One Thing You can do to Supervise Better
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Jack Palance was one of the great movie tough guys of all time. And in City Slickers, Palance got to be both tough and comedic as Curly Washburn. Washburn was the grizzled old cowboy who faces off against the city slickers led by Billy Crystal, who come to his dude ranch for vacation.
Curly tells the slickers that the secret of life is "one thing." When he mouths the phrase, he holds up one finger to emphasize his point.
We never find out what Curly's secret of life is. But I can tell you the one thing that's the secret of success as a supervisor.
If you're a boss, part of your job is supervision. That's where you work directly with your team members. That's where you're concerned with behavior and performance.
The one thing you should do is simple. Show up a lot.
If you show up a lot, good things start to happen. For starters, the fact that you're around ceases to be a special event. That eliminates all the wasted motion when team members think they should present you with a special, "sanitized" version of the workplace.
Many supervisors only show up when they've got news to deliver. That news affects the lives of team members. Their stress levels often increase because they don't know what kind of news will be coming their way. When you show up a lot, that stress goes away.
When you show up a lot you maximize the opportunities to let your team members know what's important. You maximize the opportunities to learn about each of them. You learn what people do well. You catch problems early.
Most importantly, when you show up a lot you create opportunities to have the conversations that are the basis of all good supervision. Those conversations are where you develop relationships and knowledge that help you accomplish the mission while you care for your people.
Boss's Bottom Line
Showing up a lot is easy but very few supervisors do it. If you do, you, your team, and your team members will all do better.
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.
Very good post, Wally. This is so simple and resistant to any other 'management' type advice we seem to get nowadays on blog after blog. I think it takes someone with experience and insight to speak so directly to us all.
Well done.
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Thanks for those kind words. I confess that I get a little nuts when I hear advice like "motivate your people." I remember getting advice like that in the beginning of my career and thinking, "OK, sounds good, how do I do it?" But I know this for sure, if you show up a lot and have conversations with your people, your odds of success go way, way up.
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Liked this post a lot! I can relate to it since I worked for supervisors who showed-up and others that made their visits feel more like a courtesy call. Guess what? The supervisor that showed-up is now my mentor and stands as my reference till date. The team's morale and productivity was at its best when under this supervisor. Wish there were more of them.
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Thanks for that "testimonial." All the supervisors I studied in my research used the "showing up" behavior, though few of them made it a conscious strategy.
In my classes and Working Supervisor's Support Kit (http://www.threestarleadership.com/supervisorsupportkit/ ) I try to get new supervisors to start with this as a conscious behavior and turn it into a habit. I think it's one of the reasons that when we follow up with people who've taken the training, they find it useful.
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This is something I notice that not only helps create a connection with your employees, but also makes you more productive during your day.
If people in your organization see that you are invested in being involved and "maximizing the opportunities" for staff contact, then you strengthen those supervisory relationships.
Helping nurture relationships is a strong focus for good leaders. I've got a great article on my site about being a motivating supervisor like Wally suggests (http://supervisoressentials.com/index_feature_article_4.html). Check it out for more tips.
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You used one of the magic words: "relationships." Relationships grow out of conversations and conversations grow out of contact. Thanks for stopping by.
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May I add one other thing? Showing up is a great step...and add to that when you are there - be present. Don't pop in on the way to something "more important". Protect the time you are there to focus on being there. Listen....as well as talk. In fact try listening instead of talking. Make who you are visiting feel like the most important person in that moment. I have seen bosses who are always around -but in brief snatches of time. And I have seen those who are around often and whose conversation and interaction sticks in your mind. Know which one I would prefer!
Great stuff as always Wally
J
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Thanks for that comment, Jackie. You're right that just showing up is not enough. Once you're there you need to observe and get involved in conversations.
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As usual, you've hit the nail on the head. When I think about past supervisors with the "show up" behavior in mind, the ones I remember positively were the ones who did show up. Those I remember negatively were always too busy with their own stuff, which seemed more important to them, and which often brought them attention or credit. This seems to happen far too often in the workplace, yet no supervisor's guideline I've ever seen included it as a requirement or even a suggestion. An interesting oversight, for sure.
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting Jo Ellen. Showing up, by itself, isn't enough, as others have pointed out here. You have to do something. I like conversations. But you can't have a conversation if you don't show up either in person or otherwise. I'm studying several people who supervise tele- and home-workers who show up on the phone.
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Wally, this is fantastic. It occurs to me how much my colleagues and I have appreciated seeing some of our big bosses around during the recession. You could tell that they cared about the office and our work, and that they were trying to get more work for us to do. It's unnerving when the big bosses are gone (and some of them were and are absent a lot). And having the boss around more often (or at least available) makes it possible to ask questions and get regular feedback so that projects are done properly.
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Thanks for coming by and commenting. That's a great testimonial from the team member side about how important it is for bosses to be around, especially in a whitewater economy.
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