Communication - Supervisory 3

In the last byte, we looked at the requirements of supervisors being expressive and also empathetic. In today's byte, we look at the persuasive and sensitive dimension of the supervisors.

Supervisor’s ways of communication could generally be classified to be into one of the three forms:

1. Directive
2. Autocratic
3. Persuasive

A supervisory position generally comes with power and influence in an organization, this is generally to ensure that the work allocated to their employees is done well and the expected performance and results are achieved.

If a supervisor chooses to be autocratic or directive most of the times, then (s)he would be rubbing the employee on the rough side many a times. A manager could instead use persuasive communication where the supervisor (manager) would encourage others to achieve results intend of telling them what to do! The supervisor would need to necessarily have to be patient if (s)he is to use the persuasive means of communication to get the work done.

The above argument doesn't mean to say that directive or autocratic communication is never to be used. It is the situation that would define the application of these means - emergency and high-risk situations (exceptional situation) are one where the directive and assertive nature of the supervisor would be most useful.