I’ve been submitted for a position which if I get it means that I will be responsible for supervising the work of others. This will pretty much be the first time I’ve ever been in authority over others. So how do I not grow pointy hair?
I think the best rule of thumb is to think about how you’d like to be treated by your boss and apply those principles.
I like bosses who:
- are happy with their job and with the company they work for
- set clear expectations of what is required of me
- acknowledge a job well done, but don’t over-praise so that praise loses its impact
- let me know when I’ve done something wrong, but trust me to get it right the next time, rather than going on and on about it
- focus on the results of my work, not on how I got there
- have answers to my questions. I’m the sort of person that doesn’t just go ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I always come to my manager with some options, but it drives me crazy when the manager won’t give guidance one way or the other
- have a healthy work-life balance themselves
- don’t get tied up in workplace politics
- don’t blame management higher-up
Here’s a few that you may or may not already know:
*When someone comes to you with a concern, listen to them. If it’s an issue that you’re just hearing from them while just about everyone has a contrary opinion, it may not be that important to act upon. However, if more than one person is pointing out the issue to you, it’s something you need to address.
*Be consistent and fair in your behavior. This includes procedure for handing out consequences for people who aren’t contributing toward a peaceful and productive workplace. Think about what your bosses did to make your work a more pleasant place to be. Also, make sure that you’re not going out of your way to advertise who you think is a problem employee-- their coworkers generally already know, and there’s no point in creating an audience for discipline of one coworker.
*If the end result is what you want and the process is still ethical, don’t micromanage the details on how they got to the end result. The only exceptions are when the procedure is integral to getting the proper end result and cannot be done another way (i.e. in cases of sterilization or sanitation).
DO seize the reins of responsibility (think of them that way, not as reins of power); spell out expectations, delineate objectives, and parcel out assignments.
Do it CLEARLY and document what you said, and always when someone seems not to have done what you’re thinking they should have done (or vice versa) check your own documentation. DO NOT assume that if it is what you want now it must’ve been what you told them at the time. DO NOT expect anyone to be a mind reader.
Then listen. Be open to feedback and suggestions.
When people screw up, in the sense of not doing what you said for them to do (or vice versa), check the RESULTS. If the results also suck, your instrux were right, it was your responsibility to issue them, they didn’t follow them, and now things are fucked up; you’re justified in bringing this to their attention. But you don’t have to crack whips until / unless a specific person, over time, becomes discernable to you as a regular recurrent problem, at which point you need to document this in detail and tell them every time.
When people screw up, in the sense of not doing what you said for them to do (or vice versa), check the RESULTS. If the results DON’T suck and it appears that their disobedience brought forth better results than obedience would have, you have to gauge whether you prefer the better results or the more complete obedience. Me, I prefer results. If you have one or more individuals who on a regular, recurrent basis disobey you and their disobedience brings good results, they should be in charge, at least of that particular territory of decision-making; delegate some authority to them then tell them to obey outside of that arena of decision-making.
When your team you’re responsible for fails, internally you may hold someone’s disobedience or poor execution responsible; to any outsider, YOU should take responsibility. The performance of any of your team members is never something you should point to as the reason a project you’re responsible for fails to make deadline, etc.
Be available but don’t micro-manage. Staff will often need guidance, which is why you’re there; they shouldn’t need moment-by-moment guidance (if they do, you hired the wrong people).
Don’t spend all day, every day talking on the phone with personal calls while staff hang around needing to ask you something.
The problem with the Pointy Haired Boss is that he doesn’t understand what the people who work for him do. Try to know as much as you can about what other peoples jobs entail. That way you won’t make unreasonable demands.
figure9 makes an excellent point. If you’re going to be in charge of other people, you should at least know what their job entails if not how to do their job. If they’re more well-versed how their job works, then make sure that you learn more about it-- ask questions and, if it’s a job that’s out of your scope of knowledge but you’re required to make decisions about it anyway, ask for feedback on larger decisions that may heavily affect how their job is managed.
Every “jerk” boss I’ve had has also been a total wuss.
He/she was way too afraid to stand up for his employees or they are afraid of making waves.
This is the surest road to finding yourself a “jerk boss.”
Too often upper management just gives orders without any regard to how they will get done. You need to be willing to stand up to those people and say it, if these orders will hurt your staff.
Of course upper management usually responds with “Do it or you’re fired.” If you can’t afford to lose your job, then you instantly become a patsy for upper management and a loathesome target for your staff.
It’s been mentioned above, but it’s extremely important to be clear about assignments and expectations. Everyone hates a boss who isn’t clear, especially if that boss is (or appears to be) intentionally vague so that he or she always has room to deny something, or to blame the employee if something goes wrong.
Get to know your employees, and don’t micromanage the competent ones.
Keep your expectations fair. Don’t fall into heaping more work onto reliable people and avoiding giving work to people you know will fuck it up.
Learn to communicate. Don’t make decisions and assume the information will trickle down.
Don’t foist your responsibilities onto your underlings, and don’t extend your nose into other bosses’ territories without cause.
The following comes from what bosses have done make myself and others frustrated with them. So I’ll recommend you do the opposite.
Praise publicly and criticize privately where possible. You’ll usually get better results.
Try to point out whats good in a work even if you have to criticize parts. Alternately you could make sure to both praise and criticize everyone. If there is nothing to praise they shouldn’t be there anyway.
Understand what your people do and how they do it and why they do it that way. This helps you keep from making unreasonable demands.
Don’t demand people do things your way just because they are your way. There should be a reason.
Back your people up and go to bat for them where appropriate.
Don’t pretend to be an expert in areas you aren’t. People will quickly figure out that you’re faking and lose respect.
Fire your existing staff and rehire smarter people. It’s the only way to be sure…
Actually, most of what I was going to say has already been said. Are you being put in the position of supervising people you’ve worked alongside, or who think they should have gotten the job? Those are the really tough situations. I’ve had enough experience with the latter that it can be a deal-breaker when offered a job.
I will strongly second AHunter3’s advice to document your expectations and go through them one-on-one with your staff, if possible. Clear understandings up front help prevent confusion and resentment down the line.
I like bosses who don’t split infinitives.
Don’t be afraid to discipline problem employees. At my work, a lot of the people have been allowed to get away with laziness because our boss isn’t tough enough with them. If there is a problem, it must be dealt with as soon as possible before it goes on too long. Don’t be afraid to be tough- if you notice a problem developing, it must be dealt with and not ignored. You don’t have to be a total hardass, but be firm.
Read a couple books about management.
Seriously.
Very important.
There are right ways and wrong ways. Don’t assume you have the only right way and everyone else’s way is wrong.
Ask questions and listen to people. Don’t be afraid of getting advice. But at the end, you have to make the decisions.
Remember that you’re in the middle of the chain. You’re representing your boss to your subordinants. And you’re representing your subordinates to your boss.
Sometimes you have to tell somebody the answer is no.
People will often live up to expectations. If you treat them like they are competant and reliable, they will often live up to that.
My .02 ask for things to be done, please, thank you. My employees at the amusement park ate this up.
Also do not be afraid to trust them to do their job, and hold subordinate supervisors accountable.
For example:
My amusement park days, cashier supervisor is in charge of a snack bar and 3-4 cashiers. CS answers to me. She calls requesting closing checkout, I tell her to dismiss the cashiers and I will be by in a min. I do the inspection, if I find something, they do it. If the last couple times I checked out that supervisor were good, I sometimes just told them to go home. I also got burned a couple times but never badly, and the general manager liked how I did things.
I was trained the same way for my operations position and spent 3 nights of personal hell having the whole park nitpicked by the general manager, and I got to clean up anything he found, ended up working another 3-4 hours to get it all. After that I was spot checked 3-4 times over the next month, never took more than 30 min for anything I had missed. Nothing teaches delegation better than knowing you will have to do everything that does not get done, by yourself.
Be honest and straightforward with everyone.
When a decision needs to be made, make it. You can be wrong but not indecisive.
Praise people publicly when they do a good job, criticize them in private if they aren’t.
Deal with problems immediately, don’t let things fester.
Do not make people afraid to come to you when they mess something up.
Praise publicly and criticize privately is a big one with me. Leaders don’t need to yell in order to lead, Army Sergeants notwithstanding.
Keep things private. When you’re a worker bee, you can gossip. When you’re a supervisor or manager, you cannot. When you discipline John, it’s your job to keep your fucking trap shut about it. When other people ask you about it, it’s your job to keep silent and tell them that it is none of their business.
Likewise, and I learned this from personal experience; when you’re a worker bee, you can complain. When you’re a supervisor, you can’t. Work to find solutions or alternatives if possible. Speak carefully to your boss about issues. But never let it out to other people, not even those at the same level or other levels above you.
Don’t ever “ambush” your people the first thing in the morning with anything bad. One of the worst things you can ever do to me as a boss is to go negative on me before I’ve had the chance to arrive and settle in for the day. Frankly, I don’t give a fuck what you’re on about, I just care that you’re too big an asshole to allow me to orient before coming in for the attack. Then it fucks my entire day, because you pissed me off before I even fully woke up.
I’ve always said “You bring a problem to Management, YOU become the problem.” Don’t ever take that attitude with your people. Not even with the chronic complainers. It doesn’t matter how much you dislike the message, or how you dislike the negative emotions it causes in you. Be an adult, be a leader. Set those emotions aside and deal with the real issue, not by attacking the messenger or getting upset because it spoils YOUR mood.
The best boss I ever had said (and I have to paraphrase, because it’s been many years);
“My job is to help you do your job. Most of the time, that’s just by getting out of your way. Sometimes it’s by making sure you have the tools, resources, time and training to do the job. Sometimes it’s by getting other people out of your way, or by taking a bullet for you. Sometimes, hopefully rarely, it’s through the use of discipline, to make sure that you ARE doing the job.”
When I was a front line supervisor, I recognized that the largest part of my job was being a coach. A sounding board for people to bounce ideas off of, a source of knowledge about how to do their job, a cheerleader when necessary, a motivator when that was necessary.
The second biggest part of the job was to be the Great Wall, to stop the flow of shit in both directions. The bullshit your people cause should never reach your bosses ears, although you should never do anything questionable or unethical to stop that from happening. Rather, you should deal with it directly before anyone above you needs to deal with it - because that is your job - or you’ll find that YOUR boss has to deal with it in ways that generally turn out to be unpleasant for both them and you. Likewise, some of the stupid and useless shit produced by the layers of management above you can be dealt with by you, or you can mitigate the ways that it affects your people. At the very least, you can intercept some very harsh, stupid, negative and unproductive language and intent, and completely change the message or context before introducing their directives to your people.
Lend a hand. Don’t ever ask your people to do shit you wouldn’t do, and don’t be too high and mighty to take on petty tasks yourself if your people are swamped. When I was the Security Supervisor, I had no problems doing maintenance and janitorial tasks that my own people sneered at and said were not in their job description. Someone had to do it, and my philosophy is that there are NO jobs beneath you, only jobs you don’t want to do. Besides, if they saw me doing it first, then they knew I wasn’t going to accept that they wouldn’t do it.