Becoming a Great Supervisor
 Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog |
| 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. |
| Follow me on Twitter |
| 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. |
 |
I'm committed to helping create more workplaces that are people-friendly and highly productive. My approach to help bosses do a better job of being a boss.
There are lots of people out there working on the same goal, even though they have different ways of expressing it. And, lucky for all of us, many of them are bloggers.
Here are three excellent posts that I might have written if I could have done it as well. They all echo principles that I espouse in my programs and my Working Supervisor's Support Kit.
From It's All About Relationships: You Can’t Change Others (So Change Yourself)
"I love leaders who see the possibility and potential in the people they lead. Yet the methods many use to “change” those employees who aren’t performing up to their potential are ineffective."
Wally's Comment: This is a core principle. Being an effective boss is about using the behavior you can control (your own) to influence the behavior and performance of your team members.
From Bret Simmons: Bad Employee Attitude. Really?
"Have you ever said to one of your employees “You have a bad attitude”? If you have, I seriously doubt you knew what the hell you were talking about. I see advice all the time about how to handle the employee with the “bad attitude,” and almost all of it is garbage."
Wally's Comment: Here's another core principle. You can't manage attitude because it can't be viewed and described from outside. You get at changing an attitude by identifying and changing the behaviors that define it.
From Simply Lisa: Card Carrying Supervisors Take Heed
"Leadership is not easy, nor is supervision. But neither is as hard as some make it out to be. If you are a supervisor, take a few minutes to read through the questions below. Think about them and answer honestly."
Wally's Comment: Lisa Rosendahl outlines some of the things you may be saying and doing that influence your team members in the wrong way. You may want to clip this one and save it.
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.
About changing yourself:
Your relationships are part of who you are. IN changing your actions towards others you're changing your identity in a profound, far-reaching way. By focusing on your own behavior, you're concentrating the part of the relationship over which you exercise control and accepting that responsibility. But as the relationship changes, both parties become someone different from who they were before.
And sometimes that's just what's needed
All the best,
Michael
www.workengagement.com/crew
Reply to this
Thanks for adding that Michael. Supervision is a continuous adjustment process as relationships change and skills develop.
Reply to this
<http://www.aspire-cs.com/you-cant-change-others-so-change-yourself>
Is the first aricle by Mary Jo Asmus at the above link?
Desertcat
Reply to this
It sure is. Thanks for catching my error. I've fixed the problem.
Reply to this
Wally,
Really wonderful quote in your blog..."I love leaders who see the possibility and potential in the people they lead." In my blog (www.streetviewconsulting.com) I just recently talked about "Ten Leadership Rules." You need to honestly care about people to be a great leader.
Many thanks and I love your blog.
James
Reply to this
Thanks for your kind words, James. I love that quote, too, but it's not mine. Mary Jo Asmus gets the credit.
Reply to this
Wally,
This is a very interesting blog becasue just today I actually to a personality to determine my behaviors at work. This is something they are having all the sales associates do. The purpose is to identify everyone's strenghts and weaknesses adn how to better work with each other to have a happy and efficient team. i thought this was interesting becuase as far as i can tell only the sales team has taken the test and not the top managers, which i think would be an essential part of a cooperative team. Your blog reminded me that it is more than just the key players in the team that make it a successfully functioning unit. It is the top managers interaction with the team as well.
Reply to this
Thanks for sharing that, Danielle. I think you've hit something important. It seems to me that those "personality" instruments have value for insight into yourself and for creating common language for discussion the way team members differ. If the people above you aren't taking the instrument, using the language, and participating, a great opportunity is missed.
There's another thing, too. A boss who has team members do something like this without doing it him/herself is like a cook that won't eat their own food.
Reply to this
I quickly stopped by and read Lisa's post. Excellent list of items that supervisors should not be doing. The best managers seem to have a real interest in putting their direct reports first and genuinely want them to succeed.
Reply to this
Thanks, Chris. These three blogs happened to have supervision posts that showed up in my reader at the same time, but all three of these blogs provide excellent content several times a week. They should be on your regular reading list.
In my experience the best bosses do two things. They accomplish the mission. And they care for their people. You need both.
Reply to this
I discovered threestarleadership.com while writing a paper on Management, Supervision, and Leadership for one of my courses. I kept coming back to your Blog site for quotes and references. This is a great tool for those who are inspired to become leaders, and for those who are leaders and wish to become better ones. Just the idea of a social network for Managers and Supervisors is brilliant. A place that leaders can come and discuss unsolved problems, seek support, and just socialize is three stars in it's self. I believe I will become a frequent visitor of threestarleadership. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you for helping so many leaders improve themselves.
Reply to this
Thank you for those very kind words, Mark. There's a lot of wisdom on the blogs that you can mine and use. Your post inspires me to update the blogroll. There are blogs I visit regularly that aren't on there and several on the roll that are no longer publishing. So, thank you for helping me as well. Good luck with your own development and please let me know if I can help in any way.
Reply to this