Dos and Don’ts for a New Supervisor
When you are given a leadership role in any organization, it is a clear sign that the management has seen a spark of leadership in you. Whether you are made the new supervisor of a production plant or first time manager of a design team, the role comes with a lot of responsibilities, many of which are not included in the new job description you are given by your HR people. This is because becoming a leader has a lot to do with many things other than your operational duties. If you have recently become a new manager, there is plenty you need to learn to ensure you establish yourself as an effective one and grow further in your career.
The Many Roles of a New Supervisor
The biggest burden a new supervisor feels is that to prove himself/herself among his/her peers and subordinates. In the complex environment of a business organization, a number of teams work together and each of them is knitted together by the mutual bond of being in the same team. While organizational goals may assert the whole organization is a single team, the units within do not always work that way. Teams working on different operations, but with the same assessment scale for their progress, often become competitors and their leaders smartly use this sense of rivalry within the subordinates to improve their teams’ outcomes.
This is one great way of proving yourself an effective manager, and if a new supervisor manages to achieve this feat, he/she earns the respect of not just his/her peers and subordinates but also from the members of the other team and higher management.
Taking Your Position as a First Time Manager in Stride
When you take your place as a first time manager, you have to establish yourself as one but that does not mean you become an authoritarian leader with zero tolerance for disobedience. On the contrary, leadership literature has repeatedly found overwhelming data to support the importance of the role of interpersonal skills in fastening lasting bonds between a new manager and his/her team.
As a first time manager, you have to demonstrate the following key attributes to become a trustworthy leader in the organization:
- You have to demonstrate you are a true expert on the subject matter and your knowledge meets the level expected for someone in your position. It will certainly have to be more than that of your subordinates, at the least.
- You will have to prove your decision making skills are reliable by making informed decisions. For this, you will need to come in prepared and learn all relevant policies and processes in the organization. Knowing industry best practices and using them is another way of proving your decision making skills.
- You will have to establish yourself as an effective leader. This may have different meanings for different people and industries, but essentially it means you should be able to deliver outcomes from your team.
Many other factors help you take your leadership role in stride without looking like you are new to it.
Our Products to Help You Become an Effective First Time Supervisor
As an organization committed to providing professionals with superior education about key skills in various roles, Lorman Educational Services is fast growing into a resource people progressing through the various stages of their career trust for training materials. We offer a number of products that are suitable for a first time supervisor in terms of training him/her and helping him/her become an effective leader and manager.
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