Supervisor Training 1: Managing the Human Resource

Introduction

Every business, regardless of size, must have its key personnel. Someone must make the decisions, issue the orders and be responsible for the outcome. The manner in which these things are accomplished could mean the success or failure of a business venture. The supervisor who can develop the skills of personnel and create a serious interest in waste prevention and higher productivity will be the individual who will move to the top in any company.

In the past, a person's technical knowledge of work performed was the basis for promotion to a supervisory position. Once in a position of authority, it was held with an iron clad, inflexible policy - "get tough and stay tough." With the technological advances and changes in methods and objectives, few of these people move up the success ladder. Today's leader relies on teamwork, keeping people productive and devoting time to the important things to get the job done.

Today's key leaders are people-oriented. They rely on subordinates for technical skills and spend the majority of their time managing people. The successful supervisor must, in effect, provide subordinates with "psychic pay

- all those things which make people happy with their work.

Managing the Human Resource

The myth pervading management is that supervisors "control" their employees. It is virtually impossible to exert complete control over a person and their actions. What managers do control is the employees' environment by the way they treat them and the atmosphere in which they work.. all of which directly affects productivity.

The illusion of management control is reliant on a supervisor acting the part of "sole problem solver." This role implies that the supervisor is the only one wise or capable enough to make decisions. A supervisor may even encourage competition among their employees ("1st shift is doing great"), which keeps individuals talking to their managers instead of each other.

In this mode, the supervisor is strictly a fire-fighter running from one problem to the next. You don't have time to supervise cause you're running from fire to fire-sometimes the same one, over and over, in the same day.

All too often, management holds an employee responsible for a job, but does not give them the authority to change it. The authority is bottled up in the supervisor-we don't allow any change without them first coming to you. This heaps complete responsibility for everyone's job on you!

Concentrating your efforts on the worthy 85%

The overwhelming majority of your employees are there to do a good job. For our purposes, we estimate that 85% of your employees come to work ready and willing to exceed expectations. As a manager though, you most likely spend most of your time dealing with the other 15%. This mode of supervision is called Managing by Exception and results in the neglect of your best employees.

Your company's most valuable resource, that 85%, is usually the most often wronged. Not only are they robbed of time and feedback from their supervisor, they are forced to compensate for the 15%'s inferior work. They become resentful because they recognize that the 15% are drawing the same paycheck, but are not doing the same job, and often making other's job harder. The 85% don't say anything, but they may not be as motivated to work.

Management loses credibility if they don't handle or get rid of the 15%. If you know who the troublemakers are - deal with them - don't make the 85% suffer. If you don't trust the 15% to go to the bathroom except on specified break, don't punish all of your workforce by making them wait for the break, too.

Building trust-the bedrock of effective problem solving and management

To build trust between a supervisor and an employee can take years. But, it can take only moments to tear it down. This trust is the bedrock of effective problem solving and management.

First, a supervisor must trust that an employee is willing and capable of doing a good job. A supervisor must be able to loosen control (or the illusion of control) over problem solving and allow each employee the authority, the job ownership" to affect their own jobs. Who would know more about fixing the process than the employee actually using it?

Remember, most of you are supervisors because you were the best workers, so your natural tendency is to jump right in and fix a problem. Now, you need to step back and "coach" an employee by supplying the needed resources, training and support for them to improve their piece of the process. You're being paid as a supervisor, not a worker!

Secondly, an employee must be able to trust that, should they make a legitimate mistake, they won't be personally punished for it.

Where the employee may need guidance from you is with problem recognition. To even begin to solve a problem, you must uncover the root cause of the problem.

Identifying Root Causes of Problems

Supervisors have to change their mentality. Instead of looking for someone to blame, as we have traditionally done, we must begin looking for the root cause of problems and trust employees to effectively eliminate these root causes by empowering them to make decisions.

A million $20 problems can be the crux to maintaining a competitive edge. Employees are willing and capable of solving them if they are given the opportunity. The minds of the employees are a company's greatest asset.

A common mistake in problem solving is to immediately begin generating potential solutions. A problem statement usually just defines the symptom or effect that is the result of something else. Treating only the symptom is like taking aspirin to relieve a headache. The symptom (the headache) is being treated while the cause of the symptom is not.

Reaching solutions that prevent problems requires identification and elimination of the root causes of the problem or symptom. A root cause is something that brings about an effect or symptom that either is or leads to the problem. Unless the root causes of a problem are eliminated, the problem will almost always return.

Examples: Symptoms and Root Causes

Example 1:

Symptom: The chicken on the grill is frozen solid.

Brute Force/Quick Fix: Apply a blow torch to the chicken.

Root Cause: No allowance for time to defrost the chicken.

Real Solution: Plan ahead. Allow defrost time or buy fresh chicken.

Example 2:

Symptom: High error rate from Word Processing Center.

Brute Force/Quick Fix: Hire proofreaders, qualified operators.

Root Cause: Handwritten input drafts illegible.

Real Solution: Do not accept illegible drafts. Encourage use of dictating equipment.

Example 3:

Symptom: Pile-up of rework.

Brute Force/Quick Fix: Add more rework operators.

Root Cause: Incorrect assembly technique.

Real Solution: Train assembly workers.

Example 4:

Symptom: High reject rate from plating area.

Brute Force/Quick Fix: 100% inspection.

Root Cause: Parts damaged in stockroom.

Real Solution: Change handling method in stockroom.

To get to the root cause of the problem, use the technique called the "Five Whys."

1. Why did the machine stop?

An overload caused the fuse to blow.

2. Why did the overload occur?

The bearing was not sufficiently lubricated.

3. Why was it not lubricated sufficiently?

The lubrication pump was not pumping sufficiently.

4. Why was it not pumping sufficiently?

The shaft of the pump was worn and rattling.

5. Why was the shaft worn?

Metal scrap got to the pump because no strainer was attached.

Supervisors will benefit by the shift to employee problem solving since they won't be the sole problem solvers. The new dilemma will be that employees have so many good ideas, but you don't have time to implement them all.

What can you lose by simply listening to employee suggestions? Nothing but a little time. Listening does not constitute agreement. It is the supervisors job to distinguish good suggestions from bad, thanking employees for their input regardless.

The Burden of Communication

The language you use must be understood equally well by all your subordinates. Many people tend to forget that the burden of communicating is on the person who is writing or talking, and not on the reader or the listener.

It is true that the person receiving instructions should feel responsible for clearing up any confusion, but certain factors stand in the way. Among these are educational level, background, feelings and the way others perceive you as a person.

Too often, the listener will let you talk without really having heard or understood what you said. Maybe the listener is embarrassed to ask you the meaning of a word or unaccustomed to listening to instructions in industry.

In the successful communication of performance standards, two items must be present:

· The supervisor and the employee must have identical understandings of what is expected. If you doubt that the employee understands, have the person tell you what was understood. You are then in a position to correct any differences.

· The employee, knowing what is expected, must be willing to be judged by the accepted standard.

Barriers to Quality Performance

Misunderstood instructions can be corrected simply by testing the clarity of your instructions. But there are other barriers to quality performance.

Few workers can listen carefully and objectively if they are angry or mistrust your intentions. You may be arousing the emotions of some of your subordinates without even knowing it. This happens to every supervisor.

What do hidden emotions have to do with performance? Employees don't always feel free to display anger to their supervisor, so they show their feelings by lower production, less cooperation and poor quality. They work against those things you want most all because of a breakdown in communications.

If you use words that cannot be understood by the person you're talking to, the person is caught in a trap. The employee must display ignorance by saying, "What do these words mean?" The person feels belittled and is forced to admit, "I do not know as much as you do."

Very few people will do this. The usual response is to remain silent hoping to catch enough meaning from your words to do what you want done as it is perceived. But then the worker is caught in another trap. If the job is done inaccurately you will blame the employee for poor performance.

Another barrier is the use of technical language or shop talk in which a person may not know that particular vocabulary. In this instance, you may be using the only language you know, but, if the language isn't understood, the employee is still caught in a trap.

Criticize the Act, Not the Person

One way to avoid putting the individual's personality on the spot is to adopt, as a permanent method of action, a primary principle of human relations:

Criticize the act, not the person.

Rule l: Don't criticize when you are angry.

Rule 2: Try a constructive, rather than a destructive, attitude.

Rule 3: Never use sarcasm.

Rule 4: Criticize in private.

Calling a subordinate inefficient, lazy, irresponsible or inexperienced is an expression of your opinion. Proving that your opinion is correct is not always easy. It is time consuming and an inefficient way to manage. But stating that the action was unacceptable because of its effect on production, whether it be schedule, quality or cost, is far more effective because these effects can be measured and do not hinge on opinion.

When we are communicating we must be responsible for being understood, and doing this will be easier if we remember the following:

· State your desires in the other person's vocabulary and, if you think the person doesn't understand, ask the employee to repeat what was said.

· Be careful of words whose sounds are similar or alike.

An example of what can happen when communication is taken for granted follows:

A man was sent by the employment office to report for work in the Weld Shop. He asked the supervisor what the job was to be and was told, "You're going to be our cleanup person." The man answered angrily, "In that case you can keep the job, I think I can do better elsewhere." The supervisor was astonished at the man's behavior, shrugged his shoulders and showed the man out. Later, in talking to the employment people again, he told them what had happened. The man at the other end of the line told the supervisor, "Yes, we know, the whole thing is a misunderstanding. He thought you were offering him a janitor's job." "Oh, no! In the Weld Shop a cleanup person's job is part of the welding process. It has nothing to do with janitorial work. A cleanup person grinds and polishes parts after the welder finishes his or her work on them."

This clearly is a case where each of the people involved heard the same words but applied a different meaning.

Avoid Words that are Inexact

If your performance standard contains words which are inexact in their meaning, the subordinate has no choice but to:

· Waste time by stopping to find out what you mean, or

· Use personal interpretation of the word. If you say "a little bit," your subordinate's idea of "a little bit" may differ from yours. If you say, "a short report," or "be here right after lunch," you're letting the employee set the standard by supplying a personal version of the term you use.

All of the following words are inexact in their meaning:

· Thin

· Little

· Accurate

· Fast

· Thick

· Big

· Hot

· Properly

In an attempt to "tighten up" the requirement described by these words, some people add the word "real" or "really" to them:

"Put it on real thin."

"Make it really accurate."

"Write a real short paragraph."

"Figure it real close."

"Use real narrow tape."

It's better to tell it like it is:

"...a quarter-inch thick

"... to a tolerance of + .03."

"...limit the paragraph to three sentences."

"...use ¼-inch tape."

The more inexact your instructions, the more time your subordinates will waste, either trying to find out what you meant or doing the job over correctly.

If you as a worker were given the following instruction, would you go ahead and do what you think you were told, or would you ask the supervisor to clarify:

"Take this 30-foot length of copper tubing and cut it into ten foot lengths."

Action carried out in response to those instructions could result in three 10-foot lengths, or three bundles of 10, 1-foot lengths.

Another way to have stated that instruction would have been to say: "Take this 30-foot length of copper tubing and cut it into three lengths, 10 feet long."

Defining Quality

Employees know when they are making a bad product. They are simply doing what management tells them. We've given them the responsibility without the authority to improve on the process.

Usually, quality for the job is not defined. Not until you have defined quality, can hold someone responsible for it.

Employee Fails to Perform

After you have communicated the performance standard, what do you do when an employee fails to perform to that standard?

Two explanations are possible:

· The worker doesn't know how to do the steps.

· The worker may want to, but something is getting in the way.

The solution to the first is quite simple-teach the worker the job. The second is something else. There may be personal reasons or job-related reasons getting in the way. It's up to the supervisor to find out what these are and, if possible, help with a solution. However, it is also up to the supervisor to recognize that some problems cannot be solved by anyone but the employee.

Employee Evaluation

Supervisors should continuously evaluate their employees. Feedback should be correct, prompt and specific. Frequent evaluation forces you to talk to your good employees (the 85%) who are sometimes ignored. It also allows you to collect data on employees who are not there to do a good job (15%) 50 that you can terminate them.