It isn’t easy learning how to supervise a team of people.

It’s doubly hard if you are plopped into the middle of it all mostly because you are very good at your technical work. Those technical skills don’t often translate to the supervisory skills that you will need with this new responsibility.

[message type=”info”]Learning how to supervise effectively is a long – maybe life-long process. It is hard work.[/message]

Many people write about the various skills you need to be an effective supervisor – how to motivate, how to communicate, how to delegate, performance management, how to handle difficult employees, and many, many other related topics.

If you are a new supervisor, you know that reading about these topics is a heck of a lot easier than implementing them, but it is definitely worth the struggle. There’s a lot to learn when it comes to supervision, especially when you are new to it.

So let’s start with the basics – a creed or guiding principles that can point you in the right direction.

Start here and the rest will likely be a bit easier.

The New Supervisor’s Creed:

• Listen actively – This means you hear what is said with an open and curious mind.
• Ask open ended questions – “How can I help you?”  is a good start.
• Listen to what your staff has to say after you ask the questions – “Is this what you mean?”  is a good follow up.
• Ask for Opinions –  “What would you suggest?”
• Make your decisions after you have all the information

Listening and asking open ended questions do not absolve you of the need to make the hard decisions, but listening and asking will improve your chances of making decisions that will work.