BUILDING THE PERFECT SUPERVISOR PART 4

Last time we listed our top three traits of a perfect supervisor. Now it becomes a bit more difficult to rank the traits but here is our list. 

NUMBER 4---GOOD COMMUNICATOR--With today's wide different age groups in the work place, someone who can communicate effectively to a 20 year old and then be able to do the same with a 60 year old, is priceless. Most all of us have difficulty meeting that challenge. 

Along with being able to communicate with different generations comes the challenge of being able to communicate in different languages, especially Spanish. All I was effectively able to master was si and cervasa which meant I could say yes to a beer and that is not one that should be used in the workplace. 

NUMBER 5---SELF STARTER---This may be one that should be higher on the list but I thought the others important to consider first. That could be open to debate. 

A perfect supervisor should not have to be told when to start or finish his or her day. They should know that if they are doing their job. They come in knowing what has to be done and they don't leave until the business in their area has been accomplished for the day.  

NUMBER 6---GOOD COMPUTER SKILLS---In today's business environment having at least a basic knowledge of computers and how their position uses them is critical. Being able to read and react to budgets for their accounts is critical along with being able to ask and respond to various situations that arise and have to be addressed. 

Okay, there you have my 1 through 6. Agree? Disagree? Please note that not one of these talks about having technical skills such as stripping and recoating tile or shampooing a carpet etc. That should be a given when they get to this level in the organization plus distributors can teach them as needed. Your distributor should play a major role in the success of a perfect supervisor.

At the risk of getting too long winded I am going to stop here and ask you to build your perfect supervisor. Let me know your list of the PERFECT SUPERVISOR.  

Till next time.

 

BUILDING THE PERFECT SUPERVISOR PART 3

Continuing on with our project of naming the traits of a perfect supervisor let me list what I consider to be the top 3 traits of a perfect supervisor,

NUMBER 1---HONESTY---It is my belief that if the supervisor isn't honest, all of the rest of the traits really don't matter. Agree?

A few years ago I was doing this exercise with a group at a conference and we were filling up several pages and hanging them on the wall when an elderly gentleman stood up in the back of the room and said that we had missed the most important trait, that being honesty. He said that if he couldn't trust someone to be honest in all their dealings representing his company, the rest of the traits didn't matter. Pretty profound isn't it? He was absolutely correct and honesty heads my list above all other traits. The rest of the traits are important and critical but none equal honesty. 

NUMBER 2---AGREES WITH AND SUPPORTS THE COMPANY CULTURE---It is important that the whole team is on board with the culture of the company and presents a united front to employees and customers at all times. You know your company culture and if a supervisor cannot endorse that culture, whatever it may be, that supervisor should not be in the company. We are assuming here that every company is an honest, upstanding, corporate citizen that believes in doing the right thing in all business dealings with customers and employees. 

NUMBER 3----TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS----We seem to live in a society where everyone blames someone else when something goes wrong. A good supervisor will admit when they make a mistake  and take corrective action to learn how not to make that mistake again. 

So...as a starter there are my top 3 traits of a perfect supervisor. What are yours? Did you notice that not one of the top traits addresses how to clean a building from a technical standpoint? My philosophy is that we can teach the technical skills of the industry but the 3 traits I mention above, while teachable, need to pretty much be ingrained in the individual before they can be considered for a supervisory position. 

Next time we'll address several more traits of a perfect supervisor which in most cases are hard to put in a definite order but are crucial to being successful as a supervisor. 

I welcome your comments on our top three. Let me know if your top 3 differ and why. 

Till next time.

BUILDING THE PERFECT SUPERVISOR PART 2

As a follow up to our last blog regarding building the perfect supervisor I hope you have taken the time to make your list so as to compare with the list that our workshop participants have developed. 

So, here is the list they developed and at this point in no particular order. Remember we asked you to list your top ten. In this session I will list only the traits and in blogs to follow I will provide some commentary on each of them.

HONESTY

SELF STARTER

TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS

GOOD COMMUNICATOR

SAFETY CONSCIOUS

ABLE TO MAKE QUICK DECISIONS

ABLE TO MEET DEADLINES

EXCELLENT TRAINER

AGREES WITH AND SUPPORTS THE COMPANY CULTURE

KNOW ALL TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE JOB

HAS A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF MATH

HAS THE NECESSARY COMPUTER SKILLS 

How does this list compare with yours? Have you made a list? As I said in an earlier blog the list the group created was between 25 and 30 but in the interest of space and time I have tried to pare it down to avoid some traits listed that may fit into those shown above. 

In our next writing I will attempt to put them in some sort of order of importance but we will discuss, without question, THE NUMBER ONE TRAIT OF A PERFECT SUPERVISOR. 

So join us next time and see if your agree. Also, let me know some of additional traits you think should be on this list. 

BUILDING THE PERFECT SUPERVISOR

BUILDING THE PERFECT SUPERVISOR

If you are a BSC owner you have probably, at one time or another, wished you could find the perfect person to supervise the important people we have performing the valuable service we provide our customers and if you are a supervisor you may wonder why can't the company find more dedicated people like me.

Let me ask you, have you really defined what you would consider is the perfect supervisor? If you could build one, what traits would that supervisor have that would relieve you of the headaches you now have every day?

Whenever I have done a supervisor's workshop or seminar one of the first exercises we have all the participants do is define what they consider to be the traits of a perfect supervisor. We ask them to build a perfect supervisor, if you will. It turns out to be a great exercise because it gets everyone thinking and involved. Let me suggest this as a topic for the next supervisor get together in your company. It's fun and most often really generates some great discussion. 

In our workshops we will usually generate about 25 or 30 different traits that our attendees consider to be the most important. We tape them up on the wall so everyone can see them and discuss why they feel they are important or offer their opinion as to why it doesn't need to be on the list. 

Then, after we have developed a quality list, we pare it down to the top 10 traits needed and eventually we try to come up with the number one trait. 

Let me strongly encourage you to do this exercise in your company, list all the traits as you see them, then get your top 10 and finally the one most important one. Then do an honest appraisal to see if these are the traits your supervisors have, or if you are a current supervisor, how many of the traits you have. Need to work hard to develop any of them?

So there is your assignment. In our next blog posting I will outline the most popular ones that have been developed by the various groups we have had involved in our workshops. We'll even give you the one that most often is rated the NUMBER 1 TRAIT OF A QUALITY SUPERVISOR.

Till next time and enjoy the exercise.