Synergistic Supervision and Job Satisfaction

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD

www.paulgerhardt.com

One of the most-important factors in creating a workplace where both customers and employees love comes right down to the quality of the supervisor. Essentially speaking, supervision means monitoring. Supervisors are very often the “glue”, which keeps people on track and the organization competitive and viable. Supervisors are the ones who set goals and help employees do the work of the organization and helping each one know when performance can be improved.

According to management studies, generally new employees have a higher probability to leave their organization than long-timers. Supervisors should be aware that this may be because employees need ample time to settle into the new organization. It is natural for employees to compare past employment and the current one. Since there will obviously be differences between past and present, this may be the root cause of dissatisfaction in a new employee. Supervisors should be aware of the enhanced chances of losing new employees. To reduce resignations of new employees, a holistic approach to supervision may be considered: “Synergistic” staff supervision.

Synergistic supervision involves discussing exemplary performance, conversations of future career plans, and mentioning performance that has area for improvement. It also involves conversations of personal attitudes and informal appraisals. The supervisor must convey and clarify what the organization thinks about each employee and help explain what is expected. Paying close attention to doing these aforementioned conversations may also result in improved communication between the professional and the supervisor. The newly joined employee will most-likely have greater job satisfaction. Even more satisfaction may result especially when she is clearly told about possible career opportunities that may come her way; if she stays and grows with the company.

The initial job orientation and workplace socialization of a new employee is vitally-essential. It creates awareness about the procedures and policies of the organization. It also gives insight into the culture and customs important within the company.

Here is an example: A young management graduate joins the organization ‘X’ as Junior Executive. The employee is brilliant, and the company has plans to train him in all the aspects of managing operational facilities at a different location. So, without communicating this to the employee, they start giving him factory related work. Since the employee doesn't know what the company has planned for him, he manages the factory data, but secretly he starts looking out for another job, because he feels he is overqualified to handle factory data. Finally, within 2 months, he resigns. Here, both the employee and the company are at loss. The company lost a brilliant employee, and the employee lost a great opportunity.

Such miscommunication can be avoided with the help of synergistic supervision. When the communication is open between the supervisor and the new professional, it builds trust and confidence and creates greater supervisor-new employee relationships. Often new employees face teething troubles, which are directly related to not being accustomed to the culture and customs of the new organization. She may look forward to the supervisor for support when communication channels are open, and will not jump off to find another job opportunity.

Smart supervisors must realize that the success of each employee, is generally established in the earliest days of employment. The supervisor’s main focus should be to mentor the new employee. The supervisor should help the new employee find social support and reassurance from the organization. The new employee must see opportunities for growth and his/her value to the organization.

Recruiting and hiring employees is one of the greatest costs to every organization. Supervisors must also realize that training for each job involves costs too. The bottom line is that it is vitally-important to retain every employee for a longer duration. It truly is in the best interest of the organization. Thus, the role of a supervisor in helping new professionals to settle down in the job is absolutely crucial.

Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All right reserved.

Informally Leading Success

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com

Business as usual probably is a key indicator that something VERY important is being neglected. That something may lead to ultimate failure. What is that very important thing? It is quite simple, but vitally essential. That something is recognizing the numerous efforts put forth by the informal leaders in your organization. Everyone knows that leaders play a crucial role in the success of each organization. Formal leaders are usually titled managers. Managers must always find ways to create value for employees, and give them no reason to be anything but loyal while focusing on to delivering the best results for valued clients and team. Creating value for employees means giving exemplary support, systems, benefits, opportunities for growth, and a positive working environment.

Effective leadership is the foundation of exceptional customer service and organizational greatness. Leadership is a phenomenon that occurs at every level. It is not only a formal, but informal too. The presence of leadership should be visible in the quality of a vibrant organization’s customer service and in team effectiveness.

Informal leaders emerge throughout every organization. They thrive when formal leaders recognize and praise successes of every size in a genuinely appreciative way. Informal leaders are the employees that are giving their best in accomplishing tasks and goals. They are the ones who are showing pride in going above and beyond, while looking for ways to make things even better in their departments and company. Although informal leaders have roles that are different from official leaders who have been appointed by the organization, their accomplishments are as important to the success of the organization as any manager’s. Smart leaders recognize these informal leaders and help them flourish and grow.

Managers can recognize informal leaders as those individuals who are consistently contributing to accomplishing goals, facilitating work and offering direction, support and other necessities to team co-workers. Informal leaders pave the way for success and allow others to follow. Smart managers must recognize the power these informal leaders have. Their influence can be either positive or the opposite if not his/her accomplishments are not genuinely shown appreciation on a regular basis.

The actions informal leaders are powerful in motiving, inspiring and influencing the actions, ideas and perceptions of other employees. Therefore, informal leader’s actions must be fostered, praised and allowed to serve as role models for exemplary work performance. Smart managers know that workers who are happy while on the job, wholeheartedly give his/her best, greets customers in a positive way, helps colleagues solve problems, and positively influence other workers. Happy informal leaders inspire their colleagues to be successful in accomplishing excellence in all they do.

Informal leaders truly are the ones who make it possible for each department and team to make change and maintain daily operations. The informal leader’s ability to influence excellence stems from giving trust and recognizing trustworthiness. Leaders must celebrate informal leaders create systems that enable them to do what they do best. By doing so, formal leaders will soon recognize a kind of charisma and magnetism which helps them to influence success in countless ways by their followers.

After all, informal leaders are often the ones who build team spirit and create an eagerness in employees to be motivated in performing excellence and creativity in their work. When it comes to the delivery of customer satisfaction, informal leaders can influence greater levels of quality service that their co-workers will emulate. Informal leaders make it possible for leaders to be appointed by their organization. It is informal leaders that truly are the backbone of success.

Smart managers recognize that an informal leader’s ability to direct and influence others rests on his or her support by their managers. Leaders support and cultivate talent. They evoke confidence, build trust and always show genuine respect to others. Informal leaders are exceptionally important to organizations. They are the ones who build the success of the formal leaders. Therefore, informal leaders must always feel supported and genuinely appreciated on a daily basis. Informal leaders who do not feel supported and valued will not support the vision and the goals of their organization’s formal leaders. When this happens, the informal leaders can become barriers to the organizations.

The bottom line is leaders identify who your informal leaders are. Give them what they need to be successful. Their success is your success!

Supervisory Skill Essentials

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
www.paulgerhardt.com

A vast number of people would say that supervision is about getting results. However, the question is, will supervisors who demand compliance without questions and demand immediate results be effective in their role?

Whether you are a supervisor or not, if you are in a position where you are required to direct other people’s activity, then you definitely need to review your supervisory skills. The main objective in leading people is to maximize potential for getting better results.

Essentially, effective supervision can be boiled down to building positive working relationships. Although trust between people requires some time to develop, once it does, supportive efforts and thoughts can be applied to whatever situation occurs. A result of effective leadership can be seen when conflicts become minimized, cohesion among employees is evident and time is maximized.

The best leaders know that supervisors should be able to trust each employee to get their tasks done satisfactorily and exceptionally. Likewise, each employee should be able to trust his or her supervisor to give perceived ample support and fair compensation.

Generally, employees have high expectations for leaders in their workplace. Employees want and need to be treated respectfully and with dignity. When there is trust, a strong working relationship builds the commitment that gets the work done.

Effective supervisors understand the importance of training their employees and helping develop each one properly. It truly should be seen as a sincere joy to take time to refine employee’s skills. The benefit of this is quite obvious. Employers can lower costs by retaining employees and helping each employee see themselves as challenged and valued. In doing so, workers should have the skills and support to meet the future needs of the organization. Training also benefits the employee as it gives him or her, an opportunity to grow and take on new roles and responsibilities within the workplace. Responsibility and opportunities for growth motivate.

Employees who no longer feel that they can grow within an organization will most likely seek better employment elsewhere. Consider this, if the company takes the time to train their employees to use new technology and updates the employees’ skills with handling contemporary technology, the employees would most likely find reasons to look elsewhere.

Supervisors must also be coaches. Coaching is all about developing employees to become self-directed and make effective decisions. It takes a great deal of effort and time to always have to stand over someone’s shoulder to make sure the work gets done. With all the responsibilities that supervisors have, it pays and makes excellent sense to trust employees enough to be able to delegate work and support employees through coaching.

There are often cases where supervisors are tasked with resolving conflicts. Conflict resolution is very important as any conflict within a team can affect the performance of the employees. When performance gets affected, the bottom line can get impacted. It pays to learn how to develop conflict management skills.

The workplace must feel safe for all involved. Supervisors are often tasked with maintaining safety. This to is a very important skill that must be taken seriously and involves proper training. Supervisors must make it clear that safety is crucial. This may initially and often be done by communicating to the employees that they are valued and vitally important. Having a safe place to work helps the organization to become more productive. Lower costs keep organizations strong, which ultimately should result in more job security for everyone.

Excellent supervisory skills are vitally important! Making sure that your leadership skills are kept sharp can be the best investment anyone can make. The benefits of effective leadership skills are higher profits, enhanced productivity, increased employee confidence, greater employee satisfaction, a safe work environment and a positive workplace with an improved bottom line.

The Workplace Golden Rule: Supervisor and Friend

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD

Should a supervisor be “friends” with his employees? This is a question that has been asked for the last few decades. The fact of the matter is that the relationship between a supervisor and supervisee can be very tricky. Often, the supervisee is at the receiving end because of the hierarchy. Therefore, to protect the interests of the supervisee, there are certain ethical standards that a supervisor needs to adhere to. Exhibiting ethical behavior indicates professional approach of a supervisor. Being friendly and a supervisory, while practicing ethical workplace actions is key.

It is the duty of a supervisor to provide a positive and supportive atmosphere that boosts personal and professional growth of the supervisee. It includes doing training, helping employees learn the nuances of their job, and supporting the supervisee in whatever way possible. Ultimately it is all about seeing that the client is well served by the supervisee. This is best done by treating the employee well and in a manner that the supervisor would like to see the client to be treated. This of course sounds like the Workplace Golden Rule.

Although it is believed that most supervisors adhere to ethical practices like updating the supervisee of expectations regularly, the less obvious fact may be that “busy-ness” of running a business sometimes inhibits meeting employees regularly enough. Therefore there may be a significant gap in the necessary imparting of workplace knowledge about the expected practices, cultural nuances, legal and ethical responsibilities, and so forth. However, some scholarly research suggests that most supervisors do not adhere to a significant level of ethical guidelines. One example of this may be, maintaining transparency within the department. Research indicates that as many as 50% supervisors do not adhere to ethical behavior guidelines. This may be due to supervisors wanting to maintain a sense of being “cool” or being a friend to those he supervises.

It is observed that when supervisors don’t comply with the ethical guidelines that it reflects as a weak workplace alliance by the supervisor.

Consider these three important supervisory alliance dynamics:

a) Relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee

b) Understanding of the purview of supervision

c) An understanding of the tasks that will be supervised

When there is a strong work relationship between the supervisor and supervisee, studies show that it will usually result in improved efficiency, role clarity and transparency. Likewise, it predominantly results in greater job satisfaction for the supervisee.

Knowing this gives supervisors great responsibility and a fine line to walk. Human Resource professionals will tell you that many a times, supervisors adhere to unethical practices, such as sexual overtures, discrimination between the supervisees, lack of transparency due to relationship dynamics. Often, a supervisor who is not confident about himself may resort to dirty tactics such as non-communication of the workplace expectations or guidelines. He may fail to delegate important work, and other poor practices out of favoritism or fear of some relationship dynamic. Of course, this will have a negative impact on productivity of the supervisee and will also result in workplace dissatisfaction. In circumstances like these, the employee may suffer from anxiety. Supervisee anxiety is a condition where the supervisee is in a constant state of apprehension, stress, uneasiness and fear whenever the supervisee has to interact with the supervisor. In many cases, the supervisee will carry the grudge home, and it will affect her family life as well.

Supervisors must realize that it is very common for employees to feel slightly anxious while dealing with a supervisor, because of the nature of ‘boss-subordinate’ relationship. However, if the employee feels overly anxious, then it should be a cause for concern. Over anxiety will adversely affect employee performance. She will start showing a lack of interest, and will show negative response to the supervision. For example, if a supervisee feels that the supervisor favors another employee in the department, and divulges confidential information to that employee, then, she will ultimately and understandably lose trust in the supervisor. This will have a great impact on her work. Her self-esteem be deteriorate and consequentially, the response to supervision and workplace responsibility/effectiveness. Worst of all, the supervisee too may resort to doing unethical activities which sabotages the complete success of the department. One of the most common unethical supervisee behaviors is to bypass the authority. This may be a good thing if it gets the team working on the correct path to success. It may also result in termination to individual team members, including the supervisor.

Supervisors must be friendly to all employees ALL OF THE TIME. They must never compromise ethical practices. Supervisees may resort to unethical behavior if they feel they are being treated poorly or unethically. Therefore, the Golden Rule of the Workplace is about being kind, making time to share information regularly, not showing favoritism, and fix what needs to be fixed. Little things can lead to big things before you know it.

For more information, contact Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD at: www.paulgerhardt.com

The Secrets of Career Advancement and Job Satisfaction

Have you ever wondered why some people get the best jobs—while as hard as you work, you seem to never catch a break? Tons of research has been conducted that exposed career management best-practices that lead to the swiftest advancement. Research shows that it may be specific attitudes may be the key to obtaining that dream job and promotion. These career-related attitudes like job satisfaction are clearly linked to promotions. Research results demonstrate that frequency of using career management best-practices correlate positively to organizational commitment and job satisfaction.

Job satisfaction and career satisfaction relate to happiness with a person’s life at work and also contribute to contentment in varying ways. Career satisfaction can be defined as a level of happiness that is experienced via a person’s choice of employment. Job satisfaction stems from a person’s present work situation and also depends on factors like location of the job, working conditions and other influences. The opposite of job satisfaction is actually not job dissatisfaction, it really is no job satisfaction.

It is considered, as common knowledge, that probably one of the most important factors in a successful organization is job satisfaction. It has been said that job satisfaction is related to a person’s sense of meaning and effectiveness within the workplace as against factors that are external.

It has been found that recognition, achievement, responsibility and the work itself are job satisfaction’s most influential factors. These factors are more influential than status, working condition or interpersonal relations. Research further concluded that the feelings workers have about what they have achieved and have been recognized for are the most common feelings associated with increased job satisfaction.

In numerous studies, it was discovered that the factors associated with job dissatisfaction have a different set of relationships. It has been identified that the strongest factor associated with dissatisfaction on the job is the perception of unfairness. Other factors of job dissatisfaction relate to perceptions of having a lack of opportunities to professionally develop or grow, as well as discontent with pay.

Factors that dissatisfy could then lead to the development of behaviors and attitudes that would clearly indicate that there are challenges in the workplace that are not being addressed. However, it has been studied that things that may lead to job dissatisfaction are not the mirror images of job satisfiers.

In some literature related to motivation and career success, it has often been assumed that satisfaction and motivation are similar and can even be synonymous. However, motivation and satisfaction are very different in terms of performance and reward. Motivation is basically influenced by perceptions about the relationship between rewards and performance that are forward-looking. However, satisfaction is related to how individuals feel about the rewards that they have been given. In simpler terms, motivation is an outcome of expectations of what will happen in the future while satisfaction is about past experiences.

Career management can be defined as a process through which people develop an understanding of their environment and themselves. It is about acquiring feedback regarding their progress in their careers, and helps formulate strategies and career goals. The best-practices of career management aim to help workers develop new skills or to update their old skills. Effective managers help employees make better career and job choices and assist in getting them to be prepared for higher levels of responsibility within the workplace.

Smart managers are taking note of studies that show frequency of using various career management practices is positively linked to job satisfaction and an individual’s commitment to the organization. Also, the frequency of use of different career management practices is inversely related with turnover.

In short, successful organizations are always doing things to help their individual members grow within the workplace. Managers cultivate a positive environment where people see themselves as being treated fairly and always being given tools to grow and be their very best.

For more information contact Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD. www.paulgerhardt.com

Consider Our Aging Workforce Wisely

Right now, we appear to have serious unemployment issues across the United States. However, it is important to also realize that every day; approximately 10,000 Americans are turning 65. Many organizations in all parts of the globe are experiencing certain shifts in their population of employees. These shifts result in workforces that are aging and are also simultaneously becoming age-diverse. This means that decision-makers and coworkers alike in every type of organization should be more aware of the capabilities and needs of their employees. Being cognizant of workers in all age groups ideally cultivates creativity and efficiency. In turn, this yields stronger and more competitive organizations.

Many researches have tracked the age variable and how it manifests itself in terms of worker’s behaviors, goals and emotions. Although there is no disagreement regarding the fact that people experience changes differently in those aspects as they age, there is some disagreement as to what are the mechanisms involved and how prominent or widespread the changes are in the workplace.

Numerous studies regarding age differences in work values and attitudes illuminate a topic that employers must stand up and pay attention to immediately. There are differences in views of aging. Developmental theorists are beginning to advocate for a more optimistic view. Some considerations employers should think about and create policy about involve proactively focusing more on the losses and detriments associated with an aging employee-base.

Relationships need to matter in the workplace. Consider the phenomena of relationships with other members of society which are often altered in quality or are even severed when people age. This gives a perception that as adults grow older, they disengage from society. There has been research that has shown that as adults age there is a decrease in the number of their social circles and these results in a greater distance from society.

Most workplaces require employees to be a functioning important member of a team. Distancing or disengagement of employees may have implications on the performance of aging adults in the workplace. This is because organizations may begin to expect that the older members of their workforce are more likely to withdraw or engage in behaviors that are counter-productive due to their disengagement. The good news is that there is research that clearly suggests that this is not really the case.

Employers may find that the aging process is associated not with disengagement, but is associated with continuity. Studies suggest that as adults age, they continue to strive for maintaining the same activities, behaviors, relationships and personalities. As they maintain these elements of their lives, older adults continue a connection with their experiences. There is empirical evidence that suggest that many aging adults are able to maintain continuity in their personal traits, steadiness with their close relationships, and intelligence. It has also been found that aging adults have a tendency to maintain their social participation following the demise of a spouse and show stability in their participation in religious activities over their lifespan.

There are also studies that have revealed that aging adults perceive themselves as being the same individual all their lives and there is also a significant stability in how they perceive specific characteristics about themselves. This also has important implications in the workplace as older adults would be more concerned with the maintenance of good relationships at work and continuing good performance in the job. It has been found that older workers have a tendency to display fewer withdrawal behaviors, continue behaviors which maintain efficiency and productivity, and display more safety behaviors.

With that said, it will be interesting to see how workplaces change with these new age dynamics. Organizations must utilize EVERY employee wisely in order to maintain competitiveness in their market.

What Every Leader Should Know About The Bottom Line

If you were to do a random survey on what the average person believed the primary goal of a supervisor is, you would most-likely find that the majority would say that supervision is about getting results. However, the deeper question about leadership is, whether supervisors who demand absolute compliance to company policies without questions and demand immediate results be absolutely or mostly-effective in their role?

Whether you are a supervisor or not, chances are that you have one if you are currently employed. If you are in a position where you are required to direct other people’s activity, then you definitely need to take a deep inward look into your supervisory skills and practices. The most-effective leaders know that this truly is the key to maximizing one’s own personal potential for getting better results from the people you direct. We must always be in the practice of knowing what we know and affirming what serves us and our organization well in how we deliver leadership.

Supervision is all about building high-quality working relationships with the people we work with. Trust between and among all team members always requires time to develop. However, once it does, synergy, production and communication can be maximized. No matter what the task, individual efforts and thoughts can soon assuredly be applied to whatever situation arises. Another by-product of well-developed trust is that conflicts become minimized and as a result, time is both saved and maximized. Trust is at the foundation of high performing teams!

Teams are complex, but it is all about trust. The best supervisors know that they should always be able to unquestionably trust an employee to get a job done satisfactorily. Likewise, the employee should be able to trust his or her supervisor to give unwavering and unquestionable support, as well as fair compensation. Generally, employees have high expectations for leadership in the workplace. Employees want to be treated with deep respect and dignity. When there is tried-and-true trust, a strong working relationship builds the maximized commitment that gets the work done well—efficiently AND effectively.

Excellent supervisors never skimp on training their employees and help develop them to be the best they can ultimately be. Successful leaders are always happy to take time to refine their employees’ skills and bring in experts to continue the growth that every person needs to stay fresh and motivated. The benefit of constantly investing in updating employee skills is quite obvious. Employers can retain the employees, which ultimately lowers costs of doing business. Likewise, training builds skills to grow as well as meet the future needs of the business.

These are the most-competitive times in all of history. Organizations must learn to retain talent and keep them loyal. Losing an employee to the competition has immeasurable costs. Of course training also benefits each employee. It gives him or her, an opportunity to grow and take on new roles and responsibilities within the workplace. There is always room in EVERY smartly-competitive organization for employee growth.

Employees who no longer feel that they can grow within an organization will most likely seek better employment elsewhere. For example, most of the work that is done these days involves an interface with some form of technology. If the company takes the time to train their employees to use the newest technology and intellectual training, it enhances the employees’ skills with handling the technology current as well as helps the employee learn more about himself/herself. As a result, the employees would be most likely stay for a long time with the organization that paid for that training.

Supervisors are also coaches. They rely on their skills in coaching to develop their employees to become self-directed. It takes a lot of effort and time to always have to stand over someone’s shoulder to make sure the work gets done. With all the responsibilities that supervisors have, it pays to be able to delegate work and support employees with coaching.

There are often cases where supervisors are tasked with resolving conflicts. Conflict resolution is very important for leaders at every level to understand. In every organization with multiple employees, conflict within a team can affect the performance of the employees and the reputation of the organization. When performance gets affected, the bottom line ultimately will be impacted. Conflict can be very expensive for organizations.

Leaders must always be cognoscente that the workplace always needs to be safe. Smart supervisors should take on the responsibility of maintaining safety. This is an exceedingly important skill. When a supervisor make it clear that safety is crucial, he or she is ultimately communicating to the employees that they are valued and important. Of course a side-benefit of having a safe place to work is that it helps the organization to become more productive and profitable. Injuries nickel and dime the profit and success off every organization.

Supervisory skills are exceptionally important. The most effective leaders are always making sure that their personal and employees’ skills are kept sharp. Truly, training can be the best investment anyone can make. The result of sharp supervisory skills will be increased employee confidence, greater employee satisfaction, a safe work environment and ultimately a positive workplace where all employees will crave to contribute to enhance performance and enhance profitability of the organization.

For More Information Visit: www.paulgerhardt.com