Complicated or Straightforward?!

I had my first supervision with my new line manager. It doesn’t feel quiet right calling him “new manager” as we have been working in the same office for more than five years now! It is a long story why my supervisor has changed but what is important is the story I am going to tell you!

He, my new supervisor, phoned me and said that I need to be ready in the afternoon to have my first supervision with him and told me what I needed to take with me to the meeting. I was a bit nervous at first but after a short while I overcame these uncomfortable feelings.

Before he starts filling the forms, he said to me that he was very delighted to have become my supervisor. The reasons he gave me was that he know how committed I was to my job. And he said that my ex-line manager had told him something about my personality that had made him more eager to be working with me. He said that, when my pervious line manager was asking him to take me into his team, he had told him that I was his best staff and he had never heard anyone complain about my work or the way I treat my clients. he had also told him that I do my duties and more when it is necessary and needed. He had said that he never needed to say anything twice to me, as I would get the message immediately….

Well, these are somethings that I already knew about myself and not a big issue for me. The only issue that made me have mixed feelings insde me was when he said that your ex-manager told me that you have a good character and you are a straightforward person with a lovely personality. There is no complication about your personality or work. When there is an issue about work/colleague or anything related to your work, you put your opinions and views on the table directly and give the opportunity to the other person to put forward theirs, and you either agree or disagree and that is it. You make it clear where you stand and where the other person stands! In common language “ there is no messing around when you are concerned”. He said that this is unlike most of our staff, who say one thing in front of their manager and say/do another in their absence!

After a bit of discussion we started the supervision and got on with it! What is important for me is the way that my ex-manager has seen me. His understanding about my personality! What he has said about me was truly correct. I have suffered for a long time hearing from someone that I had a complicated personality! I wish that this person one day discovers that he has always been making a mistake about me. Sometimes fear makes us to omit or deny things or keep them to ourselves. But it doesn’t mean that we are complicated. It just shows that where there is no fear, I can be myself and that is a “straightforward person”! Maybe we need to look at our behaviour with others and the way we treat others to see the reason behind their reactions!

The whole thing about matrimony is this: We fall in love with a personality, but we must live with a character.

De Vries, Peter