You Can Shoot Me Down

When you ask a person to lead, supervise or manage, you are actually asking a lot from that person.

I don’t think most people realize that when someone becomes a supervisor or a leader of sorts, that person is not getting a “promotion” or a higher status symbol. On the contrary, that person is asked to give more of himself, to think of everybody when everybody else only need to think about their own. When a higher-up screws up, everybody else screws up. If only one person screws up, the higher-up is still the one that’s screwed.

A supervisor has to forego his own satisfaction to make sure that his subordinates are the ones who are satisfied. If he has a subordinate who’s difficult to work with, the supervisor has to be the one to stretch his patience and understand. If a team member is on the wrong, it is still up to the supervisor to apologize and make sure the team member feels valued all the time.

And what do supervisors get in return? Aside from a bigger paycheck, pretty much nothing at all. There’s really no price for self sacrifice, after all. If people depend on you, you have to be there for them at all times, even when they don’t want you to be. You have to be around at all times of the day for them to reach. You work longer because you have to act as a patch for all the holes left by your team. You have to be fair to everyone, even to the ones who are the least likeable. Being

Now you see, being a higher-up is not really a priviledge or an honor. It is a sacrifice that you ask a person to make. The only honor there is the fact that no one really asks a person to make a sacrifice if people felt like that person wasn’t complete enough to give of himself.

Anyway, being in he supervisory position has taught me alot about myself and my capabilities. Most of the time, I am full of complaints. However, I am also thankful I got to be where I am because these experiences have helped me in so many ways that I could no longer imagine how I’ve managed myself before.