Are you an accidental supervisor?
| Next Article |
Written by Peak Trainer, Narayan van de Graaff
Are you an accidental supervisor? Do you feel like you have been thrust into your first leadership role almost by accident? If so, do you suffer from what is known as Impostor Syndrome? This has been defined as feelings of fraudulence, self-doubt and incompetence that persist, notwithstanding your experience, education, and achievements to date.
It is not surprising that many newly appointed supervisors are afflicted with self-doubt and even feelings of fraudulence. The Centre for Creative Leadership has stated that 26%1 of new supervisors responding to the survey did not feel ready to lead others, and almost 60%1 stated that they had received no training when they commenced their supervisory role. Is it any wonder then, that nearly 50%1 of them were rated by others as ineffective?
Leading and managing a team is no easy task, yet many organisations act as though new supervisors will intuitively know how to do this well.
One important fact as a new supervisor to remember is that even if you feel like an accidental supervisor, your promotion was not an accident! You were clearly promoted because of your perceived knowledge, skills, attitude and ability to lead a team. You may perhaps have less confidence in your own abilities than management has in you. However, there is no substitute for appropriate leadership and management training (and perhaps a good mentor), because there is a lot to learn in a supervisory role.
“There are times as a leader when you need to choose between being right and being respected. Make the right choice!”
What are the main leadership and management challenges for new supervisors?
Articles by the Centre for Creative Leadership2, Forbes3 and Flashpoint Leadership Consulting4 have stated that new supervisors (and for that matter, many in higher leadership roles) can find the following requirements very challenging.
- Leading former peers
This is one of the biggest challenges for new supervisors: to transition from being a colleague or friend and part of a team with only your own responsibilities, to having to lead, manage and influence others while maintaining positive personal relationships and acquiring team respect. I once worked on an assignment with an IBM senior executive who told a workshop of supervisors, “There are times as a leader when you need to choose between being right and being respected. Make the right choice!”
- Balancing the new workload
You are now responsible not just for your own workload but for those in your team. I once had to coach a newly qualified supervisor who had been the top salesperson, and was rewarded by being promoted. He didn’t know how to manage this new role (no training!) and singlehandedly tried to achieve the sales target of his team rather than leading, coaching and supporting his team to achieve the target collectively, because that’s what he was good at!
- Providing constructive feedback
This comprises both positive and negative feedback, and can be very challenging. Needing to provide negative feedback is going to be one of your toughest challenges, and all too often it is put off, hoping the problem will go away (it doesn’t!), or not quite knowing how to deal with it. Providing recognition and reward is critical – don’t have the attitude of one executive I worked with when I discussed the importance of recognition with him. He said, ”My staff know they’re doing a good job when they haven’t had a kick up the backside for a few weeks.” He wasn’t joking, and I let him know I had spoken to his team, and they needed more than that. There are many ways to recognise good performance – even a simple ‘thank you’ can go a long way.
- Coaching and developing others
I once worked in a major bank, and observed that there were thousands of tellers. Yes, there were thousands of staff in a teller’s role, but there were also thousands of supervisors and managers who were ‘tellers’ rather than coaches. A key role of supervisors is to coach their team members, rather than always give all the answers, and also to assist them with their training and development needs.
- Effective communication
Ongoing, effective two-way communication with all team members is vital. It involves being available for team members when necessary, also communicating upwards and sideways, ensuring team members understand and are committed to their goals, monitoring progress, and communicating key changes. How about practising ‘management by walking around’ (MBWA)? This means walking about the workplace in an unstructured way to communicate with staff, check on their progress, discuss key issues, and generally enhance relationships with team members. Done well, it can enhance motivation, productivity and relationships.
- Conflict resolution
Workplace conflict is inevitable, and supervisors need to be able to constructively deal with this, rather than hoping it will go away. If not handled early and effectively, conflict will typically become worse, and can ultimately even become a crisis. If you are having significant conflict in your team, discuss it with your manager and the HR department if necessary, but don’t put your head in the sand and hope it will go away..
- Delegation skills
The word ‘delegate’ is derived from the Latin word, delegatio, which means to entrust. So many supervisors struggle with this. They do work themselves which could and should have been delegated to staff.
A final word!
On a final note, be kind to yourself! You will invariably make mistakes and that’s okay. That is ultimately how we learn. By being kind to yourself, while you learn the above skills and do the necessary training, you too can become a great supervisor. Good luck!
Narayan van de Graaff has over 30 years’ experience as a management consultant, and has provided training to Mayors, Councillors, managers and other council officers within 100 councils Australia-wide. Narayan’s up and coming virtual training sessions include the New Supervisor Skills workshop on 28 February, and Managing and Leading Performance workshop for experienced supervisors and managers on 14 February. He delivers these and many other people skills courses both online and face-to-face for councils throughout Queensland. For enquiries, please contact Peak Training at training@wearepeak.com.au
1 Creative Centre for Leadership, https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/first-time-managers-must-conquer-these-challenges/ accessed 29 November 2022
2 Creative Centre for Leadership https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/first-time-managers-must-conquer-these-challenges/ accessed 29 November 2022
3 Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/04/19/12-challenges-many-new-managers-face-and-how-hr-can-help/?sh=255f7c3e7add accessed 29 November 2022
4 Flashpoint Leadership Consulting https://www.flashpointleadership.com/blog/equip-new-managers-for-common-challenges accessed 29 November 2022