Supervisors: Know what your employees do

by Shaun February 18, 2011

As a supervisor, you should know what everyone who reports to you does…obviously. Sure, the organizational chart is worth a look – after all, somebody took the trouble to make it – but it’s crucial to understand what the people who report to you are doing every day to contribute to the work product for [...]

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Those 11 Mistakes

by Shaun February 10, 2011

(This is called reposting)   The Annotated 11 Mistakes It’s always best to be positive about being a manager, but sometimes it’s good to know what not to do. You don’t have to have a natural authoritarian personality to be a good supervisor, but you do have to keep your concentration.  You don’t have to [...]

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Tommy’s Sticky Situation

by Shaun February 7, 2011

Sure, Tommy knew the situation would be “a little sticky,” but until now he’d always been a confident, even cocky guy, and was pretty sure he could handle almost anything.  Wrong. Tommy was a foreman for one of the larger construction companies in the city, and proud that his crew was considered one of its [...]

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The Courage to Supervise

by Shaun January 3, 2011

“Courage” may seem a bit dramatic, but it gets at a truth.  Supervisors do more than simply manage workflow or carry out orders from on high.  Supervisors are the daily human face of the organization and, because of the way people are wired, virtually inhabit a portion of an employee’s brain.  It isn’t exactly parent [...]

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A Different World

by Shaun November 9, 2010

When I read business books, I often get the feeling that the work world I see isn‘t quite what those folks are thinking of when they write about what goes on in the workplace. The problems they focus on always somehow seem to boil down to different examples of essentially the same problems – poor [...]

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The Crucial Management Task

by Shaun October 14, 2010

You’ve probably noticed that managers and supervisors – at virtually any workplace – are pretty good at remaining calm, conciliatory, and tend to “make nice” when they’re dealing with an angry customer, a client, or a problem with an employee. That’s because it’s basic and central to the job, it’s probably even written into the [...]

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Managing is not for sissies

by Shaun October 4, 2010

 Not everyone takes to managing. I’ve seen very competent people, responsible for big projects involving huge dollar amounts, totally fall apart when called upon to deal with a “people” problem in the workplace. Too often, they “handle” it by simply ignoring it, letting it play out, then – when the situation has broken wide-open -  [...]

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Already Ripe

by Shaun April 5, 2010

I’m a strong believer in “prevention.”  Keeping bad things from happening rather than having to make “lesser evil” choices once things have broken wide open is always the way to go. So, as I look at my posts so far, I’m noticing that my commentary and examples are slightly skewed toward what I’ve come to [...]

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A Tough Place to Manage

by Shaun March 29, 2010

Diane knew, going in, that where she was going had never been voted anyone’s “50 Best Places to Work” – but she wasn’t quite prepared for the mess she found when she got there. Her experience doing training and implementation of network software for warehouse systems had given her this opportunity to earn “pretty big” [...]

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So Human

by Shaun March 8, 2010

So Human Hi- Click on the player for my brief audio intro to this blog. Thanks! Shaun

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