Clients ask me what the difference between Supervisory Skills and Management Skills is, the simple answer would be…nothing…to supervise is to manage, and to manage is to supervise. One particular client called in as they were struggling with a particular manager, who by all accounts lacked People skills…or an easier way to put it would be, lacked the ability to communicate in an acceptable way with others. I asked the client how did this person become a manager? They said he had moved up through the business, he started as an apprentice on a building site, and now manages the team (badly).
This actually winds me up…..how can companies expect people to just move into a supervisory role without the tools to be able to be an effective manager….In this day and age Social Skills are not a given…some people need to be taught how best to communicate with others, how to nurture others, how to successfully criticise members of their team without it seeming they are just ‘having a go at them’. Having an open door policy without being ‘one of the guys’.Understanding the difference between ‘mate can you do me a favour?’ to ‘I need this report completed by next Monday at 3pm’.This poor employee is just expected to know all of the above and move seamlessly into a role whereby his ‘mates’ who may well still be workers on the site now become people he supervises.Whether attending a 1 day Supervisory Skills followed by a further day a month later to work through areas that might need tweaking. Or a 2 day Managerial Skills course, new Supervisors or Managers will gain so much knowledge that will help them be the best Supervisors/Managers they can be.
This actually winds me up…..how can companies expect people to just move into a supervisory role without the tools to be able to be an effective manager….In this day and age Social Skills are not a given…some people need to be taught how best to communicate with others, how to nurture others, how to successfully criticise members of their team without it seeming they are just ‘having a go at them’. Having an open door policy without being ‘one of the guys’.Understanding the difference between ‘mate can you do me a favour?’ to ‘I need this report completed by next Monday at 3pm’.This poor employee is just expected to know all of the above and move seamlessly into a role whereby his ‘mates’ who may well still be workers on the site now become people he supervises.Whether attending a 1 day Supervisory Skills followed by a further day a month later to work through areas that might need tweaking. Or a 2 day Managerial Skills course, new Supervisors or Managers will gain so much knowledge that will help them be the best Supervisors/Managers they can be.