Taking the Lead: Five Things Every Supervisor Needs to Know | Supervisory Skills

Taking the Lead:
Five Things Every Supervisor Needs to Know
Presented by:
Dr. Annette Cremo

Webinar Agenda
 Review Five Key Supervisory Skills
 A Proven Supervisory Skills Model
 How to Identify a Supervisor’s Strengths and Weaknesses
 Application: Situation and Best Action
 Supervisory “Do’s and Don’ts”
 Skill Improvement
 Question and Answer

Great Supervision
You have just been given an award for Excellence in
Supervision for 2010. The award was created and
voted on by employees.
What makes excellence in supervision?
A. Technical Expertise
B. Excellent Relationships

Great Supervision
Balance
Goals of the Organization ~ Needs of their Work Group
Develop great supervisors by identifying:
WHAT they do well
HOW they need to be developed
WHERE there are performance gaps

Guiding the Work
Application: Situation
A project your group received about three weeks ago seems stalled even
though your group knows it’s important to your best customer. You decide
to have a talk with your group about what the problem is.
How would you start the discussion?
A. Tell your group that you need to know what’s going on with the
project. Tell them you will accept whatever changes they suggest.
B. Start by stating clearly that this project must be completed. Then
discuss their expectations for completion and yours.
C. Tell the group that the project is now a top priority and give them a
completion date.

Guiding the Work
Application: Best Action
How would you start the discussion?
A. Tell your group that you need to know what’s going on with the
project. Tell them you will accept whatever changes they suggest.
B. Start by stating clearly that this project must be
completed. Then discuss their expectations for
completion and yours.
C. Tell the group that the project is now a top priority and give them a
completion date.
Why?
 Clear expectations from start
 Discussion includes team commitment

Guiding the Work
Understand the needs of the organization and plan your
group’s work effectively to meet those needs.
Do Don’t
 Support organizational goals
 Get your employees involved in
the planning process
 Act decisively
 Make plans with specific
progress review dates
 Tell employees that you disagree
with management positions
 Consistently prepare detailed plans
without consulting your employees
 Put off making decisions until you
are sure that they are perfect
 Fail to assign responsibility for
tasks

Guiding the Work
Skill improvement
 Make it clear to your work group that you support the
organization and its goals.
 Provide direction even when in unfamiliar areas
 Balance asking for information and acting decisively
 Plan in advance – what, who, and how
 Create specific and realistic plans
 Gain commitment by actively involving your work group

Organizing the Work
You have appointed one of your people as the leader for a project, but it is
clear that another employee is really seen as the leader by the group. The
project is progressing well, but it worries you that the leadership is not
where you want it to be.
What would you do?
A. Make it clear to the group who the leader is and who you support.
Don’t tolerate other sources of leadership.
B. Appoint the leader who has the group’s support as the formal project
leader.
C. Don’t interfere.

Organizing the Work
What would you do?
A. Make it clear to the group who the leader is and who you support.
Don’t tolerate other sources of leadership.
B. Appoint the leader who has the group’s support as the formal project
leader.
C. Don’t interfere.
Why?
 Informal leadership in most cases is not harmful

Organizing the Work
Assign people and allocate resources to accomplish work
goals.
Don’t
 Set schedules to meet the
organization’s goals
 Use others’ expertise to
organize when necessary
 Keep track of what’s going on
in the information organization
 Involve others if you have to
reorganize
 Accept work changes without
question
 Show favoritism or fail to assign
unpleasant tasks
 Fail to assign responsibility for
necessary tasks
 Try to have complete knowledge of
all aspects of work
Do

Organizing the Work
Skill Improvement
 Handle shifting priorities
 Quickly investigate unforeseen problems and work to solve
them
 Consult employees to gain complete knowledge of the work
 Follow the rules, regulations, and guidelines of the
organization
 Accommodate the needs of your work group when they are
not in direct conflict with the organization’s needs

Developing Your Staff
You believe that one of the people you supervise has the potential to be
promoted, but that person lacks confidence in his or her abilities.
How would you build his or her confidence?
A. Give the employee a challenging assignment that you are sure
he or she can complete with some effort.
B. Give the employee an easy assignment and then praise him or
her when the assignment is completed.
C. Praise the employee publicly each time he or she completes an
assignment.

How would you build his or her confidence?
A. Give the employee a challenging assignment that you are
sure he or she can complete with some effort.
B. Give the employee an easy assignment and then praise him or her when
the assignment is completed.
C. Praise the employee publicly each time he or she completes an
assignment.
Why?
 Creates more engagement
 Greater self-esteem on completion

Increase the skill level of each employee by learning his or her
strengths and assign tasks according to development need.
Don’t
Delegate work that develops
your employees’ skills
 Get to know employees on an
individual basis
 Keep employees informed
about the status of their
requests
 Make your expectations for
results clear when you delegate
tasks
 Complete tasks yourself because
they require effort to teach others
 Treat employees as a group rather
than as individuals
 Forget to tell employees about the
status of their requests
 Delegate only to people who
already have the skill for the task
Do

Skill Improvement
 Take the time to delegate
 Delegate work that develops employees skills and does not
require your formal authority
 Delegate to employees who need development - and are
willing to be developed
 Provide clear expectations and follow up regularly
 Set challenging and realistic goals for your work group

Managing Performance
One of your employees is always just a little bit late completing his or
her assigned tasks. It hasn’t really affected the work, but it annoys
others.
What would you do?
A. Schedule a formal performance review meeting with the
employee and document it.
B. Tell others in your group to work around it. It is only a minor
problem.
C. Have a short, informal meeting in which you tell this employee
about the impact of the problem and discuss solutions.

What would you do?
A. Schedule a formal performance review meeting with the employee and
document it.
B. Tell others in your group to work around it. It is only a minor problem.
C. Have a short, informal meeting in which you tell this
employee about the impact of the problem and discuss
solutions.
Why?
 Coaching more effective than formal review
 Help employee gain awareness of actions

Don’tDo
Track the performance of your employees and help them
meet their own objectives and those of the organization.
 Track performance and provide
feedback on a continual basis
 Judge performance by how it
affects the organization
 Remain objective
 Get commitment from
employees to improve their
performance
 Review performance only once a
year
 Judge employees before you talk
with them about their performance
 Allow yourself to become emotional
 Try to fix every problem, no matter
how small

Skill Improvement
 Perform these steps on an ongoing basis with employees:
1. Tell people what you expect of them
2. Monitor their progress and provide feedback
3. Formally evaluate their performance
 Provide suggested actions to improve employee performance
 Address performance problems as soon as they occur
 Learn to distinguish between problems that need formal attention
and those that do not
 Confront ‘behind-the-scene’ problems when they affect
performance

Managing Relations
ManagingRelations

Managing Relations
You have been blindsided quite a few times recently by changes in the
organization that you didn’t know about but other supervisors did know.
Your group is starting to get upset.
What would you do?
A. Ask your boss to keep you better informed about what is
happening.
B. Make an effort to get to know other supervisors and talk to them
about what is happening.
C. You’ll never know everything. Teach your people how to react
quickly to unexpected things.

Managing Relations
What would you do?
A. Ask your boss to keep you better informed about what is
happening.
B. Make an effort to get to know other supervisors and
talk to them about what is happening.
C. You’ll never know everything. Teach your people how to react
quickly to unexpected things.
Why?
 Other supervisors are a good source of information
and support.

Don’tDo
Managing Relations
Work closely with others to ensure that your work group
is effective and the organization’s goals are met.
 Keep other groups informed
about your plans
 Consider others’ requests for
help based on the needs of the
organization
 Become generally familiar with
other groups’ work
 Develop relationships with
other supervisors
 Try to acquire resources by
complaining about your group’s
situation
 Try to have complete knowledge of
other groups’ work
 Turn down all requests for help that
inconvenience your group
 Accept work from other groups
without question

Managing Relations
Skill Improvement
 View other work groups as partners
 Acquire resources by framing requests according to what is
good for the organization, rather than your work group
 Know how and when to ask for support from other work
groups
 Respond to requests from other work groups by
understanding the organization’s goals
 Network with other supervisors for help and information

Exclusive Offer
Includes:
 Comprehensive Facilitator Guide
 Step-by-step workshop guidelines
 PowerPoint presentation
Sample Participant Workbook
Supervisory Skills Questionnaire
www.hrdqstore.com
NOW $135.00 Reg. $225.00

Taking the Lead: Five Things Every Supervisor Needs to Know | Supervisory Skills

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