Northeast Association of College and University Housing Officers

Three Myths of Supervision

Jennifer Crane, Quinnipiac University

Whether you supervise full time professionals, paraprofessionals,or student organizations you probably find yourself in situations where you need to give constructive feedback of some kind. This article focuses on giving feedback to others regarding their job performance for the purposes of their own development. All too often when we begin to prepare to deliver this feedback, we fall into the typical practices of supervision; giving good news with bad news, taking some of the ownership on ourselves, and setting very high expectations for our staff. This article will challenge these “easy” ways out of supervision and help supervisors to provide feedback from a different perspective.