"To help your new supervisors successfully make the transition from being a "worker" to becoming an effective leader, it is important that you provide some initial training and spend time with them reviewing and developing six key skills every supervisor needs."

By R. B. Wright, CPCU

As we have visited utilities around the country it has become clear to us that field supervisors (sometimes called foremen or lead linemen) carry both the burden and the opportunity to affect the successful outcome of the project at hand. The “on-site” supervisor is often the person who has the most influence over how well the job gets done. As we visit, we commonly notice that the technical training these supervisors receive about line construction, repair, and maintenance techniques along with training on the applicable regulatory requirements and code guidelines is generally sound, but knowledge about actually supervising the people in a crew is largely left to chance.

New supervisors are frequently promoted directly from the worker ranks, often journeymen linemen selected for promotion on the basis of their superior work skills and reliability, and then often set to work in their new role as a supervisor without any training on the people skills the new position requires. As a result, new supervisors frequently fall into a couple of common "traps," either trying to establish their newly awarded authority by adopting a tough, bossy, know-it-all approach, or alternatively, trying to maintain their friendships by remaining "one of the guys," and shirking the responsibilities of supervision. Both of these approaches can have serious negative consequences and lead to the supervisor/foreman losing control of the project and, probably, losing the crew's respect.

To help your new supervisors successfully make the transition from being a "worker" to becoming an effective leader, it is important that you provide some initial training and spend time with them reviewing and developing six key skills every supervisor needs. All supervisors need to:

• Know how to help crew members apply their abilities.

It is important for a supervisor to recognize that it is not necessary to know how to do every task better than the crew members. A good supervisor is one who will take advantage of the individual skills and talents of the crew members by coordinating them to get the job done correctly and efficiently. Of course, that means the supervisor must set aside his own ego and honestly identify the various talents and skills already possessed by the individuals in his crew. Supervision (management) is the art of getting things done through other people.

• Know how to make decisions.

Supervisors must get direction from their own manager and the project plan, seek ideas and input from the crew members based on each of their experience and skills as referred to above, and then make the necessary decisions. Our experience as observers has revealed that new, inexperienced supervisors tend to either make decisions on their own without using the experience and knowledge of the crew members (the bossy approach) or they tend to rely too much on the crew to make the decisions (the "one of the guys" approach). Neither of these approaches leads to good decisions, teamwork or efficiency, and either approach may lead to errors and misunderstandings that hold up the project. Supervisors should be taught to seek ideas and information from their crews but then make the expected decisions on their own and explain them to the crew. Supervisors need to understand how to make good decisions.

• Carefully monitor the work that is taking place.

It is very important for supervisors to see how all the work is progressing and to make the corrections as needed to insure that things are being done properly and safely. To a new supervisor, whose job until recently was actually doing the work, this can be disconcerting. After all, walking around and observing seems unproductive, almost a waste of time. Of course, if the new supervisor doesn't yet understand how important it is to know how and who is doing what and how well, he will be wasting time just walking around and observing. Good, well-trained supervisors quickly come to understand how important and difficult it is to monitor the work in progress and make adjustments as needed to keep the crew and the work moving ahead properly. Without some initial training or guidance, this is an aspect of the job that new supervisors really struggle with. They need to understand that a big part of their new job is to pay attention, ask questions, and make notes, not simply to try to do all the work themselves. Supervisors need to understand how to be visible, effective on-site observers.

• Handle job problems.

All supervisors need to know how to handle job problems. When things go wrong, it is the supervisor's job to get them back on track. The ability to solve job problems effectively is the key to the crews' productivity. Supervisors should be taught to immediately address problems, even small ones, to analyze problems to uncover their underlying causes, and to focus on the work process and not immediately blame the crew for things that go wrong. Supervisors need to understand how to be effective problem solvers.

• Know how to motivate crew members.

Supervisors must be trained to recognize that different people respond to different things. As a starting point, the supervisor should bear in mind that virtually all workers want to do a good job. By working with individual crew members on the basis of what they already do well, the supervisor will be better able to motivate them to sustain their good work and improve further. Supervisors need to understand that people build and improve on what they believe they are good at, not on what they've been criticized for.

• Be a good teacher.

A key part of the supervisors' role is to help improve the skills of the crew members by setting a good example, by helping crew members get the training they need, and by giving crew members the opportunity to do new tasks that will enhance their individual skills. Supervisors need to attend to each crew member individually, challenge each member with new work, and set an example through performance. A supervisor needs to understand how to be a coach.

Getting it done!

Few newly appointed supervisors or foremen automatically display and use these 6 crucial skills. Instead, training is crucial to the development of effective supervisors, and relying on the trial and error method of "OJT" will result in a significant cost in time, errors, failures, and frustrations for good people who have not been given the tools they need to do a good job. Think of it this way - if you gave a worker a new type of tool or machine, you would train him how to use it. If you give a person a new authority, such as supervisory authority, you should train him on how to use it, just as if it were a new tool or machine. Do your homework and design a training program for yourself, or select a reputable supplier of supervisory skills training. 

Synebar Solutions offers a simple course called "Supervision from A to C" that is designed specifically for Rural Electric Cooperatives. This program is an instructional guide to be used directly by any newly appointed supervisor and his direct manager. The “lesson plan” includes examples of common situations that face a new supervisor, raises questions about how to handle them, and includes a discussion guide for the manager. The 7 week program is intended to help newly appointed supervisors make the transition from peer group "worker" to supervisor without falling into those common "traps" noted at the start of this article, and can help managers get started on the road to developing an effective, customized, internal training program of their own. For more information, call Synebar or email by clicking here. synebar@synebar.com