The Relationship Between a Supervisor and Staff

The relationship between supervisors and their staff in government workplaces is a special one: It plays a pivotal role in organizational success.

But it is a double-edged sword:

• Done right, the relationship is the ever-renewing lifeblood of an organization, and can foster mutual respect, high productivity, and enterprise success.

• Done wrong, it is a self-replicating, cancerous infestation, and can breed distrust, detachment and, ultimately, endemic failure.

Each party holds distinct and critical responsibilities within the relationship, and their mutual reliance on one another is fundamental to achieving shared goals and objectives and, thus, their employer’s effectiveness and success.

Supervisors, as leaders, assume the critical responsibility of guiding, supporting, and empowering their staff to excel in their roles.

Ten Supervisor Essentials

1. Leading by example and engagement
2. Serving as your staff’s first and best champion
3. Providing clear direction and insights
4. Setting performance goals and reaching expectations  
5. Removing obstacles to staff productivity
6. Offering ongoing, constructive feedback  
7. Encouraging staff to upskill and grow
8. Recognizing staff contributions — and reveling when they shine!
9. Soliciting staff opinions, insights, and advice
10. Affording staff the runway to make mistakes and improve

Staff, as members of the team, play an equally crucial role in supporting and enabling the success of their supervisors and their teammates.

Ten Staff Essentials

1. Show up every day, on time, and ready to contribute.
2. Always be at least five minutes early to meetings.
3. When apt, make your supervisor’s priorities your own.
4. Work time is for work — It’s not the time to play Candy Crush.
5. Show initiative — work, like life, isn’t a spectator sport.
6. Own your mistakes — when you mess up, fess up.
7. Be candid, yet diplomatic — exude professionalism.
8. Ask questions — be fearless and raise your hand.
9. Try not to surprise your supervisor — unless it’s their birthday.
10. Be a solution provider, not a problem presenter.

The optimal relationship between supervisors and staff in government workplaces is symbiotic — with each party relying on the other to fulfill their respective roles and responsibilities.

Five Joint Responsibilities

1. Active Listening — Listen more, talk less: It strengthens collaboration.
2. Empathy — Make an active effort to understand each other: It builds trust.
3. Transparency — Build a healthy environment of openness: It reduces stress.
4. Respect — Be kind, and appreciate each other: It creates harmony.
5. Positivity — At work, be a zealous, unabashed optimist: It’s catching.

By investing in the success and well-being of their staff, supervisors lay the foundation for a high-performing workforce. Staff, for their part, by their engagement, enthusiasm, and support for each other, generate high-quality work products that drive positive outcomes for their organization.

Recognizing and embracing the interdependence between supervisors and staff is a cornerstone on which government agencies can cultivate healthy workplace environments — environments that exemplify teamwork, accountability, and excellence.

Jerry Cooney, “Jer” to his friends, has spent his career serving in various capacities within Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in HR from Cornell and is a Senior Certified Professional in HR (SHRM-SCP) and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW).He began his career at a small firm in Manhattan and has since gone on to work with such famous names as Amazon, Siemens, General Electric, and Amtrak. Jer is originally from Islip, New York, but now calls Philadelphia home. He is a huge baseball fan.