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I remember my first year as a new supervisor. It was a long time ago, but I remember it well. Mostly because it was really difficult.
On my very first day one of my new staff, a woman much older than me (she was in her fifties while I was in my twenties) gave me a handwritten document that she expected me to sign. I don’t remember what it was for. I do remember that it was very poorly written and in no way appropriate for me to sign. I told her as nicely as I could that I couldn’t sign it.
That was it. She hated me from that moment forward.
This was many, many years ago and I still remember it. Because being a first-time supervisor is hard.
The first year will be difficult, but there are things that you can do that will make that first year easier and set yourself up for success going forward.
If you are a first-time supervisor, these are the things you want to remember:
If something doesn’t seem right, it isn’t right
No, you don’t know everything and you want to check in with upper management on some stuff, but if something seems wrong, it probably is. It would never have been appropriate for me to sign whatever that document was. I couldn’t even tell what it said. No one could ever tell me that I should have signed it.
Signing that document would have saved me the pain of that woman being awful to me each and every day. But the fact is, she was an unhappy and rude person and would have been awful whatever the reason. I maintained my integrity and made it clear from (literally) day one that I was not going to be bullied into doing something that didn’t make sense.
Once your staff understand that you are a person of integrity, the decent ones will respect you. Those who don’t are not worth your time, but you still have to deal with them because, as a new supervisor, you’re still responsible for their work. I know, that stinks, but it gets better.
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Put it in writing
You may have heard the much-used phrase, “If it isn’t written it didn’t happen.” I don’t like that saying because, of course, it did happen, whether or not you wrote about it. But you still have to put it in writing for two reasons:
You have to be able to prove that it happened
Example:
You expect all staff to check their email on every shift. You tell everyone (individually or in a group, it doesn’t matter) that they are expected to check their email each shift. And then someone doesn’t check their email and they miss something important. You ask them about it and they say, “Oh, I didn’t see it.”
You can remind them of your conversation, but they might remember it differently, or weren’t listening, or don’t care. There’s really nothing you can do about it, because you can’t prove that you were clear about your expectation about checking email.
Instead, write out the policy that you expect everyone to follow (I do have one about checking email on each shift) and have each person sign and date it. My policy includes explaining what to do if a staff member is having technical difficulties (check with their supervisor to see if there was any email since their last shift).
Now it’s iron-clad. Now you have recourse if someone tells you they didn’t see it, or didn’t get to it, or didn’t know they were responsible for it.
If you have staff meetings, you can put expectations on the agenda and have people sign in to the meeting. That way you have a record of staff being present when certain topics were discussed. This is not quite as iron-clad as having a signed policy, but it’s still good practice.
Get into this habit early. It will make a huge difference in your journey as a supervisor.
Similarly, if you speak with an individual staff member about something pertaining specifically to them (lateness or attendance issues, being courteous to customers, or whatever), use a supervision form (if your company doesn’t have one, you can download mine here. It’s free!). Then you and the staff member can sign and date it and you have an official record that you can refer to if the problem persists.
The best thing to do is to make it a habit of meeting individually with all your staff every month or so. Talk about what’s going well, what needs improvement, the staff person’s short and long-term goals and what they need in order to do their job better. This is helpful if there is a persistent problem. It is also helpful when preparing annual reviews and for making a case as to who should be promoted.
You want to be sure that everyone “hears” the same thing
If there is information that you want everyone to have, you want to put it in writing. You never want to have one shift pass on information to the next shift.
First of all, it will not be accurate. If you’ve ever played Telephone or Whisper Down the Lane, you know that humans cannot communicate accurately from person to person that way.
Also, you never want to leave a staff member dependent on a peer to give them information. If the information does not get communicated effectively and correctly, that’s your fault as the supervisor.
If you’re not available to speak with each staff member directly, I suggest a log book that all staff are required to read upon arrival at work. Put all your dated updates in that book and have a policy (signed and dated by each staff member, of course) saying that, upon arrival, all staff are required to read the updates since their last time on site.
This generally doesn’t take very long and it guarantees that everyone is getting accurate and timely information, directly from you.
Do not ever speak about a staff member to one of their peers
You can and should listen. As the supervisor, you need to listen to your staff. Sometimes a staff member with complain to you about another staff member (ok, this will happen frequently). You can listen and make suggestions about what the person to whom you are currently speaking can do to improve the situation. You can offer to meet with both staff people to try to resolve the issue.
What you can’t do is say, “Yes, I spoke to Mary about that. She does need to improve her customer service skills.”
Do not go to Mary and say, “Bob told me you’ve been impolite to customers.”
I generally encourage staff to either own the issue or leave it alone. By owning the issue I mean, if you think it’s important then you need to speak up appropriately about it. Either on your own or with your supervisor, talk directly to the person who you think is causing a problem in the workplace.
This is how I handle a problem brought to me by staff about other staff. I do not allow them to just “dump” the problem in my lap and go on their merry way. Either it’s important enough to address directly, or it’s not. If it’s not, then I insist that the staff member let it go. It has to be one or the other.
You will never understand why people do some of the things they do
I’ve been doing this a long time and there are still behaviors that surprise me, though they shouldn’t at this point. Some examples:
- Why would Mary wait until after her shift has begun to call and say she would be late?
- Why doesn’t John complete his timesheet by the time it’s due? Doesn’t he want to be paid?
- Why would Olivia give my personal cell number to a customer when I’ve told her and everyone else not to and have explained, in writing, how to have a customer get in touch with me after hours?
- Why would James argue with me about the vacation days he requested when I have his text message to me showing the days he actually requested? (Always get vacation and holiday requests in writing. It doesn’t solve all problems, but is definitely better than not.)
- Why was Lena rude to a customer in front of me and others and then lie about it?
I can’t answer these questions, even after all these years as a supervisor. The only thing you can do is document your expectations as noted above. Document the behaviors and document your conversations with the staff member about those behaviors.
Your documentation should always be honest, polite and factual. Use dates, times, exact words when possible. Do not characterize another person’s behavior as irresponsible or unprofessional or any other adjective. Just write the facts, which should speak for themselves.
For some really outrageous examples, check out The Job Applicant and the Foot-Long Fingernails and A Crazy Work Story
Being a first-time supervisor is hard and you need support
Your supervisor should be your first line of defense. You’ll want to have a regular, preferably weekly meeting with your supervisor, at least at first. If they don’t offer, ask for it. Bring a written list of the things you want to discuss.
Depending on the size of your employer, there may be other new supervisors. Find a few people that you trust and establish regular contact so you can support each other through this difficult, but rewarding, step in your career.
Don’t forget to download my free supervision form!
