New to supervision? Learn what you need to know to be the best

You’ve gone from being the star employee to the newest supervisor at your property. Now what? How do you make sure you are as successful in your new job as you were in the one you were promoted from?

You already have all the technical skills needed to perform your job. That’s likely what got you promoted. You were good at doing what you did as a front desk representative, a room attendant, or a restaurant server. Now, though, you need more than technical skills. Successful supervisors need human relations skills and strategic skills.

People Skills

Your people skills will help you work well with guests, employees, co-workers and upper management:

· Guests: Not only do you have to continue to exceed guest expectations, but you have to motivate and train your employees to provide superior guest service that consistently communicates your brand’s message.

· Employees: You are now responsible for motivating employees. Make your staff part of the decision-making process to show them they are valuable. Be sincere and consistent, friendly, fair and firm. Make sure the decisions you make are business ones and not personal ones.

· Co-workers: It is important that you are a team player and support other supervisors. Be a good communicator and work cooperatively with your co-workers throughout the property.

· Management: Other management includes your supervisor, other managers at the property, the general manager and executives in the corporate headquarters. Some responsibilities to them include operating within budget limitations, keeping records, and writing reports on time.

Strategic Skills

Your strategic skills help you see how your department and your work fit in with the whole property and its goals. Strategic skills involve:

· Planning: You plan your objectives and decide how to reach them. You do things like preparing schedules, arranging training, setting up special events, and figuring out how best to use such resources as employees, equipment, and time.

· Organizing: You carry out management’s decisions about how the work and responsibilities in your department will be divided. You might help with recruiting and hiring. You might conduct training.

· Leading: You motivate and guide your employees so they can meet department and property goals. It falls on your shoulders to oversee, motivate, evaluate, and discipline employees.

· Monitoring: You follow up to make sure plans are properly carried out. You will evaluate the performance of your area to determine whether you are meeting service standards and what corrective action needs to be taken if you are not.

Supervisory skills don’t just come naturally; you have to learn and develop them. Lots of people before you have taken on the challenge of being a new supervisor and have discovered that the promotion alone doesn’t mean they know everything they need to know. That’s why hospitality experts have developed training and certification for supervisors that support them in their new positions.

Some of the most industry reviewed and validated training can be found at the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute. Supervisory Skill Builders is time- and industry-tested and has been used by supervisors throughout the world. It also prepares you for the Certified Hospitality Supervisor (CHS) certification that validates the new skills you have learned.

Earn your supervisory certification and show staff and guests that you have what it takes to excel in your new responsibilities as a supervisor.