How to Supervise People

Supervisors and Leaders

Before you can succeed as a supervisor, you need to learn how to be an effective leader. Such leaders have three essential qualities in common: they inspire trust, they know when to follow, and they make personal contact with people.

You can develop these qualities and demonstrate your leadership ability if you become an advocate for the people who report to you. Stand up for the people you supervise. If someone has a complaint about one of your people, handle the problem yourself. Don’t let others bypass your authority. Be loyal to your employees and intervene on their behalf when someone is threatening their ability to do their job.

“Study after study shows you get the best results when you manage assets and lead people.”

Being fair without playing favorites is another way to demonstrate your leadership. You cannot possibly be an effective leader and also be "one of the gang." Accept your role as supervisor and strive to maintain fairness in your dealings with all employees instead of trying to "buddy up" to your staff.

Establishing the Basics

You can also demonstrate leadership by working to create a great work environment. You can’t create pride in your employees, but you can help create an environment where workers feel a natural sense of pride in a job well done. Get employees to help you improve processes in your workplace. Ask them what is preventing them from doing their jobs. Ask senior management for the tools your people need to flourish. As a supervisor, you can be the catalyst that starts the positive transformation of your workplace.

“You do not get paid for what you do, you get paid for what your staff does.”

Yet another method of demonstrating leadership is providing stability in times of change. This does not mean trying to prevent change. It means doing whatever you can to help your staff members feel in control of their future. Before making any major changes, you should consult your staff. Make sure you plan for the short term in addition to the long term.

“Just because you’re a supervisor now doesn’t mean you don’t use tools. A machinist has a lathe; you have a computer with word processors and spreadsheets.”

Courage also demonstrates leadership. As a supervisor, you are part of a group of other managers. You may need to make some tough decisions, even if you stand out in that group. Just focus on doing the right thing. The way you are able to handle your duties today will affect how much responsibility you will be given tomorrow.

Lead from the Outset

Your success as a supervisor will be heavily affected by the impression you make during your first few days on the job. Use these "Supervisor Basics" as you enter any new job, so you can get started on the right footing:

1. Make yourself known - Take the time to meet everyone on your team in person. During the first few weeks on the job, you should make frequent visits to your employees and really listen to their concerns. Make a written note of anything an employee decides to share with you.
2. Don’t try changing everything at once - When you are new, make very few changes. Quick changes send employees the message that you don’t value them or their work. You have to understand how a machine works before you operate it. A new supervisor’s attempts to change things prematurely are almost always destructive.
3. Review the personnel folders of each person reporting to you - You can learn a lot about your workers by looking at their attendance records, sick-time usage, training and previous discipline. Note any grievances that have been filed against them. Keep in mind that previous discipline may say as much about the previous supervisor as it does about the employee.
4. Identify the people who make things work - You will want to gain the support of these people as early as possible in your new tenure. Review their past projects and accomplishments. Organize a meeting with them and share what you know about their accomplishments. Outline the activities you want them to continue.
5. Meet with your entire staff - This meeting should be fairly informal. Start by introducing yourself and briefly summarizing your previous work. Tell your staff what management is expecting from you. Share your vision for the group and tell them what you care about. Then open the meeting up for discussion. Encourage people to share their concerns and write down important points on a flip chart. Show that you are action-oriented by putting dates beside some items upon which you are willing to take immediate action. Summarize the main issues raised during the discussion and tell your staff that you will be coming to them for more information on these issues. Thank everyone for coming. Finally, make sure you follow up on the items you promised to pursue, so that your credibility is established.
6. Ignore rumors and gossip - If you catch an employee making destructive comments about others, make it clear that you will not tolerate such negativity. Commonly, employees will gossip about others to ingratiate themselves to you. Let it be known that you will not respond to rumors.
7. Be upbeat and positive - Even if the company faces hard times, you can be honest about the situation without joining in bleak discussions. Focus your comments toward solutions. Look for ways you and your employees can turn around a bad situation. Whining and complaining won’t help a company on the brink of failure. If anything, they will speed up the process.
8. Know what management wants from you - Have a clear understanding of what is expected of you and the group you are leading and share that perception with your staff. This allows people to establish priorities and understand why projects change.
9. Set high goals for yourself and your group - Make your team aware of your goals. Make sure your staff knows how they are doing compared to the goals you have set for them. Link these goals to employees’ individual responsibilities whenever possible.

Setting Goals

You must understand precisely what your department is expected to produce before you can set any goals. Your products are either physical objects or services. Make quality a priority by using the following distinction: Good products are completed things that meet all quality standards, any product that is incomplete is flawed (and therefore not a real product at all). Examples of good products could include well written reports that are free of errors, or a cup of coffee that meets all standards of price, taste and timely delivery. Without a good grasp of what your products are, and how they are evaluated, your staff members will be apt to make mistakes or waste energy.

“You also have one of the best tools ever devised - your mind.”

Once your staff understands your product, you can begin developing plans to reach the objective goals your department is expected to achieve. For your plan to succeed, include the following elements: a definite objective, a step-by-step outline, a capable team, a realistic timetable and a method for measuring success.

“You must feed it [your mind] with knowledge, adjust it with experience, and constantly maintain it with exercise if you want it to serve you well.”

First, your objective needs to be well defined. "I want to own a Ferrari," is a dream, "I want to own a Ferrari by 2010," is an objective. You have to outline the steps required to meet your goal. Each step needs to be as well defined as your overall objective. Decide what resources (people, money and materials) are required to accomplish each step. Assemble a team of people who can do the job. Being able to build an effective team is perhaps the most important skill you need to have as a supervisor. Choose people who have the skills and determination to make your goal a reality. Your plan must include a realistic timetable. This schedule should be tough enough to get people excited, but not so tough that it seems impossible. The final element of a successful plan is that it includes a method for measuring the effectiveness of your efforts.

Handling New Employees

The way you handle new employees during the first few weeks of employment can determine whether they will succeed or fail with your company. Proper orientation can help you figure out how quickly a new person can be productive. Commonly, busy supervisors delegate orientation, which is a mistake. Often the people this task has been delegated to are also busy and don’t do an adequate job of orienting new employees. Even if you have a human relations department, handle orientation yourself. The first few days of employment give you the best opportunity to make a newly hired person feel like part of your team.

Follow this checklist when orienting new employees:

1. Welcome the new employees and let them know that you think they will do a good job.
2. Go over the objectives of the company and show how those objectives relate to each new employee’s responsibilities.
3. Explain how the lines of authority work at your company and delineate the chain of command. Take the time to create a diagram of the corporate hierarchy to include in the orientation material issued to new employees.
4. Describe the products your company produces. If possible, show the new employees examples of the product current employees have created. Refer to a product flow chart as you describe the product.
5. Identify your competitors and explain what your company is doing to stay ahead of them. Focus on how new employees fit into those efforts.
6. Review the history of the company, paying special attention to how employees are a part of the bigger picture.
7. Make your expectations clear in terms of productivity, attitude, reliability, initiative, emotional maturity, teamwork and personal appearance. Employees should understand how their performance will be measured against these objective standards.
8. Go over job functions and responsibilities in detail.
9. Summarize the conditions of employment with your company. If a probationary period exists, make sure the expectations you have during this period are clearly outlined. At this point, discuss rules about attendance, punctuality, conduct, overtime and causes for termination.
10. Explain any other important rules or regulations. If an employee manual has been provided, make sure the new employee understands it. Never assume that a new employee will read or understand your employee manual.
11. Take a few minutes to introduce people to their new co-workers. Explain each person’s job and responsibilities when you introduce a new employee.
12. Tell new employees what criteria you use when deciding who will receive a promotion.
13. Review any benefits of employment. This can include insurance benefits, sick time and the numbers of breaks allowed. Outline the company’s pay periods. If your company offers additional benefits such as educational opportunities or recreational activities, provide the new employee with written information about them.
14. Make all safety policies clear.
15. Show new employees to their desks or work areas. Assign an experienced employee to watch over each new person, one on one, for an initial period. During the next few weeks, check in to make sure that the new employees are getting along well.

“Acquiring new knowledge is your route to faster promotions, greater responsibility, and a larger game to play.”

Follow these guidelines to save headaches and wasted time. Your new employees will know what is expected and will be able to avoid making mistakes. The better informed your new employees are, the more effective and productive they can be.

Bentley Moore Executive

We hope that you found this summary both insightful and of use.

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About the Author

How to Supervise People is the first book written by Donald P. Ladew for Career Press.