Leadership Axiom # 5

Avoid Being a Solipsistic Supervisor
Solipsism in its true sense, is the doctrine that only the individual exists, and all other things, entities, worlds are merely creations of that individual's mind. As a matter of fact, the individual might be a manufactured element stemming from a mind only. No, no reference to the Matrix is coming......and no, I don't believe most people subscribe to a solipsistic sense of reality. Deep down, most of know we aren't the center of the universe.

Although we scoff at such notions, we very likely proceed through our day as if we did. When an employee comes into your office, and your first response is something like "oh no, how long will this take?" or "I really am not in the mood for this now", you are being solipsistic. When your first thoughts go to your own concerns, even when the issue isn't generated from you or your efforts, you are being solipsistic. When you fail to "see" the others around you outside the immediate context of your existence, you are being solipsistic. Think about it, how often do you imagine what your employees, students, even friends are doing with no reference to your personal needs or interests? Is as if they don't exist outside of your presence and attention.

Of course we have thought about these things before, possibly not with the big fancy word tied them. "Walk a mile in my moccasins before you judge me" is a perfect example. At the risk of adding even more awful argot, when we strive to really examine something as it is, we venture into the field of Phenomenology. Once there, we employ the epoche, or more specifically, the eidetic reduction.
Phenomenology is the study of phenomena in their true, real sense. To approach this type of analysis, we have to suspend judgement, biases, and expectations. This disciplined process is the epoche, accomplished though an eidetic reduction which works to filter distortions of perception so that we see the true object, the true element. Enough philosophy, you may have the basic idea - we need to apprehend things, issues, situations as they are, not as we want them to be, what we mistakenly perceive to be, what we may even need them to be. This would seem to be a priority of a supervisor, an honest and effective one anyway.

The first step toward this type of super-vision is the awareness that we are moving about in concentric circles with each other, each a sun (sol) in our own overlapping universes. We have to be the first to step out of our ellipses into those of others. Once there, our next task is to help them step out of theirs, temporarily at least, into the worlds of others. Eventually, as we learn to take other perspectives, we learn how to rip circumstances from the distorting gravity of their solar systems and examine them fairly and equitably. Once we do look at them in this bracketed sense (eidetic reduction), we can then bring them back to peripheral interests (our biases, needs, concerns, etc.), and find a balance.

An argument for instance, can be examined first for its disruption to the environment, its impact on productivity. From there, the interests of those involved can be dealt with as secondary concerns, not trivial, but not primary. And it certainly shouldn't be dealt with from the concerns of the supervisor either, e.g. quickly, efficiently with as little effort or trouble as possible.
When people learn to look at their interactions first from the perspectives of others, then as a more complicated intersection of many perspectives, they can better appreciate the efficacy of their own perspective. But when all is said and done, if a supervisor can keep the issue free of his or her own biases, selfish needs, and artificial concerns, situations will improve. It is that simple, don't look at things as if they relate primarily to you. Don't act as the center of your own universe, no matter how central or high you are on the organizational chart.