For many new managers and supervisors, the most difficult issue they face is engaging their employees. New managers often assume their role with little or no real training.

We know that the number of disengaged workers is growing upwards of 75% making being effective as a manager difficult. How to get through to a difficult employee is often a frequent question. How can we better understand and influence our team members in a positive way? This article gives some excellent ways to more effectively work with employees to engage them and empowers them to be upstanding team members.

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Career Builder did a survey of first-time supervisors and found that 58% had no prior training on how to do the job. Problems like disciplinary action, boundaries, new relationships with former peers, and doing peer reviews are just some of what they encountered.

We know this lack of preparation is a problem based on the increased turnover related to the supervisor-employee relationship. But what can be done?

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It really doesn’t matter how experienced or capable you are, there are times, especially now, where your confidence may need a reset. We are having to learn new things and confront more personal situations with employees.
The answers are not always “cut and dried”. We have to learn more to give the best answer from our supervisor job.

Today’s post is about some of the basic things we can do to keep our confidence strong. These will not be new and chances are you already do most of them, but I encourage you to take one and exercise it more this coming week to feel that the good feeling that comes with being confident.

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Today I want to talk about women in leadership roles. We see such a need for new ways of thinking, managing, speaking in business and much of the promise can be found in women and their unique perspectives.

Women care for the children and if time permits have a flourishing career. And men are more traditionally in the leadership role however, with the workforce needs changing so dramatically, opportunities are improving for women.

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Question: What’s one thing great managers do for their employees so they can excel at their jobs?

Encourage them to be their own leaders

“A true leader will step back and let his/her team do their job without standing over their shoulders. Assign each team member personal responsibilities and empower them to succeed and do what they do well. Give them the opportunity to make decisions, and don’t second guess them.”

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There is a lot written lately about employees leaving a company because of a poor relationship with their supervisor. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, most supervisors are not trained to know how to supervise. They were promoted based on their own individual performance so they should not be blamed totally when things go awry.

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Many new supervisors want to know how to be respected leaders in their organization. Facing the challenge of disengaged employees, a previous regime, a lack of support from upper management are just some of the difficulties. Three things that make supervisors true “leaders” include: truly owning your position, being the conduit for important information from the company to EE’s, and setting clear boundaries. More on these later.

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It seems I never tire of talking about employee engagement and how the simplest of actions can produce outstanding results in any company. People naturally want to be included in the conversation, consulted on their ideas and visions, and know “the latest” in their company.

What would keep managers and supervisors from this inclusion process? What holds people back from sharing important information that only strengthens the employee-supervisor bond of respect? I wish I had the answer.

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