Discover 5 Ways Of Becoming A Good Supervisor

What do you think makes one a good supervisor?

Last week, a HR manager of a company in upper Hill came to see me. He was in deed frustrated and disturbed.

Being recently promoted as a supervisor, the reason he told me was that his team was driving him crazy and he was looking to move to another department.

He complained of below average work from his team, his assistant rarely communicated with him on office matters, people feared him in the office and he couldn’t get even an intern to do something for him.

Perhaps you can relate…

Please note that there is no magic formula to becoming a good supervisor for your team.

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So why is a supervisory role so hard?

Being a good leader starts with you accepting that you are not perfect but you are working your way to get there.

Chances are you’ll need input from others to gain more light on areas you need to improve on.

In that case, what makes a good supervisor?

1. A good supervisor has extremely high emotional intelligence

Researchers have found out that those leaders who perform well at work, have very high emotional intelligence.

What do I mean by this?

To be the best supervisor, you need to understand how your feelings and actions will affect those people you are leading.

You will also need to aware of who you are as a person, understand the people you are leading and be able to control your different emotions when need arises.

For instance, when your assistant fails to deliver your expectations, do you shout, get angry and walk out? Do you call them for a meeting?

Do you speak to them personally on areas they need to improve on?

All this shows who you are as a person. In case you need help on being in charge of your emotional reactions to different situations, consult an emotional intelligence coach for help.

It’s that serious. Your state of emotion will always determine the results you get from your team. So lead them as an example.

2. You are approachable; your team can talk to you

How many times do you speak with your team members in a day? Once, twice or each time you need to talk?

 If you just assign your team work and come late for the results, you might be missing out on so much.

A good supervisor interacts so well with his/her team, making sure to maintain an open communication channel like emails, phone calls, one on one interaction and boardroom meetings to ensure that she stays informed about the progress of the work  and areas where problems are coming from.

And by the way, don’t forget that you must be open for feedback whether good or bad.

For you to get the good results from the people you are supervising, you have to first work on your soft skills.

These are skills like Leadership, Motivation, Patience, Problem Solving ability among many others.

So ask yourself now, what makes you different from the people you are supervising? Is it just the title? If this is the case, then it’s about time we started talking.

3. You treat your members like partners

Gone are the days when bosses used to remain enclosed in offices with a secretary whom you had to go through for you to reach the boss.

Your team members should be your partners at work who work closely with you with a common goal of achieving the results you want.

Modern teams now want a good working relationship to provide good results. Even teachers in schools nowadays have broken down the teacher- student wall. So why don’t you open up your space and allow your team inside?

You will be surprised how effective this will be.

4. You are a mentor, a trainer and a coach for your team.

I started by saying that people on the outside should see a difference between yourself and the people you are supervising.

As a good supervisor, you should mentor the people you are supervising offering help on both professional and personal matters.

You might wonder how personal life comes in here but remember, that accountant is first a person before she becomes a member of your team.

So how they perform is closely related with their emotional, mental and physical state.

Share your experience, tell them how you started your career if it will motivate them or something else, share words of wisdom and knowledge and experience with the employees to help them perform better and strengthen the bond and the trust in the team.

5. Finally, A good supervisor is a trustworthy person

Humans have a weakness to favor some things or people over others. This is natural.

However, you need to earn the trust of the people you are leading and to do this you have to act fair.

See, these people are looking up to you. So if you are telling them this and doing the exact opposite, they will not respect your authority.

They look up to you. How does a baby behave when you are watching him/her do something? They do it so carefully not to make any mistake. This actually amazes me a lot.

The same way, as a leader, your team is always watching and any step in the wrong direction, will make them lose their respect and trust for you as their supervisor.

That said,                                                                                                       

As a good supervisor, you would want to get good results and helpful feedback from your team and this is not just given away as a gift.

Just like a job seeker earns a job in an interview as the best of the best, you also have to earn yours as the best supervisor for you team. Question is, are you getting this respect?