This week, I attended a Rose Cafe hosted by speaker Mary Opperman, the head of HR at Cornell. The talk was largely a discussion of how to navigate the workplace and how to do things that supervisors appreciate and what to avoid doing. Ms. Opperman came in with a list of things that bother supervisors. As she went through the list, a lot of them are things that make sense when hearing them, but did not come to mind when she initially asked for our ideas. For instance, supervisors dislike when a worker does not ask questions when they do not understand something. This sounds very self explanatory, but in the moment I can see why I would make that pitfall. Asking a question could feel embarrassing depending on the supervisor, but it is important to do nonetheless.

As someone who has worked for supervisors in various jobs and who is a supervisor to others on my project team, this discussion was very clarifying for me. Many of the things that bother supervisors in fact bother me when I am working on my project team. For example, I dislike when people fudge results just before a deadline in order to meet it. This is something that drives supervisors crazy. Additionally, it bothers me when a supervisor switches their plan in the middle of a project. This happens to bother a lot of other workers. Reaching a happy middle between worker and supervisor is key when establishing a healthy work environment. This talk was very helpful in realizing what I need to do better as both a worker and supervisor moving forward.