New supervisors have a tough transition to make—but if they achieve mastery in five key areas they can be successful, say Jonna Contacos-Sawyer and Polly Heeter Wright.

New supervisors tend to be full of energy and forward looking, but also anxious at the same time, says Contacos-Sawyer. They are eager to make a difference for your organization. At the same time, they're insecure.

They won't know how to be a supervisor until you teach them.

Contacos-Sawyer and Wright, both with HR Consultants, Inc. of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, suggest five key factors that determine success or failure for new supervisors. They gave their tips at a recent audio conference sponsored by BLR.

Five Keys to Supervisory Success

These are the five areas that the HR Consultants team finds present the most difficulty for new supervisors:

  1. Alignment
  2. Planning/problem solving
  3. Communication
  4. Motivation
  5. Compliance

 

1. Alignment

There are two elements to alignment, says Contacos-Sawyer—aligning yourself to your new role and aligning your department to the organization.

A big mistake new supervisors make is to continue to perform in their old roles. They continue to do the old job and don't supervise. Or, they go the opposite way and overmanage by micromanaging. Either way, they are not getting the job done.

The key to alignment is to understand your department and your organization's goals.

Common hurdles related to alignment:

  • Predecessor was not aligned
  • Department not comfortable with being held accountable
  • New supervisor does not transition from buddy to supervisor.
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2. Planning/Problem Solving

It's critical that new supervisors learn to plan, says Wright. You really need three plans:

  • The work—What results do you intend to achieve, and what must you do to get those results?
  • The schedule—How much time is required for each task and subtask? What needs to happen before something else can happen?
  • The resources—How many people, what materials, how much, and when? Late-arriving raw materials are often the reason behind failing to meet deadlines.

Problem-solving skills are also needed because when plans live in reality, problems arise. Here's a process, says Wright:

  1. Gather information and data to help you understand the problem.
  2. Do a "fishbone" or cause-and-effect analysis. Consider people, equipment, materials, methods and procedures.
  3. Write a problem statement—what the problem is, who it affects, and what can be different if we address the problem.
  4. Brainstorm solutions. This is a great opportunity to involve employees, Wright notes.
  5. Select and implement the best solution.
  6. Review. Is the problem resolved? Are there consequences you didn't expect?
  7. Revise or rework as necessary.

Common hurdles with planning and problem solving:

  • Subordinates don't agree. Listen to them, says Wright. You might learn something.
  • Delegated tasks are not completed. Usually, that means the task was not properly described, not enough authority was delegated, or no checkpoints were established.
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3. Communication

About 80 percent of the organizations her firm works with have issues surrounding communication, says Contacos-Sawyer.

Communicating down is the most troublesome aspect. Concentrate especially on communicating the following:

  • Performance expectations
  • Performance feedback, plus and minus
  • Departmental and organizational goals and objectives
  • Change

As for communicating up, be sure to find out what type of information your bosses want, how they want it, and how often they want it.

When communicating up:

  • State objectives concisely and support them with facts.
  • Show how the proposal is in the interest of manager.
  • Ask if there are any questions.
  • Make sure they agree.

In communicating across departments, says Contacos-Sawyer, learn about them—what do they need from you and when and how do they need it?  And don't be afraid to tell them what you need from them.

Common hurdles to good communication:

  • Previous low levels of trust in the department
  • Poor communication skills
  • Silos among departments.

In tomorrow's Advisor, we'll cover factors 4 and 5 and look at a time- and money-saving supervisory training system.

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