Nicole was complaining. Her department was behind. She was working 10-12 hours per day and could never seem to get ahead. She thought her boss should appreciate her efforts and hard work, but instead, she got quite the opposite. He was disappointed in her performance and intended to follow-up on her numbers every two weeks instead of once a month.
“What am I supposed to do?” she said. “I get here an hour early and leave an hour after my team has gone home. It seems, they are always pulling me into the weeds. I just can’t get anything done.”
“Tell me about the weeds part. How does your team drag you into the weeds?”
“They always need help. I try to work alongside them for most of the day, but then I cannot get my stuff done.”
“Then, stop!” I said. “You are the supervisor. You are there to make sure the work gets done, NOT to work alongside your team. If they have a problem, help them through it, but then get back to your responsibilities. You are supposed to do production counts three times during your shift so you can know if you are ahead or behind. That’s your job. Your team is not meeting its daily production and they don’t even know it.”
I continued, “I will be back tomorrow. I want to see the 10 o’clock count and the 2:30 count posted on the white board. We will work from there.” -TF
Nicole needs to use a weed whacker. When a team member comes to her with a problem she needs to ask them “What or how would you do it or solve it”? After they answer then tell them to go do it. If they can not give her answers then she needs new team members.
Just because you place an individual in a leadership or supervisory role does not necessary mean that they are fully prepared. This is especially true for individuals that have moved up the ranks to leadership. They are still working as a worker and not a supervisor or manager. I believe it is important to give leadership and management training to all managers no matter what level they are on for reinforcement. Nicole just needed some leadership training and she could have been more successful a lot sooner.