Tips for New Supervisors

Introduction

When being promoted to a supervisor many questions will arise. So to help out our new supervisors we have assembled a collection of best practices from our most tenured supervisor. Included in this collection are tips about communication skills, orientation and training, improving team productivity, conducting appraisals, handling conflict and final employee relations. This guide will help lay the ground work for you to be successful and create your own best practices which will help you build a winning team.

Demonstrate Effective Communication Skills

When it comes to being able to communicate effectively one of the most important skills as a supervisor is your ability to produce quality written communications. By being able to write quality communications you will be able to set yourself apart from a large portion of the eligible work force across the nation. This is according to a study by The Conference Board released on Oct 2, 2006 stating that companies are reporting 72% of high school graduates are deficient in writing skills, they are also reporting this problem among 2-year and 4-year college graduates. By improving this communication skill you will be able to create more impactful letters, and memos and presentations. (2006)

Not only are good writing skills important for getting you point across, but it also helps you keep or maintain you professionalism. Al Boulden former sales executive of Sealy said he has seen misspelled words on documents from high-level people and this then puts them in a hole they have to dig out. (Perry 2007) You don't want to be in that hole yourself so that is why your writing skills are important.

To complement your writing skills you will want to make sure you have good verbal skills as well. Why you ask. Well that is due in part to the fact that research found in how to be a good communicator (2005) shows that 42% of employees feel that their employer is a poor communicator.(4) As a new supervisor you don't want to fall in to this category of employees feeling you are a poor communicator. There are a few tips that can help you improve your verbal communications. The first is making sure you use the correct language for the audience. You really don't want to use terms or acronyms that your listeners won't understand. (4) You can lose credibility if you speak over the head of your audience.

The second piece of advice I would give you when speaking in public is that whenever possible have your speak prepared in advance. After it is prepared it would be a good idea is to have another person review