April 30, 2010

New supervisors have a lot to learn about managing their people, and that's to say nothing of the numerous compliance challenges they face. Compassionate but untrained supervisors can quickly create surprisingly expensive liabilities.

Today we'll look at two critical factors for supervisory success, courtesy of Jonna Contacos-Sawyer and Polly Heeter Wright of HR Consultants, Inc.

1. Motivation

It's important for supervisors to motivate themselves and to motivate others. The more positive their attitude, the more effective they are as supervisors. She offers the following points for supervisors to ponder:

Think about what motivates you — a "thank you," a "please," hearing praise about a job well done? Most likely, those things will motivate your employees, too.

Ask yourself:

• Do you walk your talk?
• Do you treat people fairly and consistently?
• Are you willing to do what you are asking other people to do?

To motivate, consider:

• Getting employees more involved
• Providing cross-training
• Delegating responsibilities
• Identifying opportunities for advancement
• Showing trust in employees

Strengths that help motivation:

• Comfort with employee involvement
• Delegating ability

Weaknesses that will detract from motivation:

• Micromanagement
• Dictatorial management

Common hurdles for new supervisors:

• Negaholics. (Ask them to share what their intentions are and what their solution is, says Wright.)
• Previous distrust of supervisor

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2. Compliance

Compliance is a very broad area that requires in-depth training, says Wright. Of course, supervisors must be trained on discrimination, harassment, and compensation. Some of the particular points her firm emphasizes include:

• New supervisors need to know that their actions and inactions contribute to the level of liability an organization faces. Their actions (or inactions) are attributable to the organization.
• Supervisors face potential individual liability.
• New supervisors often make big mistakes in wage and hour issues. Typical problems involve allowing or requesting work off the clock, or asking employees to make up hours in a different work week.
• Supervisors must document performance issues on an ongoing basis. When a string of performance appraisals say "meets expectations" with no comments, it's tough to prove poor performance, says Wright.

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• And much more!

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