Week 6 Post

Tying into the previous weeks post where I had chronicled a difficult professional scenario I wanted to think a bit more about development in the outlined area of

Leading in Complexity

• Identify a late stage mentor both inside and outside of my current organization and ask each of them to talk through 1-2 scenarios based on current organizational situations I am experiencing from their advanced perspectives.

I wanted to use them to provide perspective on supervision and dealing with this challenge now that they are seasoned veterans to give me perspective on my situation.

The late stage mentor identified inside my organization is my current supervisor the Dean of Students. In our 1:1 I asked her the following question; 

Looking at the situation I am facing with my Associate Director X, what have you learned from supervisor numerous individuals about this situation that you think could be wise for me to keep in mind that I you have learned only through time and experience.  

We laughed and rephrased it...looking back what you current you tell younger you about this situation to provide perspective.  

I distilled her thoughts into the most salient points that really resonated with me that I believe will help me process through the situation.

• Don't focus so much on how X views you in the role 
• It's his job, and he has to improve, you can't improve for him
• How he does his job is not reflective of your ability to do your job

As I think about my personal development in this situation (with the Associate Director) and even more so in the asking this question and gather insight from someone (late stage mentor) who has been doing this in a much more diverse set of organizations than I have I been reminded of the importance of taking time and space for personal reflection and seeking the feedback of others. Whether it is a difference in age, sets of experience, or experiencing multiple supervisees (and supervisors) between this mentor and I the points that resonated with me likely illustrate some of the areas within Kegan's Adult Development framework that are "sticking" points for me that I need to move beyond in order to continue developing.  Things like being shaped by the expectations of others around you.  I think it also illustrates the late stages mentors ability to point out the growth edges that might be what gets me to advance in my development; like holding his ability to do his job and my ability to do my job as independent from each other and that mine does not depend on his, even though one part of mine is oversight of him.