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The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter

Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.

Find out more about Wally's coaching services.

Here's an exercise you can perform right there in your office. First, ask purchasing for a spec sheet for some part or other. Something like a carriage bolt will do.

Got it? Now pull out a job description for yourself or anyone of your choosing.

Lay them side by side on your desk. They both outline specifications. The carriage bolt should be made of a particular material and should have particular threading. The person filling the job should have a certain level of education and a particular skill set.

The carriage bolts we buy don't change after we buy them. The people we hire do change. But we assign the ability to make decisions based on the job description not the fitness of the individual filling the job to make the decisions.

One carriage bolt that meets our spec is very much like every other carriage bolt. But every person is different.

The result is that in most situations the jobs people actually do vary from the jobs described with great precision on their job description. People and their supervisors create workarounds.

We need something different and better. We need to put jobs together based on skills, strengths and team needs. We need be flexible about what we expect people to do and what decisions we allow them to make as they grow and develop and show their willingness to work.

The idea that people are interchangeable parts and that there is one best way to do every job is so embedded in our thinking that we never question it. We need to.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

Request your free copy of "Meeting the Challenges of the Boomer Brain Drain: An integrated approach."

Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.