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“I guess I kind of thought of them as the same job,” Wes pondered aloud.

“Even though you are one person filling both roles as supervisor and manager, their functions are quite distinct,” I replied. “At the end of the day, what is the supervisor supposed to have accomplished?”

“Well, every day has a quota. There is a certain amount of work that is supposed to get done.”

“And at the end of the day, what is the manager supposed to have accomplished?”

Wes was stuck. It was several seconds before he took a stab. “I don’t know, I guess he is just supposed to manage.”

“It’s a tough question. The reason it’s a tough question is, the most important work of a manager can’t be finished in a day. Many tasks take a month or six months with the most important tasks requiring a year or more to complete.” -TF