You’ve probably seen it happen — a star performer gets promoted to supervisor, only to struggle once they’re in charge. It’s a common and costly mistake, but it’s also avoidable. At Clover Park Technical College’s Corporate Education (CorpEd), we specialize in helping organizations develop leaders before they step into those roles — turning strong performers into confident, capable supervisors.
As your organization grows, you’ll eventually need to fill supervisory roles and choosing the right people matters more than you may think. Of course, you can look outside for talent but it’s far more valuable to identify and promote current individual contributors to these roles. You intuitively look for the most successful workers you have: the ones who are the most productive, the hard working ones, and those who take initiative. Click here for a list of 7 qualities that make for the highest performing individual contributors (https://hbr.org/2018/04/7-traits-of-super-productive-people). These super productive people certainly seem like they would definitely make the best supervisors, don’t they?
The quick and short answer is – No!
Research is clear: the most productive individuals do not necessarily make the best supervisors.
It’s not that productive and initiative-taking workers will naturally make bad supervisors; it’s just that those qualities that made them successful in those roles do not translate sufficiently into the skills needed for supervisory success.
In short, successful supervisors are OTHERS-CENTERED and have good interpersonal skills, among other key traits. I highly recommend this excellent article from the SHRM website (reprinted from Harvard Business Review) that lists in detail the qualities and behaviors that make for great supervisors (Why the Most Productive People Don't Always Make the Best Managers)
If you were to reflect on your own experience of supervisors in your career, what would you say made the best ones great? Here are traits from my own history of managers:
- They listened and gave me honest feedback
- They were patient with my mistakes
- They provided the resources I needed to be successful
- They were trustworthy and trusted me
- They were interested in my future
- They were equitable to everyone
- They guided us through change with vision and purpose
Please notice that I didn’t list boundless energy, technical expertise, or great networking ability as traits that stood out. My previous bosses each had some of these but that’s not where I benefitted the most. How they related to me and the team, and demonstrated the pathway to success within our organization mattered the most in the long run.
Now is the time to carefully consider the people on your own team. Do you see people who have a natural inclination towards these traits, who know how to handle conflict calmly, get along well with others, can train and motivate others, who have a clear sense of what the organization is all about, who are committed to the mission?
The article from SHRM above makes one more very important point.
Organizations need to start training and developing these skills in potential supervisors before they start the official role, before they get promoted.
When our consultants at Corp Ed sit down to strategize with organizations in our community about developing their talent, we always ask them if they can identify the high-potentials among their contributors and include them in the development programs. We encourage their managers to identify and start coaching and training these future leaders now, as soon as they see that they have the traits that could make them effective supervisors.
The best time to develop future supervisors is before they are promoted — and that is where Corp Ed can help. Our consultants work with local organizations to identify and train high-potential employees, building leadership skills that support long-term success.
If you’d like to talk about developing your next generation of leaders, reach out to our Corporate Education team — we’d love to help you plan your talent strategy.