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What are the key skills required to be a competent supervisor October 24, 2017

What are the key skills required to be a competent supervisor

Good supervision affects organisational results and the overall work environment. A strong supervisory team that contributes to a positive work environment and enables employees to be and feel successful can provide your organisation with a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talented employees - which is critical in a sector that faces challenges in recruiting and retaining top employees. Good supervision is based on clearly defining the role of supervisors in your organisation, and ensuring supervisors have the required competencies to carry out their role effectively.

A competent supervisor Leads people toward meeting the organisation's vision, mission, and goals. There isn’t a magic formula for being a good supervisor, of course, but if you supervise workers, perhaps the following tips will help you be more effective as a supervisor:

  • Interactive Communication Skills

Without an ability to make your desires clear, your employees won’t know how to accomplish the tasks you delegate. Equally important is understanding and incorporating employee feedback. A good supervisor interacts effectively with their employees, maintaining open lines of communication to ensure they stay informed about project progress and brewing problems.

  • Leverages diversity and inclusiveness

Recruits, develops, and retains a diverse, high-quality workforce. Supports activities that ensure all staff have an equal opportunity to use and develop their skills and abilities and/or develop new skills. Demonstrates a strong commitment to diversity principles and fosters an inclusive workplace where diversity and individual differences are valued and leveraged to achieve the organization’s goals.

  • Adapt to the changes

The World is changing at a fast pace. The efficient supervisors ought to keep up with it. Do not just blindly follow the age old norms and rules. Think out of the box if required. Adjust to the needs of the organisation.

  • Mental agility

The supervisor must have the ability to grasp problems quickly, to think of several things at the same time, and assess the whole situation quickly. In the busy modern world of business this quality is necessary for success.

  • Empathy

If you can’t place yourself in your employees’ shoes, you can’t lead them effectively. For example, a parent might not be able to work overtime, or an employee going through a hard time might need temporary special considerations. Be as accommodating as possible in the face of genuine need, and your employees will be loyal in return.

  • Fosters continuous improvement and innovation

Promotes efforts aimed at improving current business processes through a culture that fosters continuous improvement and innovation. Identifies and implements improvements and innovations that increase efficiency and enhance work quality. Promotes ongoing development of staff and takes initiative to assess and self-develop supervisory competencies.

  • A coacher/mentor

Share your experience. A good supervisor shares wisdom, knowledge and experience with their employees. They help them perform better. This also strengthens the bond and the trust between them.

  • Ability to Delegate

A good supervisor excels in delegating tasks to those employees best-equipped to handle them. Proper delegation streamlines a project, ensuring efficiency and maximising profitability. Poor delegation, on the other hand, compromises a project. For example, if you delegate a vital task to an inexperienced employee, the whole project can slow. Worse, you might have to backtrack to fix errors, an inefficient use of time and resources.

  • Be an example

Be hands on – Do not just always delegate. At times the boss should take on projects too. They may try picking up something less attractive or uninteresting and complete it wonderfully. This sets an example to all the team about taking up challenges and about how any work is important.

  • Flexibility

No single approach to management works in every situation. Rather, a good supervisor chooses tactics based on the situation. For example, as a deadline nears, you might adopt a hard-line approach to ensure the work gets done. But your employees can’t operate at full-speed perpetually, so adopt a more relaxed approach during downtime between projects. This gives employees time to recover their strength.

  • Criticize constructively

When mistakes happen a good supervisor tries and understands the reasons behind the mishap. She criticizes or assesses the employee in proportion to the mistake. And it is always better to not to scream or scold in front of the others. Give constructive feedback; show them the right way to do things.

Looking for supervisor training? Check out the supervisor courses we offer. Contact us for more information on our supervisor training courses.

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