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“An individual without information can’t take responsibility. An individual with information can’t help but take responsibility.” Jan Carlzon, Former CEO SAS Group of Companies
Remember your first supervisory job? I still remember mine. And some of those memories are, frankly, not pretty.
I had been hired as the operations manager for Canada’s largest private trucking company. I had minimal trucking experience and barely knew the difference between a brake pot and a tea pot! Nor had I ever had to deal with getting a union to cooperate with the management team. Now I had all of that and more besides!
When a new machine is installed in a department, a handbook comes with it! There may even be a technician specially qualified in how that particular piece of machinery works, or directions on how to keep it in good operating condition, and even what to do when it breaks down.
Supervisors get new people arriving in their department all the time, but for some reason the handbooks don’t come with them! And they never seem to arrive.
How do we keep those new persons in top shape? How long is the warranty on this new employee? And what will you do if they fail?
Yes I understand Management wants output and quality. But output and quality always require the loyalty and cooperation of people, in addition to what those machines can accomplish.
And is it possible that supervisors can do something which will improve loyalty and cooperation?
Remember employees tend to judge the whole organization in terms of the treatment they receive from their immediate boss. When 95% of employee turnover is a result of “not getting along” with their Supervisor the pressure is squarely on that relationship.
Today thousands of people in supervisory positions were operators just a short time ago. And in the coming months and years thousands more men and women will assume supervisory jobs – as aging Boomers move into retirement or as is frequently happening, semi-retirement.
Some of these people have experience, some do not. But regardless of their history, they must quickly learn to work through their people. They must recognize that they can get their jobs done only through the cooperation of the people whose work they direct.
Failure to do so will not only hurt the enterprise, but jeopardize that newly minted Supervisor. Trust me I have felt that challenge!
I was the youngest person to be promoted to a terminal manager’s position. When I arrived at the terminal I had been with the company only four years. The terminal manager I was replacing had almost 30 years with the company!
The office manager had 20 years under his belt and the union lead hands, 23 and 24. It made for some interesting first days, but in my 8 years of management in that terminal, we had minimal grievances, we never had a strike, and only once did we end up in arbitration.
Most importantly we were successful in our business, while some other key trucking companies were closing their doors
Every great enterprise has great leaders at all levels, and being a good supervisor means that the people in your department do what you want done, when it should be done, and the way you want it done…
But most importantly, they do it because they want to do it.
That is the lost art of motivating people for maximum results.
More on the “Magic of Motivation” next time.
Neal Diamond
Consult Executive
www.MaximumImpact.ca
