Recommended reading for a new supervisor?

xenodamus

I'm looking for some sage advice from those of you who manage/supervise a team.

Some of you may remember my threads 2 months ago about leaving my desktop support position at a large hospital to work as a Network Engineer on a DoD contract. Well, people have been shuffling around at my old company and I've decided to return as the Desktop Support/Operations Supervisor. It's going to be a great spot considering I know all the Desktop and Helpdesk processes like the back of my hand. Technically, I'll be fine. It's the people aspect that I think will present the biggest learning curve.

I'm 25 and will be managing a team of 14 people ranging from 20-50 years old. I have the benefit of coming in already knowing the team and what makes them tick. I'm concerned about making the right impression as a young supervisor trying to lead older employees, though.

Does anyone have advice, or books that they've found helpful in growing as a leader in an orgainization?

mattlee09

First off - congratulations!

I can only suggest from the perspective of a worker bee.

Rule with an iron fist! Perhaps The Art of War would be a good read...

On a more serious note:
Ask for the opinions of your crew, be open-minded, but firm and resolute in your actions. As you said, since you already know the team, your are a step ahead. However, they might be critical of their fellow colleague, now their supervisor.

Slowhand

mattlee09 wrote: »

Rule with an iron fist! Perhaps The Art of War would be a good read...

Actually, The Art of War isn't a bad suggestion. I've learned an astonishing amount of things regarding interpersonal communication and diplomacy from reading (and re-reading) it. Just don't try to overthrow your CEO by organizing a coup.

As for advice on taking a management-role, I can offer the following advice based on having been put in senior-level positions in previous jobs, as well as the things I learned from the better managers I've had in my life:

• Trust in the experience of your team. Most of them have probably been doing this kind of work for a while and, unless they give you reason to think otherwise, they will probably only need you to prioritize tasks and step in on a case-by-case bases for hand-on management.
• There's no shame in asking for advice from the people who work under you, especially the more experienced ones. That's not to say you should have them make decisions for you, but input is never a bad thing.
• Don't ask more of your team than you are willing to do, yourself. People tend to be more willing to work overtime, take on tasks that they may not normally do, help each other on projects, and generally put in their maximum effort if they see their manager is willing to do the same.
• Don't let yourself get stepped on. Giving thorough explanations of what needs to be done and why is fine, but it can be tempting to waver if and when you get resistance from your staff. Sometimes you might feel like the bad guy, but that's one of the pit-falls of being in charge: you're not always going to be popular, but you need to get the job done.

Overall, it sounds like you're in pretty good shape. Since you know the place already, you are able to do the work that your team's doing, and that's huge. There are always those times when someone gets sick, or they're so busy that they can't get everything done, or whatever it may be. As a manager, having the ability to take care of that work when there's simply no one else to cover for it is extremely helpful and has the potential to earn tons of respect from your employees. (Just make sure you heed that last bullet-point and don't let yourself get pulled into doing the job for them, when they could be doing it themselves.)

I don't know about what reading material will serve you best. Maybe you could just watch some instructional videos, to start with.

petedude

I'd recommend Wally Bock's Working Supervisor Toolkit, and his leadership newsletters.

Welcome to Wally Bock's Site on Supervisory Leadership

The Platinum Rule materials can be very helpful in understanding your employees:

Amazon.com: The Platinum Rule: Discover the Four Basic Business Personalities and How They Can Lead You to Success (9780446673433): Tony Alessandra, Michael J. O'Connor: Books

Bob Lewis writes some good books and has a solid IT management blog:

Home - Welcome to IS Survivor Publishing

Outside of all that, organizational behavior and human resource management books can be quite insightful.

I'm reading "Leadership" by Giulani-- a couple chapters in, and it seems to have some good ideas already even though Giulani loves to talk about himself a great deal.

Blackout

xenodamus wrote: »

I'm looking for some sage advice from those of you who manage/supervise a team.

Some of you may remember my threads 2 months ago about leaving my desktop support position at a large hospital to work as a Network Engineer on a DoD contract. Well, people have been shuffling around at my old company and I've decided to return as the Desktop Support/Operations Supervisor. It's going to be a great spot considering I know all the Desktop and Helpdesk processes like the back of my hand. Technically, I'll be fine. It's the people aspect that I think will present the biggest learning curve.

I'm 25 and will be managing a team of 14 people ranging from 20-50 years old. I have the benefit of coming in already knowing the team and what makes them tick. I'm concerned about making the right impression as a young supervisor trying to lead older employees, though.

Does anyone have advice, or books that they've found helpful in growing as a leader in an orgainization?

My best advice as a supervisor is the realization of delegation, you can't do everything yourself. Every single person on your staff will respond differently to different types of leadership. And never throw anyone under the bus. My father gave me the best advice when I first joined the navy, he said "Remember that someday you will be in a leadership position, when your in that position you will have the ability to positively or negatively effect someones career, but remember that your workers can also do the same to yours, Lead by example and you will never fail."



http://www.amazon.com/Its-Our-Ship-No-Nonsense-Leadership/dp/0446199664/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1313900669&sr=8-3

advanex1

Alot of what the above poster said is true. Delegation and leading by example is the way to do things. I'm in the Army myself and as a SGT at 26, you have a bunch of people joining later on in their lives. So you find yourself in charge of 35 year olds, 42 year olds, etc. etc. What makes you a good leader/supervisor is understanding the mission (objectives/problems that your job requires you to take care of) and understanding that it's not any one individual that can complete/take care of that whole mission. That's why there's 15 of you. Remember that not all employees tick the same. You grow into a leadership position, the things that you experience are what makes you a good or a bad supervisor. No one woke up one day, read a book, and automatically became one. Let your experiences guide you, remember that we are all human, identify the problem, come up with solutions, discuss the solutions, make the decision to rectify, and carry out.

That problem solving seems to have helped me numerous times. Good luck in your new position, I know it will be exciting! I can't wait until my time in the Army is up - I really would rather choose to work with the guys and girls like those who are on this forum.

Forsaken_GA

Slowhand wrote: »

Actually, The Art of War isn't a bad suggestion. I've learned an astonishing amount of things regarding interpersonal communication and diplomacy from reading (and re-reading) it. Just don't try to overthrow your CEO by organizing a coup.

Yup, good old Sun Tzu understood that warfare is as much mental as it is force of arms, and the modern workplace is full of conflict.

Dr. Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is also something I'd highly recommend.

And I'm a pretty big fan of Jack Welch's books too.

Chris:/*

Books I have found extremely helpful:

Art of War
Art of War for CEOs
Linchpin
Tribes
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Organizational Behavior
Leadership and the One Minute Manager
Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources

I lead mixed teams of military, contractors and civilians as such I have to have a good idea how to handle people on different terms and still relate to management complex technical terms and problems.

Rules I live by:
Nice guys finish last, but ***holes never finish anything.
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Delegate stuff and provide help to those as required.
Praise in public and chastise in private.
Represent your people well and make sure that they get the credit they deserve.
Be the first one in and the last one out, works for combat and work place leadership.
Never ask someone to do something you are not willing to do yourself.
If you are going to tell someone to mop a floor don't be afraid to help.
Do not Wingman walking failures (the apathetic and useless) they will only cause your team to crash.
Support people when the mess up the first time and help them learn from their mistakes.
Learn each member of your team's birthday, anniversary and significant other's birthday and write it down so you can get them the time off without them asking for it, they will appreciate it (do not press if they do not want to give up this info).
Learn the names of their significant other and their children or pet if that is what fills that void. There is nothing worse than having a boss who can't remember anything about your family after you have already told him/her six times.
Stick to your guns when you know you are right but learn when you have to shut up and color.
You are never to busy to help someone on your team it is your job to work the extra hours if someone else needs help.
Pair the problem cases with mentors on your team as you will not be able to do everything but always keep your door open.

Best of luck and congrats.

xenodamus

Slowhand wrote: »

I don't know about what reading material will serve you best. Maybe you could just watch some instructional videos, to start with.

First off, that's just aweful...lol. I've worked in some envrironments where you might thing the management went through this sort of training, though.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. That gives me a few more resources to look into. All the advice above sounds solid as well. I feel like it will be a delicate situation at first. I'm sure some of my former co-workers will be less than thrilled that I'm coming back as their leader after quitting. This will be especially true of one or two that I know applied for the job as well. I've talked to a few others, though, and the majority of them are glad to see me filling this position. They all know the level of dedication and professionalism I display in my work. I just hope to bring everyone else up to that level as well.

Mrock4

I highly recommend "Being Geek". It's written from the perspective of a software engineer/manager, but the lessons taught in the book translate directly to other fields.

idr0p

A very good book is
Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization
by David Logan (Hardcover)It will help you build relationships strong relationships with your directs..

Also

Delivering happiness - talks about building a good culturing giving your company passion

These books are made for future leaders

Slowhand

Another idea might be to go back and find your prior managers from other jobs, particularly the bosses you've had that you really found to be effective, and see if you can't have lunch with some of them and ask for the same advice you asked here.