What makes a good supervisor/leader?

[JB diligence]

I am interested in what all have to say, if you are a front line officer, supervisor FTO or even management, let's hear it!

What qualities should a "good" supervisor/leader possess that would both be good for employees as well as the client?

I'll begin by saying a few (of many) things that I think a good supervisor/leader should; Be one who leads by example, never gives an order that they would not follow or do themselves, is approachable to all employees who will listen and consider their ideas/problems. A good supervisor/leader acts in the best interests of both the client as well as their employees.

What are your thoughts, what would YOU want as a supervisor/leader?

[inman]

·
This is from my presentation.


There has to be a better way, right?


·It's called leadership. When you lead, you create an environment where people decide to follow, to take responsibility, and to be held accountable. When you manage, you tell people what to do, monitor the progress, and make adjustments. You should do both, but the more you lead and the lessyou manage, the more successful both you and your employees will be.

·Explain How They Fit in the Bigger Picture

·The first stepin leadership is determining where you are going. How can people do their jobs if they don't know their purpose? How do their jobs fit in the big picture or even the next cog in the wheel? People take responsibility more easily when they know what they're responsible for - and that means more than just a list of job tasks.

·The second stepis gaining commitment. Make sure you have clearly communicated job standards and provided training, because if you haven't been specific, you are going to get mixed results.


·Then make sure they understand why the standards exist and ask them to identify any obstacles that keep them from achieving the standards. Your job is to provide resources and remove obstacles. When commitment wanes, as it will when the going gets tough, remind people about the importance of the standards to the big picture.

·The third stepis inviting people to improve the process. Get them watching for ways to continually do things better. Don't settle for easy goals. On the other hand, don't sabotage people with impossibly high goals.

·If you want to challenge your very best people to stay engaged, ask for and reward innovative thinking. Encourage people to use "alien eyes" when they do their work. That means look with an outside perspective and ask, "Why do we do it this way?"

·Leading Means Caring

·The fourth stepis showing you care. The old saying goes, "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

·If you often find yourself saying, "Why can't they just do their job?" look at your own attitude. Have you been empathetic and caring about what is going on with them?


·All of our lives are divided into segments. It is unrealistic to believe people can leave the rest of their lives outside the door when they come to work. Taking an interest in people and their lives will earn their caring toward you, as well. People enjoy working with and giving to people they care about. People are loyal to people they care about.

·The fifth stepis helping people find the right fit. Sometimes we put a round peg in a square hole and wonder why it doesn't work. It's really hard to be successful if you don't have the knowledge, skill, or talent to do a job. Even if you think the job is one that anyone can do, be on the alert for clues that a person might be better suited for a different job. Match innate talents with learned skills. Even if you have to steer them to working somewhere else, you will find that both skill level and job satisfaction will be higher.

·So, the next time you're pulling your hair out asking "Why can't they just do their job?" ask yourself, "Am I doing everything I can do as a leader to help them do their job successfully?" Remember that just because a job can be done by someone doesn't mean it will be done by them successfully. You have to lead by creating an environment where they both want to be and can be successful.

[Bill Warnock]

That is excellent presentation for which you are to be commended.
It should work but often doesn't because senior leadership fear political consequences if subordinate leaders are "firm, fair and don't back off." Washington DC, aka "Sodom on the Potomac," set such examples on a daily if not hourly basis.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[copelandamuffy]

I have been an Account Manager for four years. In an Industry where turnover is as high as 110% per year, in those four years 80% of my crew
that started with me in early 2004, are still working for me.

A simple thank you to your Guards for the job you do goes a long way.
A "atta boy", "atta girl" for going above and beyond the call of duty.

On a day when in the Boston area it is snow, sleet, and rain, I expect my
Guards to go out on patrol. But guess what, I too am going out on patrol
in this rotten weather.

I expect the bathroom to be kept nice and clean. I am also on my hands
and knees scrubbing down.

Recently one of my weekend Guard who works the 2300-0700 shift wanted
to take the weekend off to spend with a romantic weekend with his wife, but
did not want to lose finances.

Not a problem, I simply switched hours with him. I worked the graveyard shift
on the weekend, and he worked the weekdays 0700-1500

One of my Guards is planning to move to San Diego. He is going to
continue to want to work as a Guard. I have already contacted
San Diego's Securitas that they are about to get a darn good man.

These are too me the little things that make you a good boss.

[Curtis Baillie]

On Thursday I heard an excellent motivational talk on 'leadership and becoming a leader' by Rick "Doc" Walker, formally of the Washington Redskins.

[HotelSecurity]

The fact that I have to cover 40 hours a week doing what I ask my staff to do forces me to lead by example.

[inman]

Attitude and Productivity

Nothing will improve relationships with those you supervise more than a
consistently positive attitude on your part. Your attitude sets the pace and the
tone for your team. If you are late to work, it will be reflected in the attitudes
of your officers. If you complain about work conditions, it will impact in a
negative way on their attitudes. Everything you do and every position you
take will be reflected in the attitudes of your officers. Two expressions are
appropriate. They are:

1. Attitudes are caught, not taught!
2. Your attitude speaks so loudly, others can’t hear what you say.

There is a direct relationship between your attitude and the productivity of
those you supervise. When you are upbeat, your officers will respond in
positive ways that will enhance productivity. When you are negative, a drop
in productivity can be expected.

The Best and Worst Supervisors

It has been said that when you become a supervisor you stop doing “real
work.” That is because now you rely on others to do the front-line security
work. Management is the process of getting people to do things. It’s an
influencing and thinking function. Almost everybody has a story of the
worst supervisor they ever knew. People can also give you an example of
the best supervisor they knew or worked for. Not surprisingly, there are
distinct differences. Usually it’s easy to spot a poor supervisor or an
excellent one.

Key Assumptions
1. We know a poor or excellent Supervisor when we see one.
2. We know a poor or excellent Supervisor by our experiences with one.
3. We know poor or excellent Supervisors by what they do or don’t do.
4. Excellent supervisors are made, not born.
5. We can learn to do what the best supervisors do.

The Supervisory Challenge

Supervision is a special challenge that can help you reach new career and
lifestyle goals. But becoming a successful PGS supervisor is not as easy as
some people imagine. Three factors will require that you be a different kind
of person on the job:
1. You will be expected to lead where in the past you may have been a peer
member of the team. This means your officers will be watching your
actions in the hope that you will make quick and good decisions that will
lead them in the direction that is best for the company.
2. Your role will put you in the position of being a buffer between your
superiors and those you supervise. This means you must satisfy your
superiors and, at the same time, keep your officers happy so they will
maintain high productivity. At times this may mean it is best for you to
absorb pressure from above rather than pass it on to your officers.
3. You will need to communicate the company's mission. You will be setting
standards rather than living up to those set by others. This means you will
be responsible for creating a disciplined environment where officers do not
violate company standards or those set by you. When violations occur,

some sensitive coaching and counseling on your part may be necessary.

Your Role as a Supervisor

Two truths stand out regarding the role of a supervisor:

The work is different
The responsibilities are greater

The following list summarizes generally agreed-upon duties of a first-line
supervisor. Compare your activities with this list. Are you overlooking
something?

Assign and distribute work.

You must set priorities on what will get done,
organize the work into reasonable assignments and then match those
assignments to officers on your team.

Monitor and control performance.

In order to ensure quality work is being
done through safe and legal work practices, you must get out and see what is
going on.

Review and evaluate performance.

You must decide who will be
recommended for promotion, who will be recommended for a pay increase,
who needs coaching and counseling and who may have to be laid off or let go.

Train and develop officers.

Your experience is a valuable resource to your
team. Use problems and unusual situations as training and development
opportunities. Also see that all officers on your team are properly trained on
the job.

Lead your unit.

Leadership is demonstrated in the decisions you make, the
people you hire and train, the discipline you maintain and the example you
present to your team.

Communicate.

Let your officers know what is to be done as well as policies
and decisions that affect them. Notify your Manager of any problems you
expect. Advise other groups of your needs and things your team does that may
affect them.

Handle administrative duties.

Keep paper work and records up-to-date. Your
job will be much easier if the information you want is current and readily
available.

Provide reinforcement.

Officers like to know how they are doing. Take a few
minutes every now and then to let your people know you appreciate their

dependability and the contribution they are making. Many capable officers
resign because superiors take them for granted.

The Responsibilities of Supervision

Responsibility to management.

You are now a member of the management
team. Therefore, you are expected to support management and do all you can
to see that the goals of management are realized.

Responsibility to your unit.

You represent management to your team, and
therefore are expected to treat each individual fairly.

Responsibility to yourself.

You have a responsibility to yourself to recognize
your own limitations. In accepting the position of supervisor, you accept the
responsibilities that go with the position. These will be challenging at first. If
they continue to be overwhelming, consider that supervision is not for
everyone. Your satisfaction and talent may lie in the front-line work, not in the
managing of others.

[Security Leader]

People do not follow you because of your position; they follow you because of the way that you make them feel.

[inman]

People will not care how much you know, till they know how much you care.

[JB diligence]

People will not care how much you know, till they know how much you care.

Inman, you made some EXCELENT points! I thank you for contributing so much, what you wrote is very similar to how I personnaly feel, and I also picked up some new ones too.

Thank you.

JB

[NRM_Oz]

Inman it was a pleasure to read your posts and Hotel-Sec summed it up when you need to lead by example. Yes I am at the top of the pyramid and was placed in an executive position with 1 retailer (big bloody deal I said to myself). I arrested, I got my hands dirty destroying shrinkage, I got my hands dirty looking for lost kids and even manning the staff door / parcel pick up area to relieve the uniform staff. I have a security licence and I am able to do all those things I did many years ago as a younger lad because not being a realist you LOSE reality and the ability to KNOW what your people are doing.

So I made it to the top of the pyramid - big deal I say again !!. I still arrest scum in high heels (some men too) and man the concierge desk if we have issues or shortages. In my previous paragraph, I achieved good results with that crew because I was the boss but I was also the one who worked alongside them and it all comes from my beginnings from working my way up the ladder dealing with idiots, clients who expect more and jealousy amongst the ranks when promotions were issued and they were not considered.

A good leader is someone who gets the job done without arrogance or makes demands from someone who is unable to commit. I have had times when the stripes come out of the box and severe buttocks kicking needs to happen to bring things back on track again. A good leader also stands up for their staff and whilst not being best mates, will be there to lend a hand or discuss issues affecting their personal life such as family illness, relationship issues (even just to listen or give them privacy to make calls at work) and above all know that what you give out comes back in loyalty 10 fold in the future.

Lastly, we all make mistakes but it is how well you learn from that mistake and recover to ensure the incident is repaired as best as possible - ensuring that the same mistake is not made again.

[SecTrainer]

There are both official and unofficial sources of power in any organization. Official power is invested in a person's title and position in the organization, and is granted by decree. Official power flows downward from levels above.

Unofficial power is accrued by people working in the organization at any level and is chiefly a matter of influence. Unofficial power flows in all directions - up, down and sideways (peers). Usually, it follows unofficial lines of communication between people at different levels, because influence requires communication. If you want to develop influence, then start by developing unofficial lines of communication in all directions around you. This must sometimes be done with circumspection and diplomacy.

Unfortunately, our discussion so far has conflated the terms "supervisor" and "leader", and so we are seeing definitions of supervision that involve leadership, and vice versa. These are not in any way the same thing. One is an official title carrying official corporate power, bestowed from above by decree. The other is an unofficial title that can only be granted by followers in the form of their assent and loyalty.

One can actually be a competent supervisor or middle manager and yet not be a leader. Since we all want to work for leaders (remember, those who have earned our loyalty), it is natural that when we talk about "good management", or "good supervision", we include leadership traits. Or, we include what are actually management skills in our list of leadership traits. Either way, we mix them up together.

In fact, there are many supervisory/management positions that are structured in such a way that they give very little scope for leadership in its proper sense.

Certainly, a good supervisor will possess traits such as "fairness", "honesty", "decisiveness", "team-building" and "competence", but these are not leadership traits. They are merely the traits of a good supervisor.

Leadership implies all the traits noted above, but is further distinguished from "supervision" (even "good" supervision) by the presence of other traits:

1. Vision - sometimes called "mission".

2. Passion for the vision.

3. Ability to persuade (as opposed to "command") others of the value of the vision. Here, "persuade" means the ability to communicate the vision in such a way as to achieve enthusiastic agreement from those who follow. This is sometimes called "buy-in". People follow a leader because they are persuaded in their minds that they want to do so, willingly and even self-sacrificially. They "believe in him/her". Intelligent people must be persuaded before they will believe and demand to know why they should believe. A leader can tell them why.

4. Intelligence to know what things really mean, instead of merely what they appear to be.

5. The ability to assess adverse events that impact the vision negatively and find the way through, over, under or around them.

6. The ability to recognize unanticipated opportunities and take advantage of them.

Various leadership "lists" suggest other traits, of course, but these are the ones that I believe are essential.

[Security]

EDIT- Posting deleted.

[LPAjh9558]

People will not care how much you know, till they know how much you care.

A good leader is someone who gets the job done without arrogance or makes demands from someone who is unable to commit. I have had times when the stripes come out of the box and severe buttocks kicking needs to happen to bring things back on track again. A good leader also stands up for their staff and whilst not being best mates, will be there to lend a hand or discuss issues affecting their personal life such as family illness, relationship issues (even just to listen or give them privacy to make calls at work) and above all know that what you give out comes back in loyalty 10 fold in the future.

Lastly, we all make mistakes but it is how well you learn from that mistake and recover to ensure the incident is repaired as best as possible - ensuring that the same mistake is not made again.

I have to say that this is one of the more "interesting" threads that I keep an eye on...and I really do agree with a lot of what I've read here I do have to say that inman's post was excellent to read and I did learn from it as well. Thanks for the post inman

I agree with NRM_Oz also. I think that alot of what makes a good leader applies to what's been mentioned here...but should also include the ability to show respect to the people that you supervise, and to those that you just have to be around while at work. I've found in the past that you'll get more out of the people that you work with if you just let them know that they're appreciated for what they're doing And it also doesn't hurt to make them feel like that they can be a "leader" to just by their actions...promote positive self attitude

[NRM_Oz]

Thanks LPA - and I agree with you about showing respect to those with whom you work with. A bit of interest in their family or hobbies goes a long way as it shows you are human and if you hear of a sick child or spouse, you are aware they may not be in the following day.


Another good example was my w/end work every month with 1 retailer. I would always shout (pay) my team coffee and muffins together with the contract S/O's because it was a sign of saying thank you and the $20.00 a month was like 2 lunches during the week. I still do it every Monday with my 2 concierge staff whomever is on duty as I audit their records and we discuss work issues whilst I get time away from the Monday Mayhem of emails. From April, we are to be given coffee vouchers as an incentive with front line staff to get $20 - 50 a month and management to get up to $200.00 which is about 50 cups a month.