In recent years, organizations of all sizes and at all stages of development have faced competitive, excruciating external pressures in dealing with disruption and economic upheaval. At the same time, employees have come to demand a kinder, gentler workplace with managers and supervisors who demonstrate more compassion. The result is a disturbing trend. I want to say that managers and supervisors “balance” too many responsibilities, but it goes further than that. These leaders have more and more tasks and responsibilities assigned to them—often far too many to execute.
In helping a client improve its safety program recently, I noticed the Leadership Team and the Safety Steering Team kept adding tasks to the operations managers’ and supervisors’ responsibilities. In enumerating and evaluating the assigned roles and responsibilities, it became clear that the expectations for these roles and duties were unrealistic. There was too much assigned to each person. Part of the analysis was to identify which responsibilities and tasks were expected to be done daily, weekly, monthly, etc. The findings told us managers and supervisors were totally overburdened. It’s no wonder these managers and supervisors could not complete more team development, employee coaching, and long-term operational improvements.
Manager and supervisor roles are in desperate need of a re-set. And if your organization is in the earlier stages of development, you have a perfect opportunity to make it right the first time. Follow these six steps:
1. Clearly define roles and responsibilities. This will be an iterative process. Our tendency is to give managers and supervisors too much to do. As you work to re-set expectations, constantly conduct reality checks. Evaluate and set priorities. Whether the organization has been around for years, or if the organization is newer (defining the hierarchical roles the first time), list every task and responsibility at these positions.
- Identify ones that clearly link to KPIs. These will be the highest priorities.
- Clarify additional important responsibilities (while thinking through the difference between urgent tasks versus important tasks) and define who will do each one.
- Eliminate outdated and unimportant tasks.
- Assign some tasks elsewhere. A key principle is to assign decisions and tasks to the lowest appropriate level of the organization. Are there some tasks the teams or employees could do, once trained, rather than managers or supervisors?
2. Develop Standard Work. In initially developing standard work, leaders work with their direct reports to clearly establish what things need to be done daily, weekly, and so forth. Create Standard Work forms that allow for recordkeeping and coaching. See sample Standard Work Reporting and Coaching Form, below.
3. Work together to test standard work, being willing to make course corrections as needed to make things work. Standard Work needs to cultivate a two way conversation; but once it is set, employees need regular feedback to minimize distractions and firefighting.
4. Create training and programs to provide needed skills.
5. Help managers and supervisors break bad habits and set new habits through feedback and coaching.
6. Implement support programs to help them deal with stress and complex employee issues. One client has 90-minute bi-monthly Supervisor Meetings. Forty-five minutes is spent on working through complex conflicts or employee issues. The rest is spent on what would typically be perceived as usual supervisor meeting topics.
To take organizations to higher levels of performance and to ensure competitiveness in increasingly complex business climates, leaders need to rethink and revamp manager and supervisory roles and responsibilities in a disciplined way.
For more information or for a complimentary 60-minute strategy session for re-thinking manager and supervisor roles, please set a meeting, email me, and/or follow or message me in LinkedIn.
Sample Supervisor Standard Work Form
