to listen to feedback from their supervisor, rather than playing a power game.
References: Bass (1990) talks about position power and personal power; Beer (1980) Expert power, Coalition power, Reputation power, Group support, Control of resources and knowledge, information power; J Boonstra and KM Bennebroek – Power Dynamics and Organizational Change; Bouwen and Gusavsen – Democratic Dialogue; Delano and Shah – Professionally Packaging Your Power in the Supervisory Relationship
