Supervisory Skills

“The art of choosing men is not nearly so difficult as the art of enabling those one has chosen to attain their full worth.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

Making the move to a supervisory role can be demanding and somewhat daunting. For most people, the required skills for supervising others do not come naturally which means they need to learn and apply this new skill systematically.

In addition, many of those people who find themselves in a position where they are responsible in tasking others, don’t realise they are now in a supervisory role. Without formal training, most people would simply copy their own managers and supervisors and if these managers are poor at interpersonal skills, the new supervisors will end up with a lot of bad habits that they could do without.

This course is designed to help delegates gain confidence in supervising others by knowing what areas they need to consider when leading people. Through various case studies, examples and scenarios, delegates learn what works and what does not when managing people. The course also explores several established frameworks of management which gives structure to any supervisory role. These include guidelines to motivate the team, carrying out performance analysis, avoiding and resolving team-supervisor conflicts, problem solving and a variety of intervention methods.

Research shows that such frameworks are essential because many people who are new to supervisory roles are simply unaware of alternative management methods that can be used in different situations and wrongly choose an ineffective style of leadership.

The course is suitable for a variety of supervisory situations. Front line managers, shop floor supervisors and office team leaders can all benefit from this course. The course is ideal for those who are new to the supervisory role or those who have been leading but now want to improve their management skills by going through a formal training and tap into established methodologies on supervision and interpersonal skills.

In this highly practical course participants will learn:

What is Supervision?

• What is involved in supervision?
• How should a supervisor divide his time?
• What are the major functions of supervision?

How to Address Problems Methodically

• What areas a supervisor needs to look into when confronted with problems and in what order?

How to Establish Rapport

• How to improve communication with others by using empathy
• How to communicate with people when they want to raise a concern
• How to make people feel comfortable so they can share their thoughts with you

Case Studies

• What can you learn from these case studies on supervision?
• What to be aware of if you have recently been promoted to a supervisory role?
• What makes a good supervisor?
• How to support your team and manage their workload
• How to manage your team in relation with other supervisors

What is Situational Leadership?

• What are the leadership styles?
• How to help employees develop and how does that relate to your supervision
• How should you relate your leadership style to each individual under your supervision?

How to Intervene

• How to use a framework that helps you approach situations systematically, using a variety of interventions
• How to avoid using destructive habits repeatedly when supervising
• What are the alternatives to authoritative leadership?

How to Motivate

• How to motivate your team
• How to provide support and mentoring
• How to carry out performance appraisals
• What are the do’s and don’ts of performance management meetings?
• What are the 7 critical factors in job performance and why you must not ignore any one of them when supervising your team?

Audience: Anyone

Prerequisites: None

Course Duration: 1 Day

Course Level: Beginners & Intermediate 

By the end of this course the delegates will be able to:

• Approach a supervisory role systematically and confidently by knowing the requirements for success
• Analyse a situation systematically using a proven management technique to identify who and what is affected by it
• Use the 4-step technique to establish rapport with people for effective communication and team building
• Learn by example by examining a number of challenging situations and supervisory case studies
• Choose your leadership style based on your management needs and individual’s capability using an established management theory
• Use a framework designed to facilitate counselling and coaching using a variety of interventions
• Carry out performance appraisals and provide support and mentoring using a systematic approach to motivate team members

Supervisory skill is all about knowing how to interact with people, inspire them, lead them and support them. It requires strong interpersonal skills which can be gained by training as well as applying the methods to practical situations.

To make this training course effective, we have included many examples, case studies and conversations so that delegates can learn faster and remember the content for longer. Several exercises are designed to follow the content on management theories so that delegates can put the methods into practice. This also helps delegates learn from each other’s experiences both as supervisors (if they have been) and also as people who have been managed by others.

At Skills Converged, we know the importance of making a training course memorable using participation and interactive exercises. This course is explicitly designed with these exercises in mind while also allowing trainers to customise the course at appropriate stages in order to provide their own specific examples and scenarios suitable to the background of their delegates. Instructions are provided in the trainer’s guidelines on how to do this.