Improving Front Line Supervisors Effectiveness - part #2

Last Monday, we began exploring how to improve front line supervision.  When ever this topic surfaces, we need to remember The Law of the Whole, namely that change in one part influences and changes all other parts. 

Our goal as a leader is to help front line supervisors to achieve clarity in the following three areas, namely role clarity and definition, individual and team expectations, and organizational systems, processes and metrics. We also need  to remember that if we change any of these three things, we have impacted, if not changed, the other two. We also have to realize that our understanding of each of these three things might not be the same as the supervisor, their direct reports, or the customers.  Therefore, we need to spend more time creating clarity rather than simply telling supervisors what to do.

Furthermore, Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees), Jossey-Bass 2007, wrote that there are three core problems that many people experience at work. They are as follows:

- Anonymity: People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known.

- Irrelevance: Everyone needs to know that their job matters, to someone.

- Immeasurement: Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves.

Whenever, I read this list, written by Lencioni in 2007, I think back to what James Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer wrote much earlier in their book, Flight of the Buffalo: Soaring To Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead (Time Warner, 1994). These two authors believed that creating the environment for ownership and responsibility was mission critical to success. The foundation of this environment revolved around four key concepts:

- Transfer ownership for work to those who execute the work.

- Create the environment for ownership where each person wants to be responsible for his/her own performance.

- Coach the development of individual capability and competence.

- Learn fast.

When it comes to improving front line supervision, the above list is a great place to start.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Improving Front Line Supervisors Effectiveness - part #1

During past From Vision to Action Executive Roundtables, we have discussed the roles, responsibilities and challenges of senior leadership and middle management. At the Spring 2012 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, those gathered also discussed the roles, responsibilities and challenges of being a front line supervisor.

In the beginning, we have to ask a simple but important question: How many of us remember being a front line supervisor? As senior executives, we, at times, forget that front line supervisors are dealing with entry level staff, the people who make the brand real, and often the people with the least experience. We also forget how hard and frustrating this work can be on a day to day basis. We can even forget the struggles to manage the people and the diversity of systems that are constantly changing.

The first step to improving front line supervisors’ effectiveness is to remember what they are actually expected to do each day. Here is a short list:

- keep people safe

- focus people on the work that needs to be done

- build and maintain a team

- teach people what they need to need to know

- reward good outcomes and behaviors

- balance the needs of the company vs. the needs of their direct reports

On top of the above, we also need to remember that many front line supervisors are often supervising their former peers!

Given the current economy and the speed of desired change in many companies through out the country, we have to add to the above list these “new” expectations:

- clarify direction, expectations, and what is non-negotiable

- make the right decisions

- participate on teams over which they have no control and little influence

- do performance management including coaching and employee evaluations

- participate in hiring and orientation

- maintain boundaries with former peers related to HR issues

- handle complaints

All of a sudden the job of a front line supervisor starts to look like the job that many mid-level managers were expected to do 10 to 15 years ago. In this economy, more and more senior leaders need to realize that the expectations of front line supervisor are becoming more complex and difficult than they were many years ago.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257