Mark Shead - Leadership501

This is a collection of tips for new supervisors. The advice is useful to anyone in a management position. Most people are thrown into supervisory positions with very little in the way of training or guidance. These tips for supervisors can help you be proactive in avoiding problems that can occur further down the road.

• Know the Rules – In order to be an effective supervisor, you need to be aware of your organization’s policies and procedures. If you don’t, you’ll likely make promises you can’t keep or deal with situations inappropriately simply because you don’t understand the correct procedure. The procedures and policies are there to help you make good decisions even when you are under pressure or time constraints.
• Manage Up – Don’t forget that your relationship upward is just as important as your relationships with the people you supervise. Don’t expect your boss to be competent just because he or she is the boss. Take the time to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Anticipate problems ahead of time being proactive to help your boss succeed.
• Build a Base of Influence – Develop relationships across your organization. People need to know who you are and like you. The fact that someone likes you can go a long ways in helping you out of political situations or when someone else is opposing you. If people know who you are and like you, they will start from the standpoint of assuming that you are a good person. If they don’t know who you are, they will start from the standpoint of whoever is talking to them.
• Develop a Separate Social Life – Make sure you aren’t completely reliant on your coworkers and direct reports for your social life needs. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever do things outside of work with your co-workers, but if your only friends are at work, you are putting yourself in a dangerous situation. If your social and work life are too intertwined, it can cloud your judgment in ways that can be harmful to your career.
• Master Performance Reviews – Effective performance reviews require a lot of work on your part, but having a good process is one of the most important ways you set and track employee achievement and goals. If done correctly, performance reviews are a great tool and something both supervisor and employee can look forward to. Whether you use a simple paper based system or some type of performance review software, take the time to make sure the process helps drive the behavior and environment you want to create.
• Walk the Talk – Just because you are a supervisor doesn’t give you an excuse to break the rules. You shouldn’t be asking people to do things that they don’t see you doing yourself.
• Keep Good Records – Keep good records of interactions and issues. Modern work environments are political and often full of lawsuits. By keeping good records, you’ll put yourself in a much better position to stop frivolous claims before they become problems.

If you look up the dictionary definition of management, among many examples you will find clues as to the real definition of management. This article simply takes an assortment of definitions and looks at what they say and what they imply about management.

“Management” (from Old French ménagement “the art of conducting, directing”, from Latin manu agere “to lead by the hand”) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management

This management definition is interesting because it traces the root meaning back to the Latin phrase meaning “to lead by the hand”.  (See management quotes for more perspectives.)Leading by the hand implies giving direction that is stronger than just a passing suggestion yet still fairly gentle in approach. Leading by the hand also implies that the person doing the leading is first going where the follower is being lead. The leader is not asking the follower to do something he is not willing to do himself.

The guidance and control of action required to execute a program. Also, the individuals charged with the responsibility of conducting a program.
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/evaluation/glossary/glossary_m.htm

This definition of management refers to a “program”. This implies that, for management to be effective, there needs to be some type of defined approach or system in place. This system becomes the plan and management is guiding others in following that plan. This is often the downfall of managers. They have no plan or system. As a result their actions seem random to the people they are managing and this leads to confusion and disappointment. This is why it is so important for business managers to have an employee manual. Without the employee manual providing direction, managers will struggle to be fair and balanced in their dealings with employees.

is the organizational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing resources, deploying the human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results. Management also includes recording and storing facts and information for later use or for others within the organization. Management functions are not limited to managers and supervisors. Every member of the organization has some management and reporting functions as part of their job.
home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/defin1.htm

This management definition is more in depth and tailored toward business management. Notice that it consists of three primary activities. First, management establishes a plan. This plan becomes the road map for what work is going to be done. Second, management allocates resources to implement the plan. Third, management measures the results to see how the end product compares with what was originally envisioned. Most management failings can be attributed to insufficient effort occurring in one of these three areas.

The definition goes on to talk about how management is responsible for measuring details that may not be required presently, but may be useful later on. These measurements often help determine the objectives in the planning stage.

When management is following this type of sequence, it becomes a continuing cycle. Plan, execute, and measure. The measurements become the basis for the next planning stage and so on.

is the activity of getting things done with the aid of people and other resources.
wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/213/218150/glossary.html

This definition of management focus on management as the process of accomplishing work through the efforts of others. Skilled managers can accomplish much more through others than they can through their own single efforts.

Effective utilization and coordination of resources such as capital, plant, materials, and labour to achieve defined objectives with maximum efficiency.
www.ecbp.org/glossary.htm

This definition of management looks at not only the people but the entire range of resources necessary to follow a plan. Notice how it focuses on efficiency. Management isn’t just getting from point A to point B. It is getting there by choosing the best possible path.

1. The process of getting activities completed efficiently with and through other people; 2. The process of setting and achieving goals through the execution of five basic management functions: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling; that utilize human, financial, and material resources.
www.crfonline.org/orc/glossary/m.html

The first definition looks at the fact that management is getting work done through other people. The second definition divides management up into five components. These components are all parts of the three components (plan, execute, measure) that we looked at above. However the more detailed definition helps show the activities that occur in each of the three phase definition.

The process of planning, leading, organizing and controlling people within a group in order to achieve goals; also used to mean the group of people who do this.
www.booksites.net/download/chadwickbeech/Glossary.htm

Once again, this definition of management addresses accomplishing work through other people. This definition stresses the activities that are necessary for reaching particular goals.

the process of achieving the objectives of the business organization by bringing together human, physical, and financial resources in an optimum combination and making the best decision for the organization while taking into consideration its operating environment.
www.ucs.mun.ca/~rsexty/business1000/glossary/M.htm

This management definition talks about the different components that managers need to control in order to achieve objectives. One differentiator of this definition is the way it considers the operating environment as part of what a manager must understand.

the role of conducting and supervising a business.
www.becbiz.com.au/glossary.htm

This is a broad definition of management that doesn’t consider management as something that can take place outside of a business.