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The First Time Supervisor:Strategies for a Successful Transition

Prepared and Presented by:T. Randall Riggs

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NOW YOU ARE THE BOSS

Congratulations on your new assignment

and new title.

YOUR ABILITY TO KEEP A GROUP OF

PEOPLE CONNECTED AND

WORKING WELL TOGETHER IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TALENT THAT YOU CAN BRING TO AN ORGANIZATION .

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MANAGING RELATIONSHIPS

Irrespective of what industry you are in, as a first-time supervisor your prime

responsibility is to provide directions and proactively connect myriad complex

relationships, tasks, and resources together in order to successfully reach

your goals.

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Most employees will respond well to a

straight talking supervisor who sought

has them out.

Can we talk

Ask questions and listen

Can we talk

Ask questions and listen

First step: making real connections

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When you meet people introduce yourself, ask questions, learn their views (and names!), discover what they

think about their role in the organization, and the important issues at hand.

Be genuine: all

employees come equipped with

emotional radar which will detect

any falseness.

Be genuine: all

employees come equipped with

emotional radar which will detect

any falseness.

face-to-face

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Parent – child relationship

≠Supervisor – employee

relationship

Real personal relationships are the key to your success, not

your job title.

Many organizations are structured around authority, internal controls, and bureaucracy for many reasons.*

*Command and Control has a limited shelf life.

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Long term success is only achieved through people

interconnected in productive relationships which yield

synergistic results.

2 + 2 = 6

Your performance and success is

directly driven by the overall effectiveness

of your workplace relationships.

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GETTING THINGS DONE THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE Before assuming a

supervisory position, you

supervised only one person:

yourself. In this limited

supervisory role, your immediate results were a direct result of your individual

effort. You must tap the energy and talent of others.

Now you must trust and rely upon others; you simply cannot do all the work effectively. It is not

possible.

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TECHNICAL SKILLS ALONE ARE NOT ENOUGH

You should clearly understand that your

“doer” skills that were formerly brought you

recognition and rewards are not the

ones that you are being paid for now

You will need to bring more to the game to win.

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YOUR CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS New supervisors

often get caught up in the cross-currents that relate to all of

the new relationships they

must build and nurture.

As first-time supervisor you will have a new peer group, new subordinates (often your former peers), and for the first time for many, you will additionally have a different type of relationship with the senior leaders of the organization.

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Now you have to supervise the same people that were your friends and equals. It

will be hard to say “No” to friends when they ask for

special treatment.

You must stop thinking of yourself as just “one of the

gang”.

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TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS IN THE WORKPLACE

SubordinatesPeers

Superiors

Not all relationships are the same

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INVESTING IN RELATIONSHIPS

People need coaching and

direction to be aligned to achieve

common goals.

Managing relationships requires that you actively communicate clearly and

convincingly, disarm conflicts, and build strong personal bonds. You must invest your time and energy in building your

relationships.

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LEVERAGING YOUR EXPERIENCE

Been there, done it

You have interacted with parents,

siblings, friends, classmates, teachers,

co-workers, neighbors, and many

others gaining experience and

understanding on many different levels

of managing relationships.

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People perform better individually and collectively in well-managed relationships because

they feel aligned, committed, on board and motivated.

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GREAT NEWS: YOU HAVE A SUPPORTER

Your conduct and behavior has convinced at least one superior that you possess the ability to successfully manage

relationships.

Self-confidence:got it?

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EMOTIONAL ROOTS OF RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Mind over mood

Your social skills are what enable

you to be persuasive,

manage conflict, and create

collaborative work environments.

It sounds a bit harsh, however, in some ways good relationship management is about managing other people’s emotions to achieve your desired outcomes. Perhaps a better way to think about it is that relationship management is about friendship with purpose: moving people in the right direction

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Relationship ManagementSkill Set Components

Inspirational leadership

Guiding and motivating with a compelling vision.

InfluenceWielding a range of tactics for persuasion.

Developing othersBolstering others’ abilities through feedback and guidance.

Change catalystInitiating, managing, and leading in a new direction.

Conflict managementResolving disagreements.

Building bondsCultivating and maintaining a web of relationships.

Teamwork and collaboration

Cooperation and team building

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Leaving your troubles behind

#1 Law of Self-awareness:

We all have bad days

Everyone has to cope with their bad days and learn to leave their

emotional baggage at home, but

when you are a supervisor, it’s even more important.

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As a supervisor you need to be aware when your attitude and frame of mind

has been negatively impacted by a bad day, or personal problem, and make certain that you proactively compartmentalize your personal

problems.

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How to compartmentalize

•Put it in a compartment by isolating the issue from all the other challenges you are dealing with.•Apply extreme focus on each compartment, but only for a short period of time.•Move forward in incremental steps. And once you see reasonable progress…•Close the compartment and open the next one.•Say “no” to things that don’t deserve a compartment.

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Remember as the old adage states, “the show

must go on”.”.

Compartmentalization, like all coping strategies is only a

short-term solution, and may have both have positive and

negative aspects. Your goal is to compartmentalize issues so that you may direct sufficient energy and attention to tasks at

hand.

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WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK?

Many first-time supervisors find it difficult to switch off after a hard day's work,

resulting in many taking their work home with them.

Both mentally and physically.

DelegateYou cannot do it all

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This should go without saying, but when you are stressed by your work, it

is almost always reflected in your words and actions.

This will have a negative impact on your family and

friends, and can cause tensions in all your

relationships.

emotions are contagious

It is just as important for you to leave your problems at work as

it is to leave your personal problems at

home.

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Ideally, your typical day should be roughly divided into 3 thirds - work, home, sleep. That would equate to 8 hours for work, 8 hours for home,

and 8 hours for sleep.

Work Life

▼Balance

8 – 8 – 8

If you have this type of schedule I congratulate you for being so successful balancing work and life.

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Please don’t shoot the messenger, but the reality for

many supervisors is they remain at least digitally

connected to the workplace

24/7.

This invasion into private life can

become unbearable if it continually

interferes with rest and recreation,

constantly interrupts family time. It can

and will create problems in your

personal relationships if not properly managed.

Warning:No computers allowed on vacation

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Turn it off and digitally disconnect, at least on some reasonable occasional

basis, to enjoy the rest of your life. You will be happier.

Are you addicted to your I - Phone?

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WARNING: STRESS IS ADDITIVE

Each new and persistent stressor adds to your total

level of stress.

So while a single issue or stress may

be relatively unimportant in and

of itself, if it is coupled with an

already high level of stress.

Do not become the straw that broke the camel’s back.

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SELF - MANAGEMENT: MIND OVER MOOD

Avoiding a knee jerk reaction in the heat battle demands a self –

management skill set that does not come naturally to most. It requires a great deal of mental discipline and practice to

perfect.

Supervisors with this skill can effectively

manage their impulsive feelings

and stress well.

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The first and most important step in coping with any personal problems

in the workplace is simply recognizing the interconnection between your performance and your emotional frame of mind.

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Negative emotional surges can be overwhelming

Once you develop an awareness of how and when your emotions are impacting

yourself and others you can then begin to cope by proactively employing tactics to develop and strengthen your self

control.

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Cope by allowing work to become a safe escape zone.

Develop a support network of external confidantes.

Seek professional guidance or counseling for yourself and/or others.

Develop a healthy exercise and diet regimen.

Try alcohol or drugs – strongly not recommended.

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Controlling your state of mind is

Primary part of your job as a supervisor

Those who have mastered self – management have

the ability to prevent negative personal

problems from spilling all over relationships at work.

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MANAGING PERCEPTIONS TO SUCCEED

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”ALBERT EINSTEIN

You as a first-time supervisor should understand that individual behavior is not driven by the way our external environment actually is but, rather,

on what we see or believe our external environment to be.

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WHAT DO YOU SEE?

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INDIVIDUAL VS. GROUP PERCEPTIONS

One of the key roles supervisors play is to create a shared understanding by

exercising influence in fostering and shaping

perceptions.

Groupthink: common vision

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WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Failure to align perceptions, to see it the

same way, is often the

root cause of many organizational conflicts.

We do not all see things the same way

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PERCEPTIONS CREATE REALITY

Whether or not a supervisor successfully plans and organizes

employees work and actually helps them structure work more effectively is far less important

than how the employees collectively perceive the

supervisor’s efforts.

It’s the employee’s perception of a situation that

becomes the basis for behavior.

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Perception can sometime actually supplant real performance.

Being successful is not merely based on how hard you have worked; it is

also dependent on the perception of your performance.

Don’t get your feelings hurt

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MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND (REPUTATION)

What is you brand?

It is important to recognize the importance of your reputation, or brand which is based on

the collective perceptions of your customers, superiors, subordinates and colleagues.

Isolated negative perceptions can HAVE DISASTROUS consequences for your brand.

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To better protect and manage your brand and career you must take responsibility for

shaping the positive perceptions you want others to

have about you.

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GET NOTICEDGET NOTICED

 First impressions

It is almost a cliché, but it is still so absolutely true. First

impressions are lasting impressions. Within seconds on meeting someone, you will make an impression on that

person.

If you make a negative impression, you will have a difficult time changing it…ever.

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EVERYTHING COUNTS

Attention to your professional image should never flag,

especially in those first meetings. It is important to remember that everything counts

when making first impressions.

Your words alone simply will not create the whole impression.

By some estimates upwards of 70 – 80 percent of what we

learn comes through our interpretation of

non-verbal images and behavior.

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DO NOT OVERPROMISE OR OVERSELL

Set your expectation bar realistically, and always exceed your

promises.

From the get-go build your credibility by being honest and

do not commit to anything you cannot

deliver on.

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Employees want straight answers. You will squander your creditability and lose any

initial goodwill by trying to feed everyone what they want to hear or spouting

platitudes about the kind of team you want.

Employees immediately see through such meaningless drivel.

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BE REAL - LEAD WITH AUTHENTICITY

In the first few weeks of your new position you

should anticipate making first impressions in multiple first meetings. Get ready, be prepared to make the kind of first impression

you want make.

You should be prepared and ready to quickly put forth

your authentic persona in a positive

and confident manner.

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LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Leadership and management are linked but require distinctly different mind and skill sets.

Leadership and management are two distinctly different but complementary

approaches critical for success in increasingly complex organizations.

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NON-INTERCHANGEABLE EQUALS

Traditionally management has been described in terms of planning,

organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling.

Leadership generally is thought to be more about setting a vision and

gathering followers through inspiration and emotional impact.

The same but different

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LEAD, MANAGE, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY

An organization can be well – managed but lack strong

leadership. Alternatively, it is also possible to have the reverse

situation, strong leadership with weak management. The real challenge is to have strong

leadership and strong management and use each to

balance the other.

For the first – time supervisor the key to

success is to understand when to act as a Leader, and

when to act as a Manager.

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MANAGER FUNCTIONS

LEADER FUNCTIONS

Maintains the direction Sets the direction

Follows well Takes the point

Watches the bottom line Watches the horizon

Plans and controls Inspires and develops

Duplicates Innovates

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BE A SWITCH HITTER

As a supervisor you will be confronted with situations that will require you to act as a manager, as well as situations that will require

you to act as a leader.

Almost as if you were an actor you must quickly and frequently switch roles.

Your speed and accuracy to recognize what approach best fits the situation and

your capacity to quickly shift from

manager to leader, or leader to manager

will largely contribute to your

success.

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Successful supervisors – whether at the top, middle, or entry level – perform

leadership and managerial functions efficiently and effectively as

necessary….unsuccessful ones do not.

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DON’T FORGET ABOUT FOLLOWERSHIP

First-time supervisors should never lose sight of how important

followership remains to their success.

I do not want to burst your bubble, but as a first – time

supervisor you undoubtedly will still

be following the directions of others

Your ability to follow others will remain an important skill set throughout your career irrespective of your position.

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PERFORMANCE SMART

Performance smart supervisors understand the ins and outs of winning performance.

Irrespective of organization type, or industry sector, first-time supervisors will almost certainly have an increased responsibility for delivering results than an individual contributor. It is critical for first-time

supervisors to quickly recognize and embrace this new reality by becoming performance smart.

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KEEPING SCORE

The bedrock of any performance management system is the agreement and clear understanding of what needs to be done, as well as, when and how it should be done. Without a clear understanding of what kinds of results are needed, it is not possible to achieve goals.

You must learn how to keep score.

Your goals must be realistic and doable, and

they have to be communicated and well understood upward by

senior management and downward by your direct

reports.

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A PASSION FOR PERFORMANCE

Acknowledge and celebrate outstanding performance

When you communicate vision and goals, make certain that you are passionate about it. You

are talking about the future of your organization and employees – not

chopped liver.

When you communicate vision

and goals, make certain that you are passionate about it.

You are talking about the future of your organization and employees – not chopped liver.

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REALITY CHECK

Failure can sometimes be a necessary stepping stone – you must learn how to cope with failure well

and learn from your mistakes. Not repeat them.

There is a fundamental truth that should not be denied about the

importance of “making your

numbers” – This is HUGE!

Accept results,

not excuses

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

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Consistently making your numbers, versus consistently

failing to make your numbers is a vastly more likely to lead you

to a brighter future.

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THE FUTURE IS NOW

The time to prepare for the future is now.

Workplaces of the future will undoubtedly look and feel

different than today’s workplaces. In fact, the most certain

prediction that can be made about the future is the absolute

certainty of change.

Change is the only future constant

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Embrace change, lead change.

3 changes that we should reasonably anticipate:

•Increasing influence of technology;•Increasing performance expectations;•Increasing rate and number of changes.

Successful supervisors are almost always are

future focused.

Many, if not most, have difficulty seeing tomorrow, let alone next week or ten years from now. But, the future is relentlessly bearing down on

you.

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Relish technology; do not sit on the side lines. Stay current; play with the newest gadgets & software, hint: be on look out for next Mark Zuckerberg.

Raise your performance expectations; do not sit on your past accomplishments. Always be in the chase for the gold. Do not settle for average.

Embrace change, lead change. Continuously re- imagine the future. Become an agile master of change.

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Thank youT. Randall Riggs, SPHR, GPHR

trriggs49@aim.comwww.linkedin.com/in/trandallriggs