Promoting New Supervisor Training Services Is Shown To Be A Vital Factor For Developing Companies

By Nancy White


If businesses are to grow and develop then promoting new supervisor training services have been shown to be vital. Surprisingly it is frequently found that this important factor is neglected, resulting in the appointment of supervisors into positions for which they are not qualified.

It is unlikely that a company would appoint a trades person or a technician without first verifying that they had both the skills and tools required to do the job. With supervisors, however, it regularly happens that new appointees are sent out into the workplace totally unprepared for the demands that lie ahead of them. As a result many newly appointed supervisory staff rapidly begin to doubt their own abilities, suffer crises of confidence and soon begin to fail in the execution of their core responsibilities. This leads to a vicious circle of anxiety and stress which in turn feeds back into the job situation only serving to make matters worse.

In some instances senior management ascribe to the false belief which states that great leaders are born not produced. The theory is that if someone is immersed into a job situation, their intrinsic skills will emerge, enabling them to overcome obstacles and eventually prosper in the job role. An additional problem is the tendency to appoint people into line management positions due to their technical abilities. Some senior managements seem to think that the technical duties of a position are paramount and that if these are adequately handled the less important supervisory function will sort itself out.

Technical ability and experience is clearly necessary to perform adequately, however, leading companies have realized that their growth and success is heavily dependent upon this lower level of management, the supervisor, and invest considerably in this area. Successful businesses have been known to call this body of knowledge and experience a supervisory toolbox. Many larger companies have training departments dedicated towards the development and ongoing coaching of supervisors. Smaller businesses can equally take advantage of the wealth of training consultant businesses that specialize in this area

Typically a leadership development program would be split into the following main categories of development. Firstly leading people which would involve the subjects of motivation and empowerment, decision-making and problem solving, communication and how to select and develop people for your team.

Another important area for a new or prospective supervisor is the workplace planning function. Topics covered within this module will deal with why companies plan and why it is so important. Forecasting, setting objectives and putting plans into action are important aspects to consider and each industry would typically have its own area of focus regarding procedure and policy. Health and safe working practice, as well as environmental factors, would also feature prominently.

Getting others to do work is naturally key to the success of a line manager. Organizing others to get the actual job done is really the make or break of a supervisor and key to this is the ability to delegate. Volumes have been written on this subject alone with various styles and methodology being advocated, but in the final analysis they all end up focusing on communication. Communication within the work team and communication between teams.

No supervisory development program would be complete without acquiring the skills to control and monitor progress within the organization. This would include the methods through which performance is measured, evaluated and where necessary action is taken to correct and improve performance.

New and prospective line managers will have a far better chance of success if given the appropriate training and ongoing support and thus the proper set of tools for the challenges that lie ahead.




About the Author: