CRITERIA 1.2 – What makes a good Supervisor?

Supervisors have three quite distinct roles:

1. An operational role-

Which manages the flow of work through decision making and problem solving to meet targets in terms of production and quality.

2. A leadership role-

 Which encourages, supports and motivates their team members.

3. A communication role-

Which serves as a two-way conduit between upper management and the people who make up the general workforce.

• These three roles need to be performed simultaneously—they are seamless—and to make the:

– Supervisor’s job even more complex, the roles need to concurrently address short term priorities as well as long term outcomes and take account of the overall goals of the company and individuals.

• Effective supervision is therefore about ‘managing up, down and across’.
• It stands to reason then, that just being ‘good at their job’ does not equip people to be good Supervisors of other people doing that job.
• Technical skills and a good work history and high job performance are important starting points, but companies that promote on this basis alone have found that they not only get an ineffective Supervisor, they lose a good worker.

‘Good Supervisors’ usually come from a combination of different factors.

• While it’s true that there are good Supervisors in the South Australian Manufacturing Industry who have got there without specific training or formal mentoring- and sometimes even without planned support from upper management- these times are well and truly over.
• Workforce expectations have changed- Generation X and Generation Y expect competent, inspirational leaders from their first day on the job.

The ageing workforce and the associated challenges of labour and skills shortages- coupled with intense international competition- mean there is no longer time for Supervisors to only learn on-the-job. The need to be attractive to the reduced labour market; to retain every employee against stiff competition; and to continually increase productivity as a weapon against international cost pressures all heighten the urgency for good Supervisors on the floor- now.