3 Skills for New Supervisors to Master
We know from people manager assessment data that supervisors need to work in partnership with their people to help them grow, develop, and thrive. We also know that successful supervisors flex their leadership style to meet the needs of the person they’re helping. The top skills for new supervisors to master relate to being able to use a variety of leadership styles to meet each person where they are.
Sadly, our situational approach to leadership research shows that 54 percent of managers use only one leadership style. So, more than half of supervisors are trying to lead, manage, and coach in a way that will not help their direct reports to be the best they can be. Here are two examples:
- Highly Directive Leadership Style
Let’s say you are a leader with a highly directive leadership style that has been successful for you in the past. You see your role as telling people what to do and how to do it. Your highly structured and hands-on approach includes providing clear instructions, setting specific goals, and closely monitoring progress to ensure tasks are successfully completed.This approach emphasizes control, task-oriented decision making, and clear expectations with little room for autonomy among team members. It may be appropriate for a direct report who is new to a task, but it could be perceived as micromanaging by more experienced people who don’t need that type of style. It is not an ineffective leadership style; it is only effective for specific tasks and capability levels.
- Highly Supportive Leadership Style
Let’s say you lean more toward a hands-off, supportive style. You see the role of a leader as mostly supporting and empowering people to figuring out things for themselves with the right resources and guidance. Your hands-off style may be perfect for someone who is highly qualified and motivated by the task at hand, but you run the risk of being labeled by others as ineffective and unable to provide clear direction or priorities when needed.
The Top 3 Skills for New Supervisors to Master
Leadership inflexibility can lead to hard feelings and poor performance. Here are the three core skills for new supervisors to master to give people what they need to succeed.
1. Goal Setting
We know from organizational alignment research that goal clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing leaders. High performance begins with a clear definition of high performance. Sadly, we know from leadership simulation assessment data that new leaders are not particularly good at setting clear goals and accountabilities. This leads to unclear performance expectations, misunderstandings, and misalignment.
People want clear direction and support. Are goals and accountabilities crystal clear to everyone on your team?
2. Diagnosis Where People Are
We know from new manager training that the faster and more accurately supervisors can diagnose the type and level of direction or support a team member needs to succeed, the better boss they will become. Two questions can help diagnose a team member’s development level to help you to adjust your leadership style to meet them where they are:
- Can they successfully accomplish the goal on their own or do they need direction?
- Are they motivated and confident enough to successfully complete the task?
If they need direction, focus on setting goals, showing and telling how to get the work done, establishing timelines, developing specific action plans, and tracking performance. If they need some motivation or confidence, focus on listening, coaching, providing rationale, acknowledging, and encouraging.
Can your leaders diagnose what people need to be set up for success?
3. Adjusting Your Leadership Style
We know from action learning leadership development feedback that supervisors must quickly adjust their leadership style to create a high performing team. A great place to start is by simply asking: Do you want me to tell you how to do this, or do you want to tell me about your ideas for how to do it? The goal is to provide the right amount of direction and support that matches what the person needs to be successful.
Can your leaders consistently adapt how they lead, manage, and coach to match the person and the task at hand?
The Bottom Line
Bringing a situational approach to your leadership skills enables you to be smarter about setting goals and to be more intentional about how you lead, manage, and coach your team. We know from organizational culture assessment data that this is how to become a trusted leader that helps people grow, develop, and become better than they were before.
To learn more about skills for new supervisors to master, download 29 Ways to Build and Maintain Trust as a Leader