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.
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