Workforce Performance Group

1.  Take the time to provide them with weekly supervision.  Supervision is not passing pleasantries while walking past each other in the hallway.  It's a formal, private process, with goals and objectives.
2. Assign an experienced, successful supervisor to work with them shoulder-to-shoulder for the first month.  Because they were a great front line worker doesnt exempt them from tremendous anxiety at this new job. 
3.  Make sure your organization's culture emphasizes learning for everyone.  This way, a new supervisor will not feel out-of-place asking questions.
4. Provide all supervisors, new and old, with training around certain key areas like:  communication with subor-dinates; delegation; time management and priority setting; problem solving. 

So, when you were a new supervisor...how was it for you?
What helped you to survive those first weeks?  What might have been helpful?  Share your experience by responding to this post.  We'd love to hear from you.

What is happening with employee turnover at your organization?  Chances are it may not be as bad as it was several years ago, but many people are finding that it is starting to rise again.  Have a look at the article on the Home page about improving hiring decisions.  I believe that if we do a better job of selecting employees, that our turnover will  be lowered.  One other bit of advice...never hire just to have a body to provide coverage - it's always a mistake.  That's my opinion anyway, what's yours?   

There's lots of unhappy social workers out there.  Can anyone identify a social service agency that stresses employee happiness?  I hope so.  How do they do it?

Larry

Make More Money in 2012
Well, the New Year is here and a perfect time to think about what we would like to accomplish during the next year?  Are  you interested in earning more money this year, I know that I am.  Not because money will make me happy, but having a better year financially will reinforce my opinion that I am on the right track with my business.  What will more money do for you and what are you willing to do to get it.  Are you ready to change  jobs?  Ask for a raise?  Take a course to improve your skills?  There is no such thing as a free lunch, so you are going to have to do something differently in order to see your paycheck grow.  I know that I have had to get much more specific about my goals and now have a writen action plan for every day until the end of March.  It really helps because then when I have completed the action plan for the day, I know I can relax a little.  I review my goals and my action plan at least once every day.  So that's my plan, what about yours?
Larry

Has it been a long time since you had a raise?  If so, has your boss given you a satisfactory explanation about the situation?  Has the lack of a raise effected your motivation on-the-job?  If not, how have you maintained your motivation?  Have you thought about looking for another job?

Some years ago, I left a position for a new opportunity.  When I communicated my decision to my senior staff, one of them said, "but Larry, we just got you trained."  I was a slow learner but eventually I learned that my primary job was to support the staff and help them do what they felt needed to be done.  I was not the one who needed to have all the hot ideas; my job was, within the confines of the mission statement, to make sure that my staff, especially those who reported to me directly, were able to express themselves through their work.  As the Gallup survey says, "to allow them to do what they do best, every day."  Does your boss know what is imortant to you?  What you are good at? 

Larry

Re:  Learning how to interview.  I always thought I was a pretty good interviewer.  I thought that I could identify a good job candidate when I saw one - just had a "gut feeling".  Now we are learning how unreliable interviews can be as a predictor of job success; truth be told, I've hired both winners and loosers. 

Our web site and newslettter, The Mentor, has been promoting a more structured kind of interviewing, called behavioral interviewing.  It uses Past Performance Questions which are oriented around the competencies required for job success.  It takes a lot of forethought and preparation but it will help you find candidates that match your requirements and since the questions are standardized and used uniformly, you are on safer legal grounds when you decide not to offer someone the job.  

Have any of you tried a more structured interview process and how has it worked out?

Larry Wenger 

There are a number of different studies out there all of which indicate that as many as 70% of employees are essentially unmotivated and not engaged at work.  Most show up every day, look busy, but in reality they are not making any contribution to the organization beyond what they absolutely have to do when the supervisor is looking over their shoulder.  Look around you tomorrow when you are at the office - 7 out of 10 are doing only the bare minimum to get through the day; maybe half of those are actually stealing from the company - in terms of time and other resources.  You can quickly see how costly that is to your organization, to have less than half of the employees truly motivated and excited about their work.   But is it really that bad at your place?  If it is not, what is your organization doing to bring out the motivation in employees?

Larry Wenger 

With the lack of trust that exists in many other parts of our society, it would be surprising if our workplaces did not exhibit signs of a lack of trust.  Some signs of a lack of trust are the following: people try to hide their mistakes; they are reluctant to discuss the things that they dont do well; they withhold information about events in their personal lives.  Do you feel that your co-workers trust each other?  Why or why not?  What could be done to increase the level of trust in your workplace?  What difference would it make?

Larry Wenger

Elsewhere on this website, you will see an article on Characteristics of Great Supevisors. (Click on "Great Supervisors  Do you remember some of the best supervisors you ever had?  Or were they all just plain terrible?  Based on your experience, what would you say is the most important characteristic of a great supervisor?  Please share your opinion. 

Larry Wenger