Have you ever considered the pivotal role you play in your employees’ lives as their supervisor? In the world of recruitment and human resources it is widely accepted that ‘people don’t leave organizations, companies or jobs, they leave bosses.’ Whether you supervise with an intention to be a people and team builder, a morale and department-destroyer, or with no intention guiding your supervising at all, you will be remembered by those you supervise as a positive or negative influence in their lives. What kind of supervisor are you now? What kind do you aspire to be?
Examples of good and bad supervisors are everywhere. In your own experience you likely have a former boss you would like to emulate as well as one or more you would hate to be compared to. In this month alone, two well-known employers, Amazon and Google, have been profiled, criticized and praised, for their supervision and management culture.
On August 15th, 2015, in The New York Times article “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace,” several former employees, some of whom were in high level positions, spoke freely about the cut-throat Amazon work environment. More than one mentioned it not being uncommon to see colleagues crying at their desks. An individual who worked almost two years in a book marketing role said, “You walk out of a conference room and you’ll see a grown man covering his face. Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desks.”
Compare Amazon’s brutal and ‘shrouded in secrecy’ management culture with that of Google who has again been recognized as number one on Fortune magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
In particular, Bradberry notes that:
- Great bosses are passionate.
- Great bosses pull their employees out of harm’s way rather than ‘throwing them under the bus.’
- Great bosses recognize the unique characteristics and skills their employees’ exhibit.
- Great bosses are congruent and are who they are, all the time. They honor their word.
- Great bosses provide a ‘port in the storm.’
- Great bosses who are positive influences in their team members’ lives are human and vulnerable; they are not afraid to show it.
What will your supervision legacy be? You have the ability to choose how you will be remembered by those employees you supervise.
To learn more about the characteristics Bradberry has found in great bosses, read more at:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-google-builds-bosses-order-dr-travis-bradberry
To read more about Amazon as reported in The New York Times: “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace,” by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, AUG. 15, 2015
Reading Materials and Workshops
21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: What do you dream of? In your wildest imagination, what do you see yourself doing? Now, what is standing between you and that dream? The answer is leadership. "Everything rises and falls on leadership," says Dr. John C. Maxwell, author and host of the 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader video-based program, "but knowing how to lead is only half the battle. Understanding leadership and actually leading are two different activities". This one-day class is designed to help you develop yourself as a leader by learning and applying the 21 vital characteristics every great leader needs, you will learn how to:
- Identify the qualities of strong leaders
- Recognize the personal areas of strengths and weaknesses
- Formulate a plan for personal and team improvement
- Recruit like-minded leaders to your team
- Develop each team member to the fullest potential
For additional consultation or class instruction please contact: Maria Fischer-Boothe
Basics of Leadership: What is a leader? Can you become the leader you envision? During this workshop, we will address the issue of becoming the best leader each of us can be. We will address the concept of situational leadership in which the leader adapts to the knowledge and skill base of the team member. We will also address how personality styles affect a leader's behavior. By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
- Describe what it takes to be a good manager.
- Explain how to move away from being a doer to being a leader.
- Choose to delegate.
- Compare management to leadership.
- Discover individual leadership preferences.
- Zero in on key leadership traits.
- Adapt individual leadership preferences to situational needs.
For additional consultation or class instruction please contact: Debra Graham
Next scheduled class time(s):
- Monday, September 21, 2015 - 8:30am
- Friday, November 20, 2015 - 8:30am
Leading for Excellence is a voluntary training program for experienced supervisors to strengthen and build their skills in managing the performance of others.
This program fulfills the University’s strategic goal of developing its human resources, as people are the University’s greatest asset. Supervisors and managers are critical in maximizing and expanding the skills of their employees.
The goal of this program is to assist supervisors and managers to:
- Be effective in setting clear expectations and goals that align with the college or department in support of the University mission, vision and values.
- Understand and utilize communication techniques which promote employee engagement which results in productivity and efficiency gains.
- Partner with their employees for development in their current and future roles and to ensure talent is available to maintain business continuity.
To be eligible for the Leading for Excellence program, the participant must meet one of the following criteria: Completed University SuperVision, supervised at UK for a minimum of 3 years or are a Directors Manager, or VP. To confirm your eligibility and obtain additional information, please contact Donna Vanover at donna.vanover@uky.edu.
Suggested Reading Materials
How to Be a Good Leader: The Ultimate Guide to Developing the Managerial Skills, Teamwork Skills, and Good Communication Skills of an Effective by Terry Cochran
As the human race has evolved, it has been socially dependent on certain members deemed leaders of the group. These particular people always possessed characteristics that a group of people could rally around in order to reach their goals. Even in the animal kingdom, wild animals will gather around a dominant animal to lead them. For example, a pride of lions has one king lion that leads the pack and ensures every lion is properly fed and protected. Because the male lion will fight to the death for the top spot, this ensures the king is the strongest and therefore the most able to protect and hunt food for his pride, or group. Of course, in today’s civilized world, we don’t exactly have to fight to the death to lead a group of people. But, in a manner of speaking, any potential leader does have to fight or compete to obtain a leadership position. Instead of proving strength and power, the candidate will have to display how and why they’re the most suitable for the position. Instead of physically lunging at an opponent, the candidate will constantly have to demonstrate professional, motivational, and social skills a cut above the rest. This book will help you to develop all the attributes that define a great leader, and will help you discover how to use those qualities to bring your career and personal life to new heights.
Ten Things New Managers Must Get Right From the Start by Dr. Greg L. Alston
Don't ruin your chances of being a great boss by making the same stupid mistakes that most new managers make.
No matter how confident you are in your abilities there is always that defining moment that occurs as you transition from the excitement of getting promoted in to the stomach churning fear that you might blow the opportunity. Until you have been a boss for a long time there is no way you can be really good at it. The problem is the world won't wait for you to learn on the job you need to be ready to earn the respect of your team from day one.
This book is designed to give you the wisdom of 40 years of real world management experience packed in to a short powerful book you can read in one weekend. It explains the common mistakes that most new managers make so you won't fall in to the same traps they have. It explains the underlying motivations that prevent managers from being successful because they are trying too hard to be nice or too hard to be tough. It explains how "the new sheriff" strategy can destroy your ability to create a high functioning team. And it helps you learn the correct mindset you need to be the kind of boss that everyone will want to work for.
Learn to avoid the mistakes that most new managers make. Trying to be too nice, Trying to be tough, trying to be the one with all the answers, trying to treat everyone the same, trying to impress, trying to act like somebody you are not and failing to reward good behavior.
Learn to avoid the neurotic blocks to your effectiveness as a leader. The need to be liked, the need to be needed, the need to be right, the need to be treated fairly, the need to procrastinate, the need to value judge, and the need to resist reality are natural drives that keep people with a good heart from being a good boss.