Module 1: Learning Outcomes

Supervisory Principles
There are some general supervisory principles or concepts that many supervisors find helpful. They can be useful in staying grounded, especially under pressure. They include:

1. 
   About 95% of what we know came from other sources (parents, teachers, books) and 5% from experience. But, we use our experience about 50% of the time, so build positive experiences into the work environment. Most people have all this information in their head and use little of it, falling back on a few basic ways to handle most situations.
   
2. 
   When planning the work, plan for things beyond the “must do” and add some “should do” and “nice to do” items. When someone does not do what was asked of them, determine if they did not follow instructions because they COULD not do or WOULD not do the task - your intervention with this person may change based on whether or not they were able to perform the task you’ve asked them to do.
   
3. 
   Have failure and success standards for all jobs to help avoid creating a risk-averse climate, i.e., “if I don’t try, I can’t fail.”
   
4. 
   Send the indispensable person away for a while so others will get proficient in all critical tasks.
   
5. 
   Delegation without clear expectations is abdication.
   
6. 
   Avoid people who won’t ever do what you ask of them and those who do EXACTLY what you ask them to do.
   
7. 
   Your best people and worst people break the rules the most. Be aware of WHY your staff is breaking rules. 
   
8. 
   Give authority along with responsibility.
   
9. 
   Motivation has, at its root, dissatisfaction.
   
10. 
    People think they are better than they think their boss thinks they are.
    
11. 
    The 80/20 rule applies to several areas of supervision: 80% of the power is in 20% of staff. 80% of problems come from 20% of staff. 80% of work is done by 20% of staff.
    
12. 
    There are two “tyrannies”- change and another’s opinion. A tyranny is something over which you have little or no control.
    

Lesson summary

The key points from this module are:

Supervision is getting the job done through others.

Good supervision must include personal trust, respect, and confidence between employees and supervisors. This kind of good supervision will result in an increased desire to work.

Delegation is trusting another person to do a job for which you are responsible. To delegate successfully, the supervisor must do the following:

Make sure that the employee agrees to do the work.
Tell the employee how the work will be checked. Tell the employee how to report completion.
Make sure that everyone involved knows that the employees has the authority to carry out the work.
Review who does what.
Clarity, Empathy, Courage, Attentions, and Persistence are they five key words of supervision.


The five traits of a great boss are:
Value what employees say
Solicit diverse opinions
Offer constructive feedback
Be honest
Keep everyone informed
Leads others, Manages performance, and communicates are three supervisor core competencies.

Leadership is the ability to influence the actions of others. The way to succeed as a leader is to talk to people about your style choices.

Decision making is choosing actions from available alternatives to achieve a result.