Dear soon-to-be-more-effective supervisor,
Did you know that supervisors have a bigger impact on productivity and morale than top management? But you don’t get treated that way. In fact, you don’t get much support at all. Not even training.
When you got promoted, you were probably an individual contributor one day and a supervisor the next, with no training or preparation for your new role. You almost certainly don’t get any training in supervisory skills.
The Wall Street Journal reports that American companies spend less than 10 percent of their training budget on supervisors. Most of that is spent on how to fill out forms and follow the policy manual.
My name is Wally Bock. The first time I got promoted, almost forty years ago, that’s exactly how it was for me. Sadly, things haven’t gotten any better.
Three of our children have been promoted to management jobs. Not one has received any training in how to be a boss. When you get promoted, learning how to succeed is up to you.
It’s sink or swim, just like forty years ago. But I can help.
When I was starting out, I looked everywhere for practical advice on how to be a great supervisor. I read books and talked to people, even academic “experts.” I didn’t learn much.
Some advice wasn’t specific enough. Lots of books and people told me I should “motivate” my team. But they didn’t tell me how.
Other advice was just wrong. “Experts” told me that when I talked to someone who worked for me about performance, I should start out by setting them at ease with small talk. But I found that only worked for some people. Smalltalk made others uncomfortable.
I knew that the books and courses didn’t have the things I needed. But I couldn’t figure out how to find it until the day I talked to a friend who was a great supervisor.
“How did you get so good at being a boss?” I asked him.
He looked at me for a long moment. “I knew there were good ones out there. I’d even had a couple of them. I figured that if I could figure out what the good bosses do, then I could learn to do it, too. And if I did what they did, I’d get the same results. It worked.”
I almost laughed. It was so simple. Figure out who the great ones are. Find out what they do. Then do what they do and get the same results.
That has become my life’s work. I’ve followed the model my friend suggested.
First I had to find some great supervisors to study. So I went to different organizations and said I wanted to speak to their best supervisors. I got names from management, from other supervisors, and from the people they supervised.
I talked to all of them. But I studied the supervisors that management and their peers and their subordinates all thought were great.
I spent full shifts with those supervisors. I talked to them and asked them questions. I talked to people who knew them. Some lessons jumped right out.
All the great supervisors touched base a lot. That single, simple action made all sorts of good things happen. You’ll find out why in my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit. And you’ll learn what to do when you show up.
All great supervisors I studied analyzed performance issues in the same way. I never found that in any book or course, but you’ll learn how to do it in the Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.
Some things surprised me. Those great supervisors weren’t any smarter than the other supervisors in their organizations. Their personal leadership styles varied all over the map. In fact they only had two things in common.
They all got great results. Not only did they have the most productive teams in their organizations, those teams had high morale. The best workers in their organizations wanted to work for these supervisors.
And they all did the same things in pretty much the same way. That got me really excited.
Great supervisors are great because of what they do. They weren’t born to be great with some magic in their genetic code. They didn’t have the benefit of some special education. Instead, somehow, they learned what to do to get great results.
The Working Supervisor’s Support Kit will cut your learning curve. It will help you learn what great supervisors do. If you do what they do, you will get the results they get. It’s that simple.
That doesn’t mean the great supervisors are perfect or that they get everything right. They don’t. But they do the things that assure they will consistently lead teams that produce great results and have high morale. You can, too.
The Working Supervisor’s Support Kit is a complete package. Here’s what you’ll get via email.
- My highly rated book: Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, in a specially modified 153 page e-book version
- A comprehensive workbook of more than 100 pages that will help you learn the lessons of the book and how they apply in your workplace.
- A complete set of forms, developed by supervisors that I’ve trained over twenty years, to help you organize your thoughts and your analysis of supervisory situations.
- A set of pocket reminder cards so you can check out key points while you’re on the job.
This is more than a collection of materials, the Working Supervisor’s Support Kit introduces you to all the ways we know that help people learn supervision.
- a story, because that’s the way humans learn the most the fastest
- bulleted lists of key points to aid memory
- a workbook to help you understand how the lessons apply to your unique situation
- forms to help you apply what you learn on job
- suggestions for how to get feedback and learn more, faster
Here are just some of the things you’ll learn from the Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.
The one thing that all great supervisors do that makes everything else work.
A three-step method that will increase the odds that your conversation about performance will get the right result.
A simple way to adjust your behavior and communication to get better results.
How to improve the way you give instructions.
5 kinds of conversations you will have with people who work for you about their performance and when to use each one.
How to make the performance evaluation system work for you … and your people.
A proven way to analyze performance issues effectively. Great supervisors do this. Others don’t.
A three-step way to improve your discussions with people about their performance.
4 ways to assign work to subordinates and when to use each one.
A simple way to decide how much control you should allow a subordinate in any situation.
Why you can’t “motivate” another person, but what you can do that’s more effective.
5 things to be sure of when you make an agreement with a subordinate
How to document behavior … and when you shouldn’t.
4 rules for using rewards
5 rules for punishment and reprimand
The one goal you should have in mind every time you talk to a subordinate about behavior.
This is field-tested stuff. People who’ve been through my programs or read my books have been using it to do a better job for decades. I’m so confident that this will work for you that I stand behind it with my unconditional money-back guarantee:
If you are not 100 percent convinced that the Working Supervisor’s Support kit can help you do a better job as a supervisor, just let me know and I’ll give you your money back.
You could spend hundreds of dollars on books that are just theory. You could spend thousands on fancy courses that don’t have the practical, street-level information you need. Or you can spend just $39.99 and give my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit a try. We’ll get it right out to you via email.
So, what are you waiting for? To examine my Working Supervisor’s Support kit risk-free just click below.
Sincerely,
Wally Bock
P.S. Quick Response Bonus! Order the Working Supervisor’s Support Kit today and I’ll send you free copies of the following helpful tools.
The Life Balance Analyzer to help you make wise choices about work and other parts of your life.
Personal Development Guidelines give you a simple way to think about and organize your personal and professional development.
The Program Evaluation Grid will help you evaluate different learning programs and resources and pick the one with the biggest payoff for you.