Last week I offered up tip #4 in our ongoing series about the mental transition that is critical to be successful as a new supervisor. Continuing in this series, here is tip #5: understand that, as a new supervisor, your problems and issues will tend to be the type that don’t offer quick solutions.
Your problems become more long-term and ongoing
In last week’s video in this series, I explained how once you are in a new supervisor position, your key resources are now your employees. This fact leads right into another reality. Primarily because your key resources are your people, your problems as a supervisor become more long-term and ongoing.
You see, people-issues don’t often have quick and easy solutions. Instead, it can take weeks or months of effort to see even the smallest positive change. There will be days when you will feel like you are on a treadmill, and you want to get off, but you can’t seem to lift up your leg to make that step. Those are the tough days, and they will happen. In fact, even the most experienced managers will tell you that developing your people is an endless and tiring process. But don’t be discouraged by this. These same senior leaders will also tell you that the process of building and developing people can be enormously satisfying. Sure, the issues are long-term and ongoing, but if you can accept that as a given, remember that the longer the journey, the sweeter the reward.
So I’d like to know, are these tips resonating with you? Whether you’re recently a new supervisor, or if you’ve been in your management role for a while now, what has been your reality when you were making the transition? What do you have to add to this conversation? Please share.