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.