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ISSN 1499-8076 Easytraining.com News Vol.1, No.63
First-Line Supervisors
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January 25th, 2007 - Copyright 2006 Claire Belilos
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services -
contact Claire at: easynews (at) easytraining.com
subscribe at
http://www.easytraining.com/easynews.htmI. Welcome
II. First-Line Supervisors
III. Subscriber Feedback Re Classroom-Style Training
III. Permissions
I. WELCOME
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Welcome to the new members of the Easytraining family, and a word of appreciation to loyal subscribers.
Please read permissions at the bottom of this newsletter. You may forward this newsletter "as is" to other individuals, with all headers, body of content, and footers intact, as long as you do so on a free basis and not within the framework of a paid service, but you may not upload it onto any web site, especially not a restricted web site such as for paid members only or intranet, nor use it for commercial purposes (note: "commercial" includes for profit training material and events).
II. FIRST-LINE SUPERVISORS
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Someone from a very large company contacted me today concerning the subject of employee motivation. The dilemma that company faces is how to create and maintain a high level of employee motivation despite the fact that, due to low turnover in the management and supervisory level, there do not seem to be immediate and recurring promotion opportunities in the organization.
We all face this problem.
Some managers just do not wish to invest time and money to develop supervisors and employees bringing this as an excuse: "If we make them better managers and supervisors, they will want a big raise and will want a promotion; failing this, they will just leave us for the competition."
Managers who think otherwise, and who invest in the education and training of all their people, quite often reach a phase when they sense restlessness among their managers, supervisors, and employees, followed by a drop in work motivation.
What is the ideal answer? I will not presume to have all the answers myself, but ask you, subscribers, to share with us your thoughts and experiences regarding this dilemma.
I spoke about training and education, though the question was about employee motivation. These are closely linked. And yet, creating a motivating work environment involves "all" other aspects of management, as you well know.
The enquirer told me that she was on the verge of preparing a program for managers and facilitate some sessions about employee motivation at the management level.
The short-cut answer I gave to the enquirer was "Focus on first-line supervisors, and then go upwards; do not begin with department heads. First-line supervisors are the most urgent and immediate key to employee motivation."
It is good to think on a grand scale, strategy-wise, but if there is an immediate problem to solve, we must be practical first and deal with the immediate, at the rank-and-file level, and then "ascend". This is my experience, and firm opinion. Yours may be different. Please share, noting that the issue here is "immediate problem resolution which will affect employee motivation" and we are not speaking about strategies for long-term, lasting, results.
First-line supervisors play a most crucial role in organizations. Responsibilities, education levels, abilities, qualities, skills, and all other attributes differ from one organization to the other, and across different industries. In some organizations, the role of line supervisors is considered so inconsequential that hardly any attention is given to them and to how they actually perform with regard to employee management, training, and motivation, and in relation to customers.
I know someone who was out of a job, so she took a front sales position (personally and physically calling on different client potentials) to sell the products of a huge organization, which is supposed to be "respectable". Maybe the management in the organization is respectable, but I can tell you, first-hand, that the supervisor in charge of this sales team is abhorrent and would most certainly be fired if someone in management succeeded in disguising himself as an applicant and got hired (under this guise) as a sales person. This supervisor seems to have grown in a milieu where he was whiplashed during his childhood because this is exactly how he behaves with the sales people. I was told how he threatens, and even read a threatening email memo he sends weekly to "his" sales team.
So, even if this organization, at the highest level, had hired some consultants and professional human resources, training, and organizational development people to lay out strategies and to organize an ideal work situation for the "obvious" staffing, they never seem to show any interest or exert control over what goes on with actual "line" sales supervisors, nor do they have a feedback mechanism (preferably anonymous) which employee-victims may resort to.
This is a very stark and crude example of what is happening in one of the high profile companies right here in B.C., Canada. Their Board and upper management are not aware of it.
I do not know what is happening with their other line supervisors. I do not know if anyone checks on them after they carelessly hired them. I do not know if they have a sickness throughout the organization. But what I do know is that when such a situation exists in a company, the roof suddenly falls (big scandals and lawsuits).
In the meantime, there is most certainly no employee motivation. This particular supervisor I portrayed seems to get his motivation from "whipping" those under his supervision, and I do not think that we should exert any effort on him.
However, there are normal, regular supervisors, good ones, and even very good ones.
They all need attention.
Let us take the very good supervisors. They may be very good at supervision "per se", but lacking in "people management" skills. They may be people who supervise well, but only through the brandishing of fear and discipline. Or they may be introverts or shy. They may not share. They may not know how to acknowledge good work or satisfy the various needs of employees. They may be good supervisors but may sometimes demonstrate (to employees) a lack of ethics, fairness, and good judgement. Sometimes supervisors may be good as supervisors but may speak about the company and its management with disrespect within earshot of employees or, even worse, "to" employees. Or you can have good supervisors who would be all the time complaining about their salaries, about their ability to get a better position elsewhere, of not being appreciated, etc. etc. You get the picture.
Or, you may have good supervisors who do not know how to train "and develop" employees, and who fail to communicate to employees the criteria upon which they will be judged (their performance evaluated and themselves appraised).
Or, you may have good trainers, who do not know how to "relax" and be happy and make employees happy. Supervisors who think that work should be "dead serious", who forget that what happens at work affects the days and lives of employees.
In short, you can have many lousy supervisors and you can have good supervisors who do not know anything at all ab out people management and motivation.
What good is it then to deal only with long-term strategies if what is happening at the "reality level" is utterly different?
I say plan a strategy, but begin dealing with the immediate needs of employees by focusing on first-line supervisors. According to my experience, these are the people who need the most training (and attention).
A word of caution: Do not trust what you see. In front of management, supervisors behave well with employees, while they may not, when free from observation. So, how can you know? We cannot spy on them or put them under constant scrutiny.
We must just continuously pay attention to them and "work with them" on different issues. We must "drop in" on their training sessions. We must communicate with employees. We must provide for different forms of possible employee feedback. Employee surveys are good, but not enough. Many companies do provide for anonymous feedback with a direct connection to the general manager's office.
I am sure you will agree with me that in the scenarios I described above, the caliber of supervisors, and the way they behave and perform, can deeply affect employee motivation.
We must "nurture" supervisors, train, and educate them. We must teach them how to become excellent people managers and role models.
We can keep support them (e.g. with formal education, coaching, and seminars) and keep them quite busy focusing on their own development and with the development of others (the employees under their supervision).
With such actions, we will see a rise in their own motivation, and consequently in overall employee motivation.
We must know how to draw their attention to "learning" and "development". We must know how to let them come out of their shell, even admitting their shortcomings or mistakes, with no fear of retribution, but the promise of assistance to help them become better "people managers", whom employees will love, respect and follows. We must try to teach them how to become exemplary leaders and role models.
When we help supervisors in this manner, they do not feel restless about their careers, since we satisfy their innermost need for management recognition.
This spills over to employees.
In each organization there is supervisory and employee turnover. If everyone is so happy that we suddenly find ourselves with zero turnover, then do what I did when faced with such a situation: Convince management to invest in a select few to be appointed as long-term management trainees (a 12 or 24 month program). Pluck the most promising from out of their departments and plan for them to train "hands on" in all other departments in the organization. Immediately after this program begins, "import" management trainees from universities.
I will share with you a little secret: When existing supervisors and employees see the management trainees from the universities work diligently in the organization, at first, they feel threatened, but soon try to prove themselves as excellent workers (this little unintended threat cloud works wonders). They want to show you that they are as good as these young university graduates who bring new blood and new thoughts to the organization. It works wonders.
When employees and supervisors see the select few (about 6-10) "internal" management trainees, they also get a new breath of life. They do their best, through performance and attitude, to prove to you that they too will be worthy of being selected for such a program in the near future.
Voila! With the above steps, we succeed in breathing new dynamism into the organization and everyone is happy.
Please do not hesitate to write back even if you disagree with the many points made in this article.
Thank you for your attention.
Claire Belilos - Copyright January 25th, 2007
III. SUBSCRIBER FEEDBACK RE CLASSROOM-STYLE TRAINING
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In the Easynews newsletter No. 62 of December 18th, 2006, I wrote about Classroom-Style Training, asking for your input.
Here is a shortened version of the points I made:
a) Have and communicate a clear objective
b) Set up and maintain a pleasant and relaxing environment, conducive to audience participation and to learning
c) Focus on "the learners", what they need to learn, and how they need to learn, and forget your ego and "self"
d) Get the audience (trainees) to actively participate in the training session
e) React and do something with the feedback received (collected) from trainees (respond, analyze, summarize, acknowledge, and possibly implement)
f) Follow-through on the training session (go around and speak with them while they actually work to see if lesson was learned and is being implemented).
g) Involve the department head concerned especially "after" the training.
Some subscribers were kind enough to share with us their input on the subject, repeated here below. Although I usually do not put names of people giving the feedback and do not put the names of their organizations, I believe these three people will not mind. They deserve to have their names next to the words they say, as a thank you for their trouble:
1) Louise Gardner
Hi Claire, here is my summary of the newsletter. For effective Classroom Style Training: (i.e. that which leads to change/improvements)
1. do your research
2. focus on the participants rather than yourself
3. make the objective clear prior to the session
4. ensure the room layout allows interaction
5. prepare an appropriate visual aid - one which you can build with participants is preferable
6. do not place objects between yourself and the participants
7. provide handouts to reinforce learning
8. create a comfortable environment
9. minimise disruptions during the training
10. provide any resources participants will require - e.g. pens and paper
11. let the participants do the work while you lead the discussion
12. wrap up with a conclusion and workable solution and gain acceptance
13. follow up with participants/managers to see if changes/improvements
are evident
Kind regards,
Louise Gardner
Corporate Facilitator
Organisational Learning and Development
Organisational Effectiveness
Insurance Australia Group (IAG)
2) Gair Bethley
Good Morning Claire, I do really enjoy your newsletters and feel bad about not responding to them for a while. However your email re gaining feedback plus a most unusual and brief lull in the 'frantic pace' of the festive season has brought the 'planets into alignment' (!) for me to reply. As a bit of background I am a Training & Development Manager in a convention centre that has about 500 staff in its team. My background is hotel management (trained with Savoy/Claridges, London plus various properties here in Australia) and 15 plus years technical training (hospitality) with various state government colleges also in Australia, until I took up my present role back in 2001. My dot points re the Classroom Style training follow below:-
* Pre-preparation (or as the hospitality world knows it, "mise en place"!)
* Briefing to trainees in writing, in advance, re session objectives;
* Room preparation:
* Be there at least ½ to ¾ of an hour to prepare;
* Enough chairs/space and appropriate set-up re break out group space etc;
* Catering (tea, coffee, juice & water) and biscuits for the main break;
* Room aesthetics (is the environment conducive to learning (bright, airy, inspiring?);
* Handouts/pads/pens on the tables (some debate here as to when is the best time to distribute handouts but if it is vital to the discussion rather than summary material, then yes it should be there first up);
* Welcome the trainees as they arrive and get them to write their names on reasonable sized stickers (first names) and attach to shirts/blouse to aid communication;
* Housekeeping details re phones, pagers, taking care of business;
* Ice-breaker (if appropriate - there are some magic examples out there which are fun for any sort of 'demographics'!)
* Introduce the topic/subject as dynamically as possible with a clear outline of what is expected from the participants;
* Follow the session plan (which you have prepared beforehand) using group work, brain storming techniques;
* Engage all participants as equally as possible (love the cow bell idea!!)
* Utilise group members to be scribes;
* Gain consensus ("pull things together") on the main features to have come out of the session and clearly communicate that they will be passed on to their managers for consideration/implementation etc.
* Ask participants to fill in feedback form for them to record their thoughts on the session just undertaken and seek ideas for future sessions;
* Follow up with participants to see if they have been able to implement aspects of the training session (performance change) and talk to their managers also.
I am in the very fortunate position of having a dedicated training room which is well appointed with resources (data projector, DVD/video player, computers etc). I have the room set up with multi coloured cloths and pictures around the walls of some of the big functions we have achieved (e.g. a Christmas function called Santa's Workshop where we cater for over 7,000 guests over two consecutive nights - to see over 330 tables set up with full Christmas fare is just amazing!). If you feel that it will be of use to share my comments with your subscribers then please feel free to do so. I wish you a very Merry Christmas - Happy Chanukah and all the very best for 2007. I will look forward to your newsletters in the year to come.
Best regards,
Gair.Bethley, Training and Development Manager, Adelaide Convention Centre, Australia
Adelaide Convention Centre - Winner 'Services Industry Award' - 2006 National Training Awards
3) Florence Lee
(Well, this one is a compliment which made me happy, so I have to paste it here, and thank you Florence):
Hi Claire, Cannot get enough of this good stuff. Its thought-provoking but not too 'heavy'
Blessed Christmas,
Florence Lee
Librarian
Shaw Foundation Library @RJC
Singapore 574013
Thank you all for your feedback. It makes me immeasurably happy when I get reactions from you. When there is silence I wonder "Was the newsletter not good enough? Or maybe they never read it?". Like everyone else, I need feedback. So, thank you again.
I will let you in on a secret: I make the mistake of never re-reading what I write before I send it out. I know I should but it will take real effort to acquire this habit. Please, therefore excuse any repetition you may find above. I usually re-read "after" I send out because I put myself in your shoes and assume the role of a person receiving the Easynews from someone else. I promise to make an effort to acquire the good habit of re-reading what I write before I dash it off!
IV. PERMISSIONS
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You may forward this newsletter by e-mail to others "as is" as a communication unto itself, with all headers, footnotes, and copyright notices intact, including my name and all details (top and bottom; just use the "forward" button in your email box). However, the distribution can only be free of charge and not against payment and not in a newsletter or service which charges membership and fees for the reading of content. This newsletter should not be featured on any web site, be it a corporate intranet, membership restricted site, or public site, or translated or distributed in any other form, without specific permission from the undersigned, i.e. myself.
If professional friends or colleagues of yours like the newsletter, please encourage them to subscribe directly at
http://www.easytraining.com/easynews.htmThank you for your attention, and best regards,
Claire Belilos
December 18th, 2006 - Copyright 2006 Claire Belilos
ISSN 1499-8076 - This publication is registered with the National Library of Canada and is published by Claire Belilos, Management Consultant and Training Specialist
CHIC Hospitality Consulting Company offering custom-tailored solutions to management and performance problems
Home Page: http//www. easytraining.com
e-mail: easynews (at) easytraining.com
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