Course Outcomes

This supervisions skills training course for new supervisors will:

  • Outline the behaviors effective supervisors demonstrate.
  • Help participants improve essential supervisory skills: delegating, accountability, coaching, and providing performance feedback.
  • Provide participants with tactics for addressing difficult employee behaviors.

Course Overview

Making the transition from individual contributor to supervisor is a shift that can be challenging for most people – especially if they’ve received little training about how to handle the change and their new responsibilities. This hands-on supervision skills course is designed for people new to the role. It is also appropriate for people who have been managing for a while but could benefit from some additional training. During a series of hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to communicate expectations, delegate tasks, hold people accountable, and coach for development and performance improvement.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Employ strategies to establish credibility with former peers.
  • Explain a supervisor’s responsibilities.
  • Describe the value of developing good relationships with employees and peers.
  • Delegate the right tasks to the right people at the right level.
  • Conduct a one-on-one status meeting.
  • Hold an accountability conversation.
  • Conduct a coaching session to address employee development.
  • Address performance shortcomings.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

What’s My Role: Understanding Responsibilities

In the opening discussion, participants will discuss how their role changed when they became a supervisor. They will also identify common reasons people are selected for a management role and the concerns that often surface when managers are tasked with the responsibility of supervising others. 

Where Am I: Assessing Skills

During our next activity, participants will complete a management self-assessment to uncover their strengths and development opportunities. Next, we will use the results of that assessment and the responses generated in the first exercise to set personal learning goals and tailor the agenda for the day.

Management Mishaps: Avoiding Obstacles 

From time to time, managers are their own worst enemies.  In this part of the course, we will examine such self-sabotaging behaviors as throwing temper tantrums, ignoring boundaries, failing to live up to promises, disciplining people in public, violating company policy, and other credibility-killing activities.

Ready, Set, Goal: Setting Targets and Delegating

In this segment, participants will discuss SMART goals and their importance in managing others. They will also consider the value of short- and long-range planning for themselves and their direct reports.  We will then work through a goal-setting session and role play addressing delegation and accountability.

Asking Versus Telling: Knowing How to Use Questions

Strong managers are good listeners, and they know how to use questions to guide others.  In this portion of the workshop, participants will explore questioning and listening skills as they relate to supervision.  We will work through a series of skill-building exercises to build trust, improve questioning, demonstrate reflective listening, and conduct coaching sessions.

Speaking the Right Language: Understanding What Motivates People

Motivation and buy-in are key elements in a strong workforce. Good managers know how to determine what’s important to each of their direct reports and how to speak to them in an appreciation language they understand. This part of the workshop explores values, praise, and motivation.  During this course segment, we’ll look at no-cost and low-cost actions managers can take to set the stage for great performance and recognize it when it happens. 

A Compassionate Compass: Giving Feedback

Giving employees feedback can be a tricky task and is something many supervisors unnecessarily dread. In this portion of the program, we’ll examine the importance of feedback and several models for letting direct reports know how their performance measures up against the organization’s expectations.  

Difficult Behavior and Managing Conflict: Getting People Back on Track

Difficult behaviors and unaddressed workplace conflict can sabotage a team’s effectiveness.  Strong supervisors don’t let disagreements fester or ignore unacceptable behaviors; they address problems and help others surface issues and address concerns.  In this final section of the seminar, we’ll look at tactics for confronting unacceptable behavior and seven steps for solving disagreements.

At the end of this training seminar, participants should understand the role of a supervisor and what it takes to be successful while managing others.