Punished for hard work
A cautionary tale from a county
administration
Joe’s just been promoted to supervisor. His
hard work and dedication have paid off. The extra money will certainly come in
handy, and he can’t wait to tell his wife about his promotion. But give Joe a
couple of weeks, and the excitement will wear off.
After the handshakes and the congratulations and Joe gets to work in his new
role, he begins to feel very uncomfortable. He is no longer sure of himself like
he was when he knew he was doing a good job as a line employee. Worse, perhaps,
someone else is doing his old job, and not at all to Joe’s satisfaction. He
begins to think his boss should never have promoted him. Or at least, Joe wishes
he had some supervisory skills.
It just wouldn’t make sense to put a complicated, expensive piece of machinery
into the hands of an untrained employee, but everyday, good employees are
promoted to supervisor and sent into their new positions without guidance.
Training for the new job is seldom part of the promotion package. As a result,
many new supervisors go through a period on confusion, uncertainty, and feelings
of inadequacy – they’re punished for their hard work, it would seem. Sometimes,
those good employees become poor supervisors, and good personnel are lost.
Prior to becoming a supervisor, the employee probably had a clearly defined job.
There were specific tasks to be done. Usually, these tasks had to be completed
within a set time frame. The employee could evaluate himself. It was easy for
him to tell if he was doing a good job.
Not doing work but getting work done
As a supervisor, there is little, if any, hands-on work involved. The job
changes from doing work to getting work done – a much broader responsibility.
The supervisor’s effectiveness is measured by the work of everyone in his or her
section. No longer can he be concerned only with his own production. He must see
to it that everyone does a good job.
To oversee the quality and quantity of the group’s work, the new supervisor must
end his former relationship with his co-workers, if his co-workers have not
already initiated that change. It may be subtle or pronounced, but there must be
a change. Instead of being one of the gang, the new supervisor has to become the
decision maker. He will no longer fit into the social group that laughs, jokes,
and occasionally gripes about the boss or the county. He is now the one expected
to fix the problems.
Somebody will test the new supervisor. He’ll want to see how much he can get by
with under the new guy. The new boss cannot make the mistake of being too
lenient in these situations, otherwise he will undermine his own authority.
In other situations, the supervisor may over-react and come down too hard on an
employee to show that he or she is in charge. In setting and enforcing workplace
rules and standards, the new supervisor must take a firm but fair attitude and
be consistent.
Another problem many new supervisors have is either under- or over-supervising.
In under-supervising, the employees are the decision makers. They determine how
and when thing should be done. The supervisor takes the attitude of letting
everyone do their job and not interfering. While employee involvement has many
positive aspects, it is the supervisor’s role to see the bigger picture. He
should be aware of how the operations in his department relate to the overall
goals of the county and he should stay in control to meet those goals.
In a situation where the supervisor over-supervises, the supervisor makes all
decisions without benefit of input from his or her staff. A more effective
supervisor will keep his door open to his employees. The final decision is his
responsibility, but input from employees plays a valuable role in helping ensure
that those decisions are good ones.
Open communication builds good relationships and ensures better productivity.
The key is listening to the employees and being certain that the employees
understand their tasks. The supervisor must say exactly what is expected, when
it is expected, and be sure the employees understand what is expected. Few
supervisors enjoy having to correct someone for poor production, policy
violation, or some other unacceptable behavior in the workplace. The effective
supervisor will promptly address problem situations and work toward a quick
solution. The first goal in dealing with such problems is to correct the
situation, not punish the employee.
The first-time supervisor endures many new challenges which he has likely never
seen before.
This feature is from The
Texas Association of Counties, retrieved 27 May 2005 from http://www.county.org/cms/field/hr/pp/vol3no1/Record349934.html
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