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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.

Many people keep a firearm as a home defense weapon and there's all kinds of debate about what's best, how to use it, etc. One older gentleman I know keeps a small revolver in his nightstand.

The revolver holds five rounds. Four are standards revolver rounds. One is loaded with birdshot. It's the round positioned to fire first.

My friend's reasoning is straightforward. If he awakes in the night with indications that there's an intruder in his house, he has two goals. The first goal is to drive the bad guy out without serious harm if he can.

That's what the birdshot is for. He figures he doesn't need great aim in the dark to score a hit with at least some of the shot. If he does, things will be painful but not lethal for the intruder.

Hopefully that will drive the intruder off. If it doesn't, there's another, potentially lethal round positioned to fire next.

I know that home defense experts can spend days debating whether my friend's strategy is a good one. But I see it as similar to what the great supervisors I've studied do when it comes to discipline.

If you've got people working for you, most of your supervisory work will be informal and undocumented. For most of the people on your team, most of the time, that will work just fine. But not always.

There will be times when performance or behavior don't improve and you have to do something. But what? Many supervisors jump right to documentation and discipline. It's the equivalent of firing their potentially lethal round.

Great supervisors do something else. They have what I call in my Working Supervisor's Support Kit a Transitional Conversation.

In a Transitional Supervisory Conversation, you tell your team member what you've noticed. You tell them that if the poor behavior or performance continues, you're going to watch closer, document, and possibly discipline.

That's the equivalent of my friend's birdshot round. It might sting a bit, but it often brings about improved behavior or performance without the need for more serious measures.

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.

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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.