Top 10 Secrets of Highly Successful Supervisors
A large percentage of new and existing Frontline Leaders and Supervisors have not received the success strategies or wisdom behind 10 foundational and critical supervisory skills, which some high performing supervisors learn and embrace today. I teach the wisdom behind these skills in my Frontline Leadership Academy rolling out this month.
After spending 20 or more years working with Frontline Leaders and coaching them through some distressing, frustrating, and frightening moments of not knowing what to do with certain people issues, I drafted this top 10 success strategies list and associated wisdom gleaned from Fortune 50 and Large Public Agency leaders, trainers, and practices of highly successful leaders in those spaces. I believe every supervisor has greatness within them and they deserve the very best for their development as people, leaders, and role models for our employees and communities. Here’s my contribution to my tribe of Supervisors and them getting the critical wisdom for success in their frontline leadership role:
1. PRIORITY CONFIRMATION: Hey, Shifts Happen! Routinely discuss boss’ priorities, needs for support, and what he/she is counting on a supervisor to do. Agree on a plan, execute it, and keep them regularly updated on the good, bad, and ugly of work progress and results. This gives supervisors a clear line of sight when it comes to setting employee goals aligned to their boss’ priorities. Think about: If you were a boss, wouldn’t you make sure your subordinate had everything they needed to reach YOUR priorities? Follow this little pre-game routine and you’ll be ready for the employee goal planning that takes you to the play offs and Super Bowl of organizational results.
2. MOTIVATE WITH MEANING: Translate the boss’ priorities into a clear and meaningful CALL TO ACTION that says the employee and tasks are important to their supervisor. Then, the supervisor must prove an employee’s import by resourcing their success! If employees are not inspired to do anything more than their job, they’ll certainly be inspired to do less. If you treat them with respect and show how much they are needed and cared for, they’ll do the work of two people and in half the time — that’s the power of employee motivation done right!
3. DELEGATE “WHAT” and ask for “How”: Goals articulate “What” is needed from employees, as a derivative of a supervisor’s boss’ priorities. Employees must hear supervisors articulate this fact, so they understand how everyone is focused some big goals, chunked into small organizational goals, which are passed from bigger desk to successively smaller desks that the entire organization is counting on for results. With supervisory oversight, let employees determine “How” a task is best completed. A supervisor’s job is to teach employee’s to fish not hover over them, tell them what to do, and take away the autonomy that drives job mastery and an opportunity to directly contribute to something bigger than themselves and feel the empowerment of purpose (Daniel Pink’s book — Drive is the source of the Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose reference). Supervisors want as many hooks in the water as possible, so the team/department catches more fish than they can eat (profit, progress, etc.).
4. DOCUMENT FOR FOLLOW UP: Life moves way to fast to remember anything these days: good, bad, or indifferent. However, supervisors can’t spend all of their time writing everything down either, because everything isn’t important. What do you document? Simple rule, you inspect what you expect. You write goals and set expectations, then document critical events around goal performance and skill development progress. This documentation will tell you if you must create “Recognition” or “Corrective/Disciplinary” Action, which are both supported by …you guessed it — goal performance and skill development progress. A supervisor can use this documentation to justify: transfers, promotions, demotions, skill development, awards, corrective action, termination, and the list goes on. Don’t write a novel, but keep some good, objective notes hitting these highlights: Date, Time, Bulleted discussion topics, and next steps. Put enough of these together and you have a pattern and HR can do a WHOLE lot for a supervisor who can show patterns: good or bad. When will you find time to document? When you’re your employees have the autonomy to do their jobs without your frequent intervention (see items 1–3).
5. COACH FOR FOLLOW THROUGH: Don’t give employees an opportunity to fall far from their goals. It sends shock waves of fear through them, can create doubts about their capability, and will leave them wondering, “Where were you when they fell?” Be a S.M.A.R.T. coach. Give your employee’s clear direction and the task rope. One of three things will happen:
a. The will either build a Tarzan swing to achievement and own it.
b. Come back wanting to share their options about what to do with their rope.
c. Or, be close enough to catch employees before they make the last, fatal loop in task hang man’s noose.
How close should you be to an employee during task performance or development trials? Rule of thumb when scheduling task checkpoints for employees is: High Performers = Low Touch. Low Performers = High Touch. Middle Performers = Medium Touch. Still not sure? Ask the employee and agree on an interval that makes sense for their actual performance history and developmental needs.
6. BECOME CONVERSANT IN ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY: Supervisors must know organizational and union policies better than your employees. Seriously, a misinformed employee is bad, but a misinformed supervisors is a liability. The law ASSUMES leaders should know better, so running afoul of the law is generally considered negligence, which means a supervisor could be held solely liable for their actions when they should have known better (think about all the acknowledgement forms you sign upon hire and training — this is serious business). However, a well-trained supervisors is a phenomenal asset to the organization by correcting errors in many employee’s policy interpretations, straightening out their peers who don’t read policies thoroughly, and most importantly they’ll know who to call when nobody knows what to do — boss included!
7. BE WELLNESS WIRED: Manage stress or stress will manage you. In a Center for Creative Leadership Report (2006), 80% of surveyed leaders said they wanted a coach to help them deal with the stressors of work. Important fact: Stress kills. This is the reason many leaders are changing everything from their diets to their desk chairs to their daily mindfulness routines. If supervisors avoid taking breaks, they will lose objectivity, energy, and miss out on seeing the greatness waiting for a refreshed supervisor to see and engage with clarity of mind, body, and spirit — let the healing begin. Finally, supervisors must know their baseline health, so they know how to avoid scary bouts with who knows-what lurking around in their gene pool waiting for stress and inactivity to green light an episode of dis-ease or disease. Get out, get some air, share some smiles, and live above the noise — supervisors deserve a live with a side of productivity.
8. DRIVE CHANGE RESPONSIBILITY: Beverage companies are telling us to drink responsibly in their commercials, because there are lives at stake. Organizational change is no different. A supervisor must manage themselves, before they can manage their employee’s through any organizational change. Supervisors must walk through their valley of despair and doubt, find clear resolution for themselves, and then provide their employees with opportunities to do the same. Remember, resistance is the fallback position, if no other option is available. Be wise and drive change responsibly, which begins with the supervisors getting themselves clear and present on what change means to them, gains/losses, behaviors to change, and a clear picture of the future they must commit too.
9. COMMUNICATING 1 to 1 AND 1 TO MANY: Unfortunately, many supervisors are given tons of training on communication that ultimately tells them their communication styles is wrong or flawed in more than a few ways. This is depressing even though well intentioned. If anything, supervisor must take time understanding the ever changing landscape of stakeholder’s preferred communication styles, idiosyncrasies, and their need to be actively listened too with feedback that confirms all of the above was taken in by a supervisor. Impossible to do? Not at all. Supervisors would be well advised to listen more than they talk, because the organization is telling them something about each of its players. Supervisors should focus on listening more and the right answers will be glaringly apparent. People are creatures of habits. Watch the patterns and they’ll tell you how to persuade, influence, and connect with them. As the old adage goes, “Be interested not interesting” and people will write songs about the deeply profound supervisor, who listened more than they spoke and when they spoke — everyone stopped to listen.
10. READY A SUCCESSOR: The goal of everyone supervisor is to work themselves out of a job, so they can move up or expand their span of control, to encompass more people, tasks, and results for the organization. This means working with their boss, keeping close tabs on employee performance, leadership potential, and interest in supervisory leadership. Once an heir apparent has been identified, a supervisor should engage HR, check the rules, and communicate the rules of succession and how it’s not a guarantee of a promotion, but it definitely gives them a leg up on the guy who can’t make it back from lunch on time or the gal who is mastering social media on company time. Ultimately, it gives a supervisor someone to leave in charge, as they try on their boss’ desk, takes on career enriching assignments, or takes a half day or more being somewhere other than their desk.
As Supervisors embrace this strategic wisdom, they will be more receptive to contemporary training, because they will understand the critical “Why” of these top 10 Frontline Leadership skills and begin shifting their behavior. I believe every supervisor has greatness within them and they deserve the very best for their development as people, leaders, and role models for our employees and communities.
www.cpathgo.com “We help leaders SEE their PATHS and GO for it!”
John,
The Frontline Coach
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
• Fortune 50 Frontline Trainer, Coach, Speaker, and Writer
• Coached and developed thousands of Frontline Leaders across multiple disciplines
• 1–6 Gubernatorial Appointees tasked with allocating and monitoring $75 Million State Fund (2006–2008)
• Led training programs and academies for Toro, Walmart, Dish Network, Kaiser Permanente, and more…
