The Invaluable Supervisor

Supervision is an indispensable part of management. It is essentially part of the necessary internal functions of an organization. Supervisory development is usually done internally by the managing authorities. Type of organization, level of employees, objectives, etc. obviously vary from one organization to organization. However, the basic functionality of the supervisor is essentially to the same. There may be minimal change in the supervisory functions based on the employees, strategies of the company, and other variables.

Supervision is very often mistaken as “leadership”. However, management, supervision and leadership have interrelated functions in each organization. The development of supervisory duties usually—and almost always has close association with leading and managing.

The supervisory function has been for years defined with a different outlook by differing regulating laws. Some studies on supervision state that it is considered the most important aspect for achieving the desired result. Several others pronounce that supervisors’ skills and knowledge are limited to technical aspects and the lack of other competencies resulting in ineffective output by employees. For instance, a supervisor may have good knowledge on the technical aspects of the organization to guide the employees; however the lack of proper communication can affect the outcome.

Similarly, a supervisor with poor interpersonal skills is more likely to ruin the performance of the subordinates, which obviously has an adverse effect on the organization. Eventually, development of supervisory function has become an important task as well as the responsibility of every manager for accomplishment of objectives and goals.

Supervisory development is a critical task that involves fulfilment of various needs of management and employees. The supervisor should be competent enough to perform the duties with great efficiency and effectiveness as well. Below are some of the essential basic aspects considered vital for supervision, to be met in development of supervision:

• · Great Responsibility

• · Excellent Communication – Oral and Written

• · Great interpersonal skills

• · Adaptability

• · Ability to make decisions and solve problems

• · Ability to deal with all level of employees

Supervision is a challenging task which supervisors should be well-versed in and able to handle the versatile functions effectively. Hence, the basic aspect of supervisory development includes the requirement of knowledge and skill on the all essential supervisory functions.

In addition, other major functions of supervisory development involve recruitment, delegating and directing the task, evaluation of the task performed, streamlining the work, etc. Additional or secondary functions involves the supervisor’s duty to allocate work, promote the employees, recall the work done, take disciplinary actions on irresponsible employees, suspend or terminate the employees with poor performance, grievance review, ensure performance appraisal and rewards for the employees at appropriate time, etc and other duties as assigned by the management from time to time.

Although supervision involves multifaceted responsibilities, the power of the supervisor is limited over the power of the manager. However, it is the ultimate responsibility of the supervisor to motivate the employees towards accomplishing the objectives of the organization in a timely fashion. In organizations where supervisors are trained properly, there should be essentially no drop in the performance and efficiency of employees. Supervisor development should be focused on filling the gaps between the management functions as well the technical aspects. Training may seem like a waste of company funds to some. However, in the long-run it provides un-calculable returns and greater profits for the organization.

Supervision Success Tips and Work Ethic

Research indicates that several factors affect work ethic in an individual. Certain work ethic can be traced back to childhood. Other particulars ethics are inculcated as a result of each employee’s supervision and experience.

It may sound strange, but childhood experiences play a major role in how a person behaves at work. Values such as discipline and self-control are learned in early childhood. Children who met their goals as kids, or rather performed to satisfy parents in the childhood, usually have stronger work ethics as grown ups. Such employees are highly disciplined, take initiative on their own, and adapt to work culture faster.

Parents with authoritative traits help develop work ethic in their children. These kids become self-reliant and initiative-takers in their career. Family background traits shown by the parents help to develop work ethic in children.

Here is a short list for supervisors in developing effective work ethics in employees:

• Create and maintain a positive working environment that boosts employee morale and help them excel their tasks.

• Set working norms for the group and encourage the team and the supervisors that excel in their tasks and meet organizational goals.

• Set out detailed goals with regards to productivity, craftsmanship quality etc, so that each individual is clear about the organizational expectations. The goals are clearly laid down right at the time of hiring a new employee, and taking him through the orientation process. Also, while delegating work to the employees, the expectations are clearly given. If there is need, the supervisor may also provide training, and explain how a task is to be handled. For example, while creating a new design for a label, the supervisor will clearly mention the prefer color schemes etc,

• Create an ambiance that the supervisees will enjoy working in the environment. This is not to say that the organization will relax the norms or standards, but it means that the atmosphere will be such that the supervisees will not have any fear while voicing their opinion.

• There should be effective delegation and individual work accountability.

• The supervisor should ensure that each individual in his team is allocated work as per his abilities, and also he should help cultivate commitment amongst the team members by being totally committed to organizational goals. He should motivate the team members and seek active participation of each individual.

• The supervisor should also carry on performance appraisal periodically within the department and feedback should be given to the supervisee. The evaluation should be comprehensive and should involve all the aspects such as quality of work, on time delivery, punctuality, attendance, work attitude, behavior, strengths, weaknesses, ability to think out of the box, and so forth

• The employees that excelled in performance should be suitably rewarded, in terms of recognition and appreciation and even be paid better emoluments to keep him motivated.

• Motivate supervisees through words and action.

In a nut shell, work ethic would depend on several factors, some beyond the control of a supervisor. Yet, a supervisor can contribute to better work ethic amongst his subordinates by following the guidelines mentioned above.

Work Ethic in Generation X

Work ethic refers to the code of conduct in the workplace. Just as values differ with age, so it would seem in the case of work ethic. Some new research suggests that middle-aged people are as generally having a stronger work ethic, while the younger generation—folks between the ages of 18 to 35 years typically are not believed to have the same work ethic as their predecessors.

Some research suggests that one of the primary reasons for this variance in work ethic may be because these many companies are in transition to stay competitive and have resorted to pink slips, lay offs, pay cuts and so on. There is no surety of financial security even if an employee showed exceptional talent and dedication in his performance. Doing what you are told no longer gives employees job security.

Some also research suggests that Generation X is a generation of lazy, non-dedicated, materialistic workers, where all they want is quick money without the hard work involved. However, I believe that many will agree that that is not the case. When Gen-Xers see that hard work doesn’t always pay off--and can still result in layoffs, they cannot be blamed for obviously seeing no value in sticking to one organization for very long.

One of the most interesting stereotypes of Generation X is that they are risk takers. Therefore, when they see an opportunity with better pay and career prospects, they often do not shy away from accepting the challenges of a new job and having to deal with new people. This is a generation that believes that change is the essence of life. One can argue that this generation doesn’t often attach emotions to their work. However, we are all living in difficult times, where if any of us don’t move along, we may be pushed out, discontinued and/or replaced. Since we are now a GLOBAL marketplace, there is lot more competition in these present days, compared to any years in the past.

For Generation X, they need to be technically savvy and able to survive in a changing workplace. Work ethics for people at the onset of a new career need to be dependable, have the ability to be a ‘go-getter’, should be able to work well in a team, able to keep abreast of technological advancements, must be highly computer literate and possess the necessary skills as the job demands. The ability to think out of the box is what distinguishes Generation X from the other generations.

Who would ever imagine that a teenager or someone in their early twenties can become a millionaire just by hosting a social media website where friends meet friends? Mark Zuckerberg who changed the Internet world and modes of communication through his revolutionary “Facebook”, is a billionaire, and he is still in his twenties!

The world of internet and Web 2.0 has changed the equations. The work ethics are now more demanding on this generation. Many people can work from home, but they are putting in lot more hours than an average office go-er.

With all said and done, the most important work ethic for Generation X remains commitment and communication skills. No matter if he or she is working in a traditional organization, or is self employed working with people of different nationalities, work ethic is important. Learning how to get the best out of every worker, no matter the generation is a constantly changing part of the modern work environment.

Self-Awareness: More Important Than You May Think

What is self awareness? Self awareness is an individual trait. It means being able to observe, analyze and evaluate one’s own self objectively, without any bias. Chinese proverbs suggest that knowing yourself first is greater than understanding others. We might say, self-awareness is about truly knowing our own strengths and weaknesses.

Essentially, self-awareness can be broken down into four basic stages, namely: self-focused attention, evaluation, reaction, and motivated action. This leadership lesson takes a look at each of these.

Self-focused attention can also be called as a ‘hero’ image, because here, the individual evaluates his own worth by comparing himself with the ideal self image. It is important to know that there are almost always some essential differences in one’s own real image and their ideal image. Of course, when a person realizes the differences in these two images, he has two basic choices. He can either react to it by working towards narrowing the differences or he may stop the process of the evaluation completely.

Successful leaders have the ability to bridge the gap between the real image and the ideal self image. It all begins by taking positive steps to getting closer every day and every in action he can to become that ideal self-image. It is all about clearly knowing what that ideal image looks like and being proactive in every action to accomplish it—one action at a time.

A self-aware leader evaluates himself carefully, and incorporates the necessary changes in his behavior after doing a personal and objective analysis. This may not always be easy to do. It starts with looking at relationships and the interactions with each person, one at a time. Self-aware leaders are well aware of how others perceive them. They incorporate these perceptions in self-evaluation as accurately as possible. Getting the ego out of the evaluation process is key!

Some of the tools used by self-aware individuals for self evaluation are reports, supervisor’s perception, peer opinion, subordinate’s opinion etc. In my consulting practice, I use a 360 degree assessment where the leader, co-workers and superiors are asked to evaluate the leader. Differences in self-rating and rating by others are bound to arise.

Many a times, the results of a self-evaluation may not be so clear. For example, a sales manager can easily know his worth from the reports of how he managed an ad campaign. A personnel manager can rate himself high if there are very few resignations in the organizations believing it is about a policy he created. Other variables may have come into play that may not be related to the decisions the leader believes shaped his level of success. There may be other factors that are not seen that have nothing to do with that leader. Low turnover may come from a terrible economy where folks are too scared to leave the security of a job they loathe. Sales may be high, but an old customer may have purchased more products due to an anticipated change in the market due to unusual circumstances—like a report that that product may reduce chances of getting cancer.

Research reveals that the future behavior of an individual is likely to depend on how close the self-rating and other ratings are. If the ratings almost agree, it may suggest that the individual has proactively taken steps to alter his behavior. If others are rating a leader are positive and similar to the leader’s self-evaluation, there’s no need for any change in the leader’s behavioral patterns.

When the ratings are in agreement over low performance, the individual will likely feel the heat in the job. This shows that while he is aware of his shortcomings, he lacks the initiative or the confidence to take positive steps in that direction. Almost anything can be changed about our personality. Some things take more effort than others, but it must start with a willingness to make those changes. Attitude, as they often say truly is everything!

In leadership behavioral studies, I have observed that individuals, whose ratings agree with the ratings of others, are more likely to succeed in that organization. These individuals are capable of foreseeing how they are evaluated by others and are able to adjust their behavior accordingly to get the desired results. This is a common trait shared by some of the most successful leaders in every industry.

The bottom line here is that self-awareness is positively linked to a host of intangible, but absolutely essential outcomes such as trust in the leader, follower satisfaction, commitment, effectiveness of the leader and much more.

Self-aware leaders are ABSOLUTELY MORE EFFECTIVE than others who have under-rated or over-rated their performance. How self-aware are you?

Social Skills of an Effective Leader and Competitive Team

A truly effective leader must possess adequate social skills to be effective. I am talking about leaders using a six dimensional approach while dealing with his superiors and subordinates. These are: Emotionally expressive; emotionally sensitive; controlling emotions; being socially expressive; and having social control.

Emotionally Expressive
A leader should be able to express his emotions fully to the subordinates, both verbally and non-verbally. When a leader is able to emote his expressions clearly, he is bound to inspire and motivate his team members. A simple classic example of this is when political leaders motivate people to vote for them. They inspire them to act in a way that brings the desired result for them. Emotions can make a huge positive difference in one’s career!

Emotional Sensitivity
A leader should be able to read, decode and gauge responses of each of her team members. The communication may be entirely non-verbal. However, leaders must be able to decipher the meaning accurately, if she wants to maintain career success. For example, a leader can decode the expressions of an unhappy employee or an employee who is looking out for alternative avenues of his expressions. Unhappy employees can easily sabotage the success of a team or even an organization. Ever gone to a restaurant and had terrible service from one waiter and months later that restaurant was gone? It sounds pretty simplistic, but I told 10 of my closest friends about how upset I was about the service there. I heard others with the same feelings, who undoubtedly told their friends too.

An emotionally sensitive leader should have detected the unhappiness of that employee and her customers. This may have made a huge difference in the success of that organization for sure.

Control of emotions
A highly effective leader remains completely in charge of her emotions. She doesn’t react spontaneously even in the worst situation. Rather she is able to think about the situation in an unbiased manner.

Sometimes, it means stepping away from a stressful or potentially stressful situation and thinking about what to do. It takes approximately 20 minutes to physically calm down and allow a human body to normalize and distress. Investing the time to not act in haste may save both money and valuable relationships!

Social Expressiveness
All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (girl in Jill’s case). Well, this holds true even more so in organizations. It becomes a leader’s responsibility to keep the work atmosphere light by sharing a humor and occasions to laugh with the coworkers. I am not suggesting that work should be taken lightly. I know that deadlines and tight schedules can be better met, when you do it with a smile and people who enjoy being around you.

Social Sensitivity
A leader should be able to understand the verbal communication in the present context. He should be able to weave the conversation and channel it in a positive direction, with the best interest of the organization in mind. For example, if there is disagreement with members within your team on an issue, it becomes the primary responsibility of the leader to re-channel the conversation in a way that the focus doesn’t shift anyone from the organization’s ultimate goals. Focus on getting relationships repaired in an authentic and meaningful way first. Shake hands and move forward!

Social Control
A leader must interact with every member of her team on a regular basis. Some experts suggest, every seven days at least! This may be challenging because coworkers usually have differing backgrounds, intellectual capacity and values. Given the situation, effective leaders must tactfully deal with her team members modifying her behaviors to suit the team member’s values and background.

Studies indicate that a leader that possesses all the six social skills have greater effective leadership quotients. Employees almost always react to a leadership based on her behavior as a leader. Leaders who can perceive the verbal and emotional cues of subordinates can and must change to be proactive in dealing properly for each individual situation. She/he must modify her/his actions or inaction accordingly, to satisfy the demands of each and every follower. It is a natural result, that the leader will garner support from team members with this simple concept. Ultimately a leaders’ social and emotional control has a positive impact on performance, the leader’s reputation, team members, as well as the organization.

Social and Emotional Control For a Transformational Leader

Have you ever wondered why some leaders are more popular than others? It is of course about getting the job done and overall effectiveness. However, it involves two other very important factors—social and emotional control.

Social control means exhibiting control on oneself when dealing with followers or while in public. It means behaving appropriately according to circumstances. This is about doing the right thing for the sake of an important aspect of the bigger picture—long term reputation.

Emotional control, as the name suggests means keeping emotions in check. It is about masking or suppressing expressed negative emotions in stressful situations. A transformational leader must exhibit these traits if she wants to be perceived as successful in the eyes of her followers, and of course for the sake of the organization as a whole.

By maintaining social and emotional control, leaders send positive signals to their team that the situation is under control. To be able to have control on public display of social and emotional behavior, the leader is also sending a message that similar behavior is expected from his followers. He thus influences and inspires his followers.

Many times, in the bigger interests of the organization, leaders must mask anger and frustration. For example, frustration can be a natural result when sales targets are not met. At such times, instead of losing social and emotional control and firing up emotions at anyone around. The leader must become aware how he is feeling and realize that outbursts of anger will ultimately portray a weak picture of the leader. In the long run, that out of control leader will not be able to motivate his followers.

For this reason, it is important to remember that battles are won if the leader exudes confidence even in the worst scenario. Situations handled with wisdom and maturity strengthen teams and promote innovation that takes productivity to the next level.

It is important to know that this does not mean that the leader should never ever express displeasure over anything. Yes, they may show their displeasure on not being able to achieve a sales target. They may have to warn employees to be on their toes and give their 100% and that meeting each sales target is a number one priority. But there should be an awareness to restrain negative emotions while dealing with the situation. Today’s leaders must be aware of their actions and that fiery outbursts rarely ignite favorable response from the subordinates over long periods of time. It is a leader’s task to motivate and create a sense of urgency in each employee and focus on accomplishing organizational goals with excellence and effectiveness.

Today’s leaders must maintain a perfect balance between suppressing his sentiments and expressing sentiments of importance to his followers. This is particularly true when dealing with the subordinates individually. Effective leaders know that each employee is different and unique. So his perception of each situation also differs. One subordinate may become depressed on hearing a negative comment from the superior, while the same comment may push another follower to do better. So, it becomes important for leaders to understand individual needs and try to alter her behavior suitably while dealing with each individual.

Finally, leaders should be able to stimulate every subordinate intellectually. This means, effective leaders should challenge team members to find solutions to existing problems. She should motivate each employee to think creatively. Leaders should be bold risk takers, and NEVER afraid to fail.

If leaders do not show support when a subordinate fails while trying a new idea, it may ultimately deter followers from experimenting and creating innovative new ideas in the future. Innovation is the key to the success of every modern organization in this ever changing competitive global market. Stagnation and apathy hinders growth in organizations both large and small. It is ultimately the fault of individual leaders. Therefore, effective leaders must learn to restrain negative social and emotional displays and thereby provide an atmosphere conducive for creativity, growth and even short-term failure due to calculated risks. Without risks, there cannot be growth.