The H.R. Doctor Is In
Academy Awards
Promoting or hiring an employee
to be a first-line supervisor represents a very important
fundamental challenge to a county or city as well as to the
employee involved.
The
new supervisor enters a strange world even if she has been
with the agency for decades. Suddenly the persons role is
different and colleagues look at her differently. Soon after
the cake is eaten at the promotion or welcome reception, new
supervisors find requirements and expectations placed on them
by management, as well as expectations and hopes on the part
of their new subordinates. Newly appointed supervisors wonder
how they will fare in this new world, how they should carry
out their new responsibilities, and whether management will
support them or chastise them when they make decisions or take
risks.
The
new supervisor may be a long-serving veteran who is full of
technical knowledge about how the organizations particular
systems function. This technical skill is an important asset,
but it is by far not the most important asset. The technical
knowledge, skills and abilities ("KSAs" as they are known in
the ancient language of the human resources professional) are
not genetically embedded into the DNA of the employee. These
skills can be taught and they can be learned. What will make
the difference in the new supervisors success or lack thereof
is the extent to which she acquires the skills of
collaborating with subordinates, ensuring that the job gets
done.
Agencies make a serious blunder
when they hire supervisors based only on their technical
knowledge. However, an even greater blunder occurs when the
agency, in effect, abandons the new supervisor so that she has
to fend for herself as a "stranger in a strange land" without
supplying the supervisor with basic tools for confident
navigation.
After that celebration over the
promotion or appointment of a new supervisor is
forgotten - usually about 24 hours later - the real
work begins and the "tests" of this new person will begin
immediately.
Subordinates will test the new
supervisor to see what kind of response they get and whether
the new person can be worked around or whether the person will
be consistent and have a sense of humor. A newly promoted
supervisor with many years of experience will immediately find
dear old friends on the work crew asking for exceptions,
calling in sick, etc., with an expectation that the new
supervisor/old friend will reward their past association with
future slack.
The
new supervisor is understandably insecure and concerned about
properly responding to these kinds of tests and the support
she will have from her own managers. Its also one thing to
read agency policies on workplace violence,
non-discrimination, sexual harassment, time off, etc., but
its quite another to have to apply them as the agencys
direct representative.
Without the tools and the
confidence, which cannot come by means of the chaos theory,
the supervisor is condemned. The sentence may be to either a
rather short and miserable tenure or a retreat from any
confrontation. The latter sentence means that the supervisor
will spend years "just getting by" and not helping
subordinates and the organization.
Personally, these "orphaned"
supervisors will feel worried, angry, and disaffected with the
organization over time. This is particularly sad when it is
that very organization or individual managers who selected
them for appointment or promotion in the first place.
Something goes sour when people feel abandoned and
unsupported. The work crew will sense the situation and take
advantage of it by either working to a bare minimum level or
provoking the supervisor into some unintended outburst, which
further reinforces the sense that this supervisor is the wrong
person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
If
the outburst involved threats of violence, racial epithets or
sexist remarks or actions, not only the supervisor and the
work crew are harmed, but the county or the citys liability
goes way up.
The Supervisory Academy
How
can such situations be prevented or mitigated? One of the HR
Doctors favorite approaches is for the organization to create
a visible symbol of the support, concern, and appreciation for
a new supervisor Ð the creation of a mandatory Supervisory
Academy.
The
Supervisory Academy creates a consistent learning curriculum
and a supportive environment for every new supervisor to
attend. The "faculty" can be internal managers, directors and
other supervisors, with some guest presenters, thereby
reducing the costs significantly and adding a more-personal
"Ive been there too" touch to the experience.
A
typical academy may involve a half-day a week of mandatory
attendance for a period such as 12 weeks. Typical curriculum
content includes the history of the organization and
information about its budget, staffing, and the role of the
different departments.
The
curriculum also would include a serious dose of ethics and
conflict-of-interest avoidance. It would include specific
content on recognition and appreciation of staff, labor
relations, grievance handling, effective discipline, critical
incidence management, planning, communicating and other
essential interpersonal skills. There would be components on
"exceeding customer expectations" and mentoring as well as
performance evaluation.
It
has been the HR Doctors experience over many years that
creating this kind of Supervisory Academy, making it
mandatory, and ensuring that it is supported and recognized
can produce spectacular results, especially as more and more
supervisors graduate over time.
Graduates bond and network with
their fellow supervisors in ways which will never have
occurred before in the organization. Over time, the Academy
"alumni" can come back together in sponsored events and
seminars. They will have shared an experience that makes them
a stronger team and stronger, more successful individuals. In
every academy seminar, they will find proof of support from
the organization and recognition of the importance of their
role by its leaders. They will have a chance to vent and share
their frustrations as well as learn techniques and resources
available to help them.
A
major graduation celebration at the end of the academy
experience should involve presentation of certificates of
accomplishments or graduation by the top elected and appointed
officials, perhaps other signs of their attendance such as
shirts and academy pins, and the ever-valuable class photo
(except when you close your eyes all the time like the HR
Doctor does).
The
Academy content and its strong support should not be a secret
in the organization. Members of the work crews and the office
staff should all know whats going on and what kind of
experience their supervisors are going through. Over time, a
momentum will build and the academy will be a major
contributor to organizational morale as well as to creating a
corps of technical, compassionate, experienced and
knowledgeable supervisors.
A
person graduating will return to the work site with a kind of
confidence and positive outlook for the organization that she
would not have ever achieved without the experience. The
possibilities of a disaffected employee with a poor attitude
spreading the virus of frustration will be greatly
reduced.
Creating an academy is highly
cost effective and highly valuable. It should be a part of
every organizations standards-and-learning "inventory." In
fact, it would be a great idea for a similar experience to be
shared by elected officials in Learning Institutes or
Academies just for them.
The
HR Doctor has recently conducted presentations in Georgia for
the University of Georgia and the Association of County
Commissioners of Georgia and in Montana, courtesy of the
wonderful Jane Jelinski, director of the Local Government
Institute of Montana State University, for the municipal
clerks in the state.
If
your own agency wants to begin an academy and you dont know
where to turn, eat some chocolate M&Ms and contact the HR
Doctor for help!
Invite me to the
Graduation!
Phil Rosenberg The HR
Doctor http://www.hrdr.net/
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