[Que Sera Sera]

ive been "pre" promoted to be the supervisor of my department at our new location when it opens later this year. this has been my goal since my 1st day on the job over 8 years ago and i am thrilled to finally reach my goal but i am freaked out on how to go about being as good a suoervisor as id like to think im able to be.
im looking for alll the advice i can get on what do you like/dislike about how your supervisors "supervise" .
what do you find helps motivate, keep the peace, helps improve moral.. what causes you to slack off, makes you think about looking for a new job...
i appreciated hearing any and all of the advice, input, hints, tips and suggestions you have to offer.

[Marie123]

I think one of the best things you can do is to let your co-workers know that you appreciate their efforts. It has such a motivating effect to do a good job. Quite often, workers feel unappreciated...in life, we all wish to be recognized, heard and appreciated. It goes such a long way to create a good working atmosphere.

[Que Sera Sera]

absolutely!
ive got a list going of "to dos" and "dont you dares" and "appreciate jobs well done" is a top to do.
what are your thoughts on how to go about pointing out mistakes.. correcting lax work ethic, or work thats sloppy or incomplete or left untouched?
also , how to deal with failure to abide by "rules"? ie too long on break periods, or late to get in or not following proper procedure to call off ..
my thought is these types issues have to be dealt with accordinly each & every time each and every employee no excuses, no off this time warnings ... we r all adults and rules are rules and rules have reasons and thats all there is to it.

[Marie123]

I think you will make an excellent supervisor. I agree with your thoughts about "rules." Do you have a "rules" for employees pamphlet ?

[Purple,Violet,Blue]

I also think you'll be excellent. The best managers I've worked with view errors or sloppy work as an opportunity for more training! It sounds funny, but they almost blame themselves for not having trained you correctly / been clearer about what was required! Everyone - even the lazy people - absolutely blossoms!

Another tip is to remind EVERYONE that punctuality is important, or whatever, rather than singling out the late person.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by Purple,Violet,Blue

I also think you'll be excellent. The best managers I've worked with view errors or sloppy work as an opportunity for more training! It sounds funny, but they almost blame themselves for not having trained you correctly / been clearer about what was required! Everyone - even the lazy people - absolutely blossoms!

Another tip is to remind EVERYONE that punctuality is important, or whatever, rather than singling out the late person.

Good posts in this thread

I agree with all the posts.

[Que Sera Sera]

thank you all for the great advice! when youre a "wprker bee" and look at how you think things should be and then actually getting to be the one in charge has proven to be quite a scary switch. i have several months yet to figure this all out so please please please keep your input coming!

[Purple,Violet,Blue]

I've been acting manager several times, sometimes for years (when the manager quit and ''no replacement could be found'' (oh really? It was one more trick of theirs to save money). So I've seen it from both sides.

The good thing about being in charge is that I'm not triggered by bad managers! So, I think you could feel much better, in that way!

[SlumberKitty]

Google Smart Brief and Leadership. It's a free email that they will send you once a day from Monday to Friday except holidays that has 6 or 7 articles (not terribly long ones, 3 minute read per article maybe) on leadership and ending in a quote. It has some good stuff on there. Even though I am not in a leadership role at my current job I continue to get this email because it has good stuff in it. Plus if you have linked-in you can post their articles to your linked-in feed and get some good visibility that way.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by SlumberKitty

Google Smart Brief and Leadership. It's a free email that they will send you once a day from Monday to Friday except holidays that has 6 or 7 articles (not terribly long ones, 3 minute read per article maybe) on leadership and ending in a quote. It has some good stuff on there. Even though I am not in a leadership role at my current job I continue to get this email because it has good stuff in it. Plus if you have linked-in you can post their articles to your linked-in feed and get some good visibility that way.

Excellent idea. I read smart brief /education and educational technology. You don’t even have to subscribe. You can just open and read articles daily or how often you want it

[helloiamjim]

Ask a Manager at Ask a Manager has some good advice and you can ask questions.

The fact that you're asking how to be a good manager is a good sign. It's more than what a lot of managers do.

Express your appreciation for your employees,. Give them specifics, like "You led that meeting really well and effectively dealt with the bully in the room," not just "good job". That's too vague and doesn't give a clue about what behavior the person should repeat.

Deal with issues soon after they happen;. If the person knows they did something wrong, and you don't deal with it immediately, then they might think it's no big deal. Or they might not even realize they did something wrong. Or they might not remember they did something wrong if it happened a year ago.

My manager friend likes to give a compliment sandwich. Start by explaining something your employee does well, address something that went wrong and ask them to help solve the problem. Always recognize what the employee does well and they'll be more motivated.