My Thoughts
The Science of Supervisor Skills: What Marine Biologists Know About Team Leadership
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Three years ago, I was watching a documentary about reef sharks when it hit me like a freight train. The lead marine biologist was explaining how sharks maintain order in their ecosystem through subtle positioning and energy management. Suddenly, every terrible supervisor I'd ever worked with made perfect sense. They were all trying to be great whites in a goldfish bowl.
Here's what 17 years of workplace training has taught me: the best supervisors operate exactly like apex predators in a healthy ocean. Not because they're aggressive—quite the opposite. Because they understand ecosystem dynamics.
Marine biologists study something called "trophic cascades." When you remove a top predator from an environment, everything below collapses. Sound familiar? That's your workplace when management disappears for a three-week holiday without proper delegation systems.
But here's where it gets interesting. And where most business supervising skills training gets it completely wrong.
The Territory Problem
Sharks don't patrol their entire territory every day. They establish presence, then trust the system to self-regulate. Your average middle manager? They're helicopter parenting a team of adults who were perfectly capable of doing their jobs before Karen from HR decided everyone needed "closer supervision."
I learned this the hard way in 2019. Client in Melbourne, manufacturing outfit, 47 staff. The floor supervisor was doing hourly check-ins with every team member. Production was down 23%, staff turnover was through the roof, and everyone looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.
We implemented what I call the "Reef Shark Protocol." The supervisor established clear expectations (territorial boundaries), made themselves visible at predictable intervals (feeding patterns), and only intervened when absolutely necessary (predator behaviour). Within six weeks, productivity was up 31% and sick leave dropped by half.
The marine biology parallel is dead-on accurate here. Sharks don't chase every fish in the ocean. They position themselves strategically and let the ecosystem flow around them.
Energy Conservation Is Everything
Here's something most supervisors never learn: energy management trumps time management every single day of the week.
Watch a documentary about great whites. They can go weeks without eating because they've mastered energy conservation. They don't waste movement on unnecessary activities. Compare that to your typical supervisor who's in seventeen meetings a day, responding to emails at 11 PM, and burning out their team with constant "urgent" requests.
Marine biologists call it "optimal foraging theory." Animals succeed by maximising energy gained while minimising energy spent. Revolutionary concept for the business world, apparently.
I had a client last year—won't name names, but let's just say they sell a lot of coffee in Melbourne—where the regional supervisor was scheduling three-hour planning meetings every Tuesday. For a team of eight people. To discuss a process that hadn't changed in four years.
One simple question changed everything: "What would happen if we didn't have this meeting?"
Answer: Absolutely nothing negative. The team was already communicating effectively through existing channels. The supervisor was creating work to justify their position, like a shark swimming in circles because it forgot how to hunt efficiently.
The Symbiosis Secret
The really fascinating bit about marine ecosystems is the symbiotic relationships. Cleaner fish service sharks, getting food while keeping their host healthy. Both species benefit. Neither dominates.
Most supervisors think their job is to control their team. Wrong. Your job is to create conditions where everyone thrives simultaneously.
I've seen this work beautifully at companies like Bunnings, where floor supervisors genuinely support their teams rather than micromanaging them. The supervisors get better results, the team members develop faster, and customers notice the difference immediately.
But here's the part that makes some people uncomfortable: this requires supervisors to admit they don't know everything. In marine biology, even apex predators rely on other species for survival. In business, even senior supervisors need their team's expertise to succeed.
The Migration Factor
Sharks follow migration patterns. They don't fight natural rhythms; they work with them. Your team has natural rhythms too. Some people are brilliant at 7 AM. Others don't hit their stride until after lunch. Some need quiet time to process information. Others think best in group discussions.
Standard supervisory training ignores this completely. Everyone gets the same treatment, same expectations, same artificial deadlines that make no sense for the actual work being done.
I worked with a team in Perth where the supervisor insisted on 9 AM stand-up meetings. Half the team were night owls who did their best work after 2 PM. The meetings were painful for everyone and achieved nothing except making creative people feel terrible about themselves.
We shifted to asynchronous updates and flexible meeting times. Productivity jumped 28% in the first month. The supervisor initially resisted because it felt like losing control. But marine predators don't control migration patterns—they adapt to them and benefit from the abundance.
Sometimes the best supervisory skill is knowing when to get out of the way.
The Feeding Frenzy Problem
Marine biologists warn about feeding frenzies—when predators lose their usual restraint and create chaos. Happens in workplaces all the time. A crisis hits, and suddenly everyone's a supervisor. Delegation goes out the window. Communication breaks down. Good people start making terrible decisions.
The solution isn't more control. It's better systems.
Healthy shark populations maintain order even during abundant feeding opportunities because they understand hierarchy and respect boundaries. Workplace teams can do the same, but only if supervisors establish clear protocols before the chaos hits.
I learned this during the 2020 lockdowns. Companies with strong supervisory systems adapted quickly. Everyone knew their role, communication channels were already established, and decision-making authority was clear. Companies without these systems fell apart trying to micromanage remote teams through video calls.
The Deep Water Truth
Here's what marine biology teaches us about supervision that business schools miss entirely: the best leaders operate in deep water, not shallow pools.
Shallow water supervisors focus on immediate, visible activities. Did someone arrive five minutes late? Are they using their phone during breaks? Is their desk organised properly? These are minnow-level concerns.
Deep water supervisors focus on outcomes, development, and system health. Is the team hitting meaningful targets? Are people learning and growing? Is the working environment sustainable long-term? These are apex predator considerations.
The depth difference matters because it changes everything about how you approach problems. Shallow water thinking creates reactive, stressful workplaces where everyone's walking on eggshells. Deep water thinking creates proactive, resilient teams that can handle whatever gets thrown at them.
Evolution Never Stops
Final thought: marine ecosystems never stop evolving. Neither should your supervisory approach.
The supervisors who succeed long-term are the ones who keep learning, keep adapting, and keep questioning their own assumptions. They observe what works, discard what doesn't, and aren't afraid to try new approaches when circumstances change.
Because here's the thing about sharks that most people don't realise: they've been around for 400 million years not because they're perfect, but because they're incredibly good at adapting to changing environments.
Your supervisory skills need that same evolutionary flexibility. The techniques that worked five years ago might be completely wrong for today's challenges. The team that responds well to direct instruction might need collaborative guidance six months from now.
Stay curious. Stay flexible. And remember that the best predators in any ecosystem are the ones that understand they're part of something bigger than themselves.
The ocean doesn't belong to sharks. They just know how to thrive in it.
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