JUNE 2007: BUSINESS TOOLS, HUMAN RESOURCES
Select and
handle supervisors with care
So many supervisors and managers are chosen not for their
ability to foster productivity or to coach employees, but for
their technical skill and performance in a job that requires no
supervisory expertise.
This isn’t a new observation. People have been writing
and talking about it for years. What is remarkable is that,
even with all this information, in many organizations the
selection of a new supervisor continues to be based on the
wrong things: tenure or competence in a job quite different
from supervision.
Being an effective supervisor requires that the person enjoy
teaching and coaching others for best performance. Supervisors
who simply give orders or directions aren’t nearly as
effective. The best supervisors encourage, praise, remind and
stretch an employee’s capability. The most admired
supervisors set high expectations for employees, and then help
them achieve success.
Supervision and management is about getting results for
the organization through the efforts and work products of
others. It is about planning, structuring work activities and
delegating both responsibility and authority to employees to
carry out their assignments. Supervision is about ensuring that
employees know how to do their work and that they understand
that their work makes a difference in the organization’s
ability to attain its business objectives.
Selecting an individual who can become a great supervisor is a
critical endeavor. The person needs to understand the business
well enough to be perceived as capable by the employees they
supervise. But knowledge of the operation is only the very
beginning. The person needs to have patience, coaching skills,
strong communication abilities, willingness to make tough
decisions and stick to them even when the employees are
disappointed or mad, and the talent to inspire the best
performance from each employee. For some workers, this is
achieved through acknowledging and recognizing their efforts;
for others, increasing the level of challenge is the best way
to motivate; and for still others, it is understanding what
they do best and giving them the freedom to do that work.
This attribute profile, so necessary in a supervisor, is not
the typical description of a person in a nonsupervisory role.
Identifying which people have either these native skills or the
desire to learn and develop them is essential when considering
who should be placed in a supervisory position. Asking whether
this person can be objective, fair, management-oriented (even
though some of the employees they will supervise are friends)
and committed to helping employees do their best work are the
questions most important in determining who to select.
Training for new supervisors is critical. There are many laws
and regulations that apply to the workplace and understanding
them isn’t picked up through osmosis. They need to be
learned through structured classes/workshops or specifically
taught during an orientation to the new job. Employees are
different from one another. Having a “one style fits
all” approach is likely to be less effective than having
the ability to shift approaches based on the employee’s
work experience and personality.
As the workplace gets more complicated and organizations work
to maximize productivity and results, the supervisor is the key
to success. A recent Gallup found that 70% of all voluntary
employee departures were directly related to their relationship
with their boss. Turnover is expensive, and few organizations
can continue to afford supervisors who send talented employees
out the door. Fortunately, the antidote is known: Thoughtful
selection of supervisors and ongoing efforts to enhance their
people skills will assist the organization in obtaining
positive results and retaining a valued workforce.
— Judy Clark,
SPHR
CEO, HR Answers
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