The document provides guidance for first-time supervisors on building successful relationships with employees. It emphasizes that a supervisor's most important task is to connect employees and help them work well together. To do this, supervisors must invest in real personal relationships with employees rather than relying solely on their job title. They are also advised to be genuine when interacting with employees and to avoid making unrealistic promises.

1. The First Time Supervisor:
Strategies for a Successful Transition
Prepared and Presented by:
T. Randall Riggs
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 1

2. NOW YOU ARE THE BOSS
YOUR ABILITY TO KEEP A
GROUP OF PEOPLE
CONNECTED AND
Congratulations on WORKING WELL
your new assignment TOGETHER IS THE
and new title. MOST SIGNIFICANT
TALENT THAT YOU CAN
BRING TO AN
ORGANIZATION .
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 2

3. MANAGING RELATIONSHIPS
Irrespective of what industry you are in, as
a first-time supervisor your prime
responsibility is to provide directions
and proactively connect myriad complex
relationships, tasks, and resources
together in order to successfully reach
your goals.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 3

4. First step: making real
connections
Can we talk
Most employees will
respond well to a
straight talking Ask
supervisor who sought questions
has them out. and listen
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 4

5. When you meet people
introduce yourself, ask
questions, learn their Be genuine:
views (and names!), all employees
come equipped
discover what they with emotional
think about their role in radar which will
detect any
the organization, and the falseness.
important issues at hand.
face-to-face
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 5

6. Real personal relationships are
the key to your success, not Parent – child
your job title. relationship
≠
Supervisor – employee
relationship
Many organizations are structured around authority, internal
controls, and bureaucracy for many reasons.*
*Command and Control has a limited shelf life.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 6

7. Long term success is only Your performance
achieved through people and success is
directly driven by the
interconnected in productive overall effectiveness
relationships which yield of your workplace
relationships.
synergistic results.
2+2=6
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 7

8. GETTING THINGS DONE THROUGH OTHER
Before assuming a
PEOPLE
supervisory
position, you
supervised only
Now you must trust and one person:
yourself. In this
rely upon others; you limited
simply cannot do all the supervisory role,
work effectively. It is not your immediate
results were a
possible. direct result of
your individual
You must tap the energy and effort.
talent of others.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 8

9. TECHNICAL SKILLS ALONE ARE NOT
ENOUGH
You should clearly
understand that your
“doer” skills that
were formerly
You will need to bring brought you
more to the game to win. recognition and
rewards are not the
ones that you are
being paid for now
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 9

10. YOUR CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS
New supervisors
often get caught up
in the cross-currents
that relate to all of
As first-time supervisor you will have the new
a new peer group, new relationships they
subordinates (often your former must build and
peers), and for the first time for many, nurture.
you will additionally have a different
type of relationship with the senior
leaders of the organization.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 10

11. Now you have to supervise
the same people that were
your friends and equals. It You must stop
will be hard to say “No” to thinking of yourself
as just “one of the
friends when they ask for gang”.
special treatment.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 11

12. TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS IN THE WORKPLACE
Not all relationships
are the same
Subordinates
Peers
Superiors
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 12

13. INVESTING IN RELATIONSHIPS
People need
Managing relationships coaching and
requires that you actively direction to be
communicate clearly and aligned to achieve
convincingly, disarm common goals.
conflicts, and build strong
personal bonds. You must
invest your time and
energy in building your
relationships.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 13

14. LEVERAGING YOUR EXPERIENCE
You have interacted
with parents,
siblings, friends,
classmates, teachers,
co-workers,
Been there, neighbors, and many
others gaining
done it experience and
understanding on
many different levels
of managing
relationships.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 14

15. People perform better individually
and collectively in well-managed relationships because
they feel aligned, committed, on board and motivated.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 15

16. GREAT NEWS: YOU HAVE A SUPPORTER
Your conduct and
behavior has convinced
at least one superior that Self-confidence:
got it?
you possess the ability
to successfully manage
relationships.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 16

17. EMOTIONAL ROOTS OF RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
It sounds a bit harsh, however, in Your social skills
some ways good relationship are what enable
management is about managing you to be
other people’s emotions to achieve persuasive,
your desired outcomes. Perhaps a manage conflict,
better way to think about it is that and create
relationship management is about collaborative work
friendship with purpose: moving environments.
people in the right direction
Mind over mood
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 17

18. Relationship Management
Skill Set Components
Inspirational Guiding and motivating with a compelling vision.
leadership
Wielding a range of tactics for persuasion.
Influence
Bolstering others’ abilities through feedback and guidance.
Developing others
Initiating, managing, and leading in a new direction.
Change catalyst
Resolving disagreements.
Conflict management
Cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships.
Building bonds
Teamwork and Cooperation and team building
collaboration
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 18

19. Leaving your troubles behind
Everyone has to cope with their bad
days and learn to leave their #1 Law of Self-
emotional baggage at home, but awareness:
when you are a supervisor, We all have bad days
it’s even more important.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 19

20. As a supervisor you need to be aware
when your attitude and frame of mind
has been negatively impacted by a
bad day, or personal problem, and
make certain that you proactively
compartmentalize your personal
problems.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 20

21. How to compartmentalize
• Put it in a compartment by isolating the
issue from all the other challenges you are
dealing with.
• Apply extreme focus on each compartment,
but only for a short period of time.
• Move forward in incremental steps. And
once you see reasonable progress…
• Close the compartment and open the next
one.
• Say “no” to things that don’t deserve a
compartment.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 21

22. Compartmentalization, like all
coping strategies is only a
short-term solution, and may
have both have positive and
Remember
negative aspects. Your goal as the old adage
is to compartmentalize states, “the show
issues so that you may must go on”.”.
direct sufficient energy
and attention to tasks at
hand.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 22

23. WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK?
Many first-time supervisors
find it difficult to switch off
after a hard day's work,
resulting in many taking their Delegate
You cannot do it all
work home with them.
Both mentally and
physically.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 23

24. emotions are contagious
This should go without
saying, but when you are
It is just as important
stressed by your work, it for you to leave your
is almost always reflected problems at work as
in your words and actions. it is to leave your
This will have a negative personal problems at
impact on your family and home.
friends, and can cause
tensions in all your
relationships.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 24

25. 8–8–8
Ideally, your typical day should be Work Life
▼
roughly divided into 3 thirds - work,
home, sleep. That would equate to
8 hours for work, 8 hours for home, Balance
and 8 hours for sleep.
If you have this type of schedule I congratulate you for being
so successful balancing work and life.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 25

26. This invasion into
private life can
become unbearable
if it continually
Please don’t shoot the interferes with rest
messenger, but the reality for and recreation,
many supervisors is they constantly interrupts
remain at least digitally family time. It can
connected to the workplace and will create
problems in your
24/7. personal
relationships if not
properly managed.
Warning:
No computers allowed on vacation
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 26

27. Turn it off and digitally disconnect, at
least on some reasonable occasional
basis, to enjoy the rest of your life. You
will be happier.
Are you addicted to your I - Phone?
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 27

28. WARNING: STRESS IS ADDITIVE
So while a single
issue or stress may
be relatively
Each new and persistent unimportant in and
of itself, if it is
stressor adds to your total coupled with an
level of stress. already high level of
stress.
Do not become the straw that broke the camel’s back.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 28

29. SELF - MANAGEMENT: MIND OVER MOOD
Supervisors with this
Avoiding a knee jerk reaction in the skill can effectively
heat battle demands a self – manage their
impulsive feelings
management skill set that and stress well.
does not come naturally to
most. It requires a great deal of
mental discipline and practice to
perfect.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 29

30. The first and most important step in
coping with any personal problems
in the workplace is simply
recognizing the interconnection
between your performance and
your emotional frame of mind.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 30

31. Once you develop an awareness of how
and when your emotions are impacting
yourself and others you can then begin to
cope by proactively employing tactics to
develop and strengthen your self
control.
Negative emotional surges can be overwhelming
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 31

32. Cope by allowing work to become a safe escape
zone.
Develop a support network of external confidantes.
Seek professional guidance or counseling for
yourself and/or others.
Develop a healthy exercise and diet regimen.
Try alcohol or drugs – strongly not recommended.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 32

33. Those who have mastered
self – management have Controlling your
state of mind is
the ability to prevent Primary part of your
negative personal job as a supervisor
problems from spilling all
over relationships at work.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 33

34. MANAGING PERCEPTIONS TO SUCCEED
You as a first-time supervisor should understand
that individual behavior is not driven by the way
our external environment actually is but, rather,
on what we see or believe our external
environment to be.
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 34

35. WHAT DO YOU SEE?
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 35

36. INDIVIDUAL VS. GROUP PERCEPTIONS
One of the key roles
supervisors play is to create
Groupthink:
a shared understanding by common vision
exercising influence in
fostering and shaping
perceptions.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 36

37. WHAT DO YOU SEE?
Failure to align
perceptions, to see it the
We do not all see
same way, is often the things the same way
root cause of many
organizational conflicts.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 37

38. PERCEPTIONS CREATE REALITY
Whether or not a supervisor It’s the employee’s
successfully plans and organizes perception of a
employees work and actually situation that
helps them structure work more becomes the basis
for behavior.
effectively is far less important
than how the employees
collectively perceive the
supervisor’s efforts.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 38

39. Being successful is not merely based
on how hard you have worked; it is
also dependent on the perception
of your performance.
Don’t get your
feelings hurt
Perception can sometime actually supplant real performance.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 39

40. MANAGING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND (REPUTATION)
It is important to recognize the
importance of your reputation,
or brand which is based on What is you brand?
the collective perceptions
of your customers, superiors,
subordinates and colleagues.
Isolated negative perceptions can HAVE DISASTROUS
consequences for your brand.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 40

41. To better protect and manage
your brand and career you
must take responsibility for
shaping the positive
perceptions you want others to
have about you.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 41

42. First impressions
It is almost a cliché, but it is
still so absolutely true. First
impressions are lasting GET NOTICED
impressions. Within seconds
on meeting someone, you will
make an impression on that
person.
If you make a negative impression, you will have a difficult time
changing it…ever.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 42

43. EVERYTHING COUNTS
Attention to your professional By some estimates
upwards of 70 – 80
image should never flag, percent of what we
especially in those first meetings. learn comes through
our interpretation of
It is important to remember non-verbal images and
that everything counts behavior.
when making first impressions.
Your words alone simply will not create the whole impression.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 43

44. DO NOT OVERPROMISE OR OVERSELL
From the get-go
Set your expectation build your credibility
by being honest and
bar realistically, and do not commit to
always exceed your anything you cannot
promises. deliver on.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 44

45. Employees want straight answers. You will
squander your creditability and lose any
initial goodwill by trying to feed everyone
what they want to hear or spouting
platitudes about the kind of team you
want.
Employees immediately see through such meaningless drivel.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 45

46. BE REAL - LEAD WITH AUTHENTICITY
In the first few weeks of You should be
your new position you prepared and ready
to quickly put forth
should anticipate making your authentic
first impressions in multiple persona in a positive
first meetings. Get ready, and confident
manner.
be prepared to make the
kind of first impression
you want make.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 46

47. LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Leadership and management are two
distinctly different but complementary
approaches critical for success in
increasingly complex organizations.
Leadership and management are linked but require distinctly different mind and skill sets.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 47

48. NON-INTERCHANGEABLE EQUALS
Traditionally management has been
described in terms of planning,
organizing, commanding, The same but
coordinating, and controlling. different
Leadership generally is thought to be
more about setting a vision and
gathering followers through
inspiration and emotional impact.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 48

49. LEAD, MANAGE, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY
An organization can be well –
managed but lack strong For the first – time
leadership. Alternatively, it is supervisor the key to
also possible to have the reverse success is to
situation, strong leadership with understand when to
weak management. The real act as a Leader, and
challenge is to have strong when to act as a
leadership and strong Manager.
management and use each to
balance the other.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 49

50. MANAGER FUNCTIONS LEADER FUNCTIONS
Sets the direction
Maintains the direction
Follows well Takes the point
Watches the bottom line Watches the horizon
Plans and controls Inspires and develops
Duplicates Innovates
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 50

51. BE A SWITCH HITTER
Your speed and
As a supervisor you will be accuracy to recognize
confronted with situations what approach best
that will require you to act fits the situation and
your capacity to
as a manager, as well as quickly shift from
situations that will require manager to leader,
you to act as a leader. or leader to manager
will largely
contribute to your
success.
Almost as if you were an actor you must quickly and frequently switch
roles.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 51

52. Successful supervisors – whether at the
top, middle, or entry level – perform
leadership and managerial functions
efficiently and effectively as
necessary….unsuccessful ones do
not.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 52

53. DON’T FORGET ABOUT FOLLOWERSHIP
I do not want to
burst your bubble,
First-time supervisors should but as a first – time
never lose sight of how important supervisor you
followership remains to their undoubtedly will still
be following the
success. directions of others
Your ability to follow others will remain an important skill set
throughout your career irrespective of your position.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 53

54. PERFORMANCE SMART
Irrespective of organization type, or industry sector,
first-time supervisors will almost certainly have an
increased responsibility for delivering results than
an individual contributor. It is critical for first-time
supervisors to quickly recognize and embrace this
new reality by becoming performance smart.
Performance smart supervisors understand the ins and outs of winning performance.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 54

55. KEEPING SCORE
The bedrock of any performance Your goals must be
management system is the realistic and doable, and
they have to be
agreement and clear communicated and well
understanding of what needs to understood upward by
be done, as well as, when and how senior management and
downward by your direct
it should be done. Without a clear reports.
understanding of what kinds of
results are needed, it is not possible
to achieve goals.
You must learn how to keep score.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 55

56. A PASSION FOR PERFORMANCE
When you
When you communicate vision communicate vision
and goals, make certain that you and goals, make
certain that you are
are passionate about it. You
passionate about it.
are talking about the future of your You are talking about
organization and employees – not the future of your
chopped liver. organization and
employees – not
chopped liver.
Acknowledge and celebrate outstanding performance
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 56

57. REALITY CHECK There is a
fundamental truth
that should not be
denied about the
importance of
Failure can sometimes be a “making your
necessary stepping stone – you must numbers” – This is
learn how to cope with failure well HUGE!
and learn from your mistakes.
Not repeat them.
SHOW ME THE
MONEY!
Accept results,
not excuses
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 57

58. Consistently making your
numbers, versus consistently
failing to make your numbers is
a vastly more likely to lead you
to a brighter future.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 58

59. THE FUTURE IS NOW
Workplaces of the future will
undoubtedly look and feel
different than today’s workplaces. The time to prepare
In fact, the most certain for the future is now.
prediction that can be made
about the future is the absolute
certainty of change.
Change is the only future constant
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 59

60. Embrace change, lead change.
3 changes that we should reasonably
anticipate:
Successful supervisors
are almost always are
•Increasing influence of technology; future focused.
•Increasing performance expectations;
•Increasing rate and number of changes.
Many, if not most, have difficulty seeing tomorrow, let alone next week
or ten years from now. But, the future is relentlessly bearing down on
you.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 60

61. Relish technology; do not sit on the side lines. Stay
current; play with the newest gadgets & software,
hint: be on look out for next Mark Zuckerberg.
Raise your performance expectations; do not sit
on your past accomplishments. Always be in the
chase for the gold. Do not settle for average.
Embrace change, lead change. Continuously re-
imagine the future. Become an agile master of
change.
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 61

62. T. Randall Riggs, SPHR, GPHR
trriggs49@aim.com
www.linkedin.com/in/trandallriggs
9/13/2012 T. R. Riggs 62