LeaderShift: Preparing to move from rank-and-file to supervisor

IN THE past, as recently as perhaps 10 years ago, the journey from rank and file to a supervisory role usually took a few years. Most companies preferred their employees to learn on the job and were willing to wait for them to hone their talents and grow into a leadership role.

But with the explosive growth of the business process outsourcing and other service industries, the upward movement from staff level to supervisor has been swift and relentless.  Stories of new hires becoming supervisors within months have been prevalent—leaving many unprepared millennials facing unrealistic expectations.

   Additional training

Hence the need for additional training to prepare them for their new role.

We spoke to Allan Gamboa, an organizational development and training consultant, who will be conducting the first module of Inquirer Academy’s new offering: LeaderShift.  He shared with us some insights on this transition.

The transition from an individual contributor role to a leadership and management role brings numerous new challenges. These would include the following:

1. Results expected and accountability

An individual contributor is responsible for the timely delivery of his own work output, as required by his superiors. Supervisors are expected to deliver team results, as required by their stakeholders (e.g. company, superiors, staff, customers, suppliers, etc.). Individual contributors are mainly accountable to their immediate superior for their own output.

Supervisors are accountable to their respective functional heads as well as to other functions/departments concerning the team’s outputs, operations, processes, policies, etc.

2. Type of work

Individual contributors are usually involved in carrying out tasks, activities, and projects pertaining to technical work. Supervisors, on the other hand, are responsible for carrying out management of the team’s operations and processes, the work of all individual direct reports, as well as technical work that only the supervisor can perform.

3. Decision making

Whenever individual contributors need to decide on matters concerning challenges encountered, they are usually guided by their superiors, or by established policies, procedures, and principles. Supervisors will often have to make tough (sometimes unpopular) decisions while balancing the needs of stakeholders, and will need to manage the implications of those decisions.

4. Competency development

Individual contributors are expected to hone their technical competencies, either self initiated or with the support of the company, through the immediate superior.  Supervisors are expected to develop their own competencies, while ensuring the development of their team’s competencies.

5. Discipline

Individual contributors, being mainly responsible for their own actions and outputs, are expected to discipline themselves to conform to company rules, policies, and code of conduct.  A supervisor is expected to promote self-discipline in the team, as well as to impose the necessary sanctions (following due process) when individuals in the team fail to meet or conform to the established rules, policies, and code of conduct.

How can a company help new supervisors prepare for these challenges?

Vital link

The supervisor’s role, being a line management function, is crucial to every organization. The supervisor serves as the important link between senior management and all the staff. Because of the changes cited here (and possibly even more) that newly promoted supervisors will experience and encounter upon assuming the new role, organizations need to adequately prepare and equip people so that they can fulfill the expectations and succeed.

The LeaderShift program is specifically designed to help individual contributors transition to a line management role.  Participants are provided opportunities to hone their management skills using a range of appropriate methodologies intended to draw out individual and group learning from activities and discussions.  Although studies show that experience and exposure provide rich learning for individuals, formal workshops like LeaderShift allow participants to collectively learn from each other’s experiences, all in the context of established leadership and management principles, theories and techniques.

Firm foundation

Apart from investing in the further development of high performing and high potential managers and supervisors, companies will benefit greatly from developing the foundations of new supervisors—who are in effect, the future leaders of the business.

The LeaderShift program is developed by Inquirer Academy and Salt and Light Ventures. (The author is Executive Director of Inquirer Academy.)

The Inquirer Academy is at 4168 Don Chino Roces Ave. cor. Ponte St., Makati City. For more information about the LeaderShift course or future programs, email [email protected], call (632) 834-1557 and look for Jerald Miguel, or visit the website at www.inquireracademy.com.