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7 Lessons For The New Manager Or Supervisor

7 Lessons For The New Manager Or Supervisor
by Hank Boyer

Congratulations! You’ve just been promoted to lead a department in which just yesterday you were a contributing member of the team. Now what?

Being a first-time manager or supervisor can be a very scary time, indeed. The confidence you had in performing every facet of the job as one of the team now seems to abandon you as you ready yourself for your first day as the new supervisor.

A little pep talk with yourself in the car on the way to work settles things a bit. But now, as you enter the department, it seems as if every eye is on you, expecting.

You smile and warmly greet your team, though your mouth feels as dry as a cotton ball. You think, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Here’s one thing you were totally unprepared for. Although you are genetically the same person you were yesterday, before your promotion as announced, you cannot help noticing that today people are treating you differently.

They seem less at ease and a bit more guarded around you. Then you realize that today you are the person who makes the decisions, so your every word and expression suddenly seems to have more meaning.

Let me pass along some advice I received from Dennis Burgraff, my supervisor as I moved into my first managerial role, "When you become manager, your staff will give you a 75 percent effort because you’re boss. If they think you’re competent, they may give you 80 percent. And if they really like you, they’ll give you 85 percent. But if they truly believe you have their best interests at heart, they’ll give you 110 percent."

What you do as their new supervisor, especially in your first week and month, will say a great deal about whether or not the people you work with believe you have their best interests at heart.

Here, in no particular order, are seven lessons that will serve you well as you transition into any new managerial or supervisory role:

1. Ask Questions Instead of Making Statements

When you were one of the team, you likely thought about what you’d do differently if you were in charge. Perhaps there’s a policy you’d to end, or a new program you’d begin. You may even have mapped out a first 100 days plan as part of your preparation for the promotion.

However, before you tell people what you plan to do, you really need to gather facts and their opinions. Nobody ever learned anything new by making statements, but a new supervisor can learn a multitude of things by asking smart questions.

If you know a particular area well, ask opinion questions of team members, such as, "What are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of how we currently do X?" or "What changes (if any) do you think we should make to X, and why?"

Even if you know what you want to do differently, resist the urge to tell people before you gather their perspectives. If you know an area less well, similar questions can get staff members talking and their answers will help fill in your knowledge gaps.

Asking questions, then listening intently to what others say will tell people you value them, their opinions, and their viewpoints. This goes a long way towards making people more comfortable with you being in charge.

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