Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Employee Orientation and Onboarding
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Employee Orientation and On-Boarding. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
Planning an orientation to employees should be as carefully done as planning a systematic approach to training. For example, there should be overall goals that you want to accomplish with the orientation. There should be carefully chosen activities and materials used in the orientation to achieve the goals. Participants should produce certain tangible results that can be referenced to evaluate the orientation both during and after the orientation.
A progressive view of orientation is that of “on-boarding.” On-boarding works from the perspective that the organization must do all it can to fully equip the employee for maximum performance for the organization — and for maximum fulfillment of the employee. Some organizations have on-boarding programs that last up to a year, where the employee experiences a several-day orientation program, which includes, not only the orientation to the facilities and personnel, but also various self-assessments for the employee to get clear on what he or she wants from employment in the organization. The employee might be placed in a peer group of fellow, new employees who share advice and other feedback to learn more about the company and other roles in the organization.
Basic Checklist to Orient Employees
While the approach to on-boarding is usually quite unique to the nature and needs of an organization, here’s a checklist that can be used to orient an employee to an organization. The following activities should be conducted by the employee’s supervisor. The checklist is relevant to the activities that should occur after the employee has received a job offer.
Before the Employee Begins Employment, Send a Welcome Letter
Verify the exact starting date and also provide a copy of the employee policies and procedures manual. Note that you’ll dedicate time for them to review the manual later. Do not specify the terms of salary and compensation — that should have been included in the job offer.
Provide a Job Description and Any Suggested Performance Goals
All employees deserve explanation of what is expected from them. A job description, which explains duties and responsibilities, often is not enough. Therefore, suggest some additional areas of focus, ideally in the context of performance goals for the employee to address especially during the first year of employment. Make it clear that you will discuss these with the employee soon.
When the Employee Begins Employment, Meet With Them Right Away
Explain how they will be trained, introduce them to staff, give them keys, get them to sign any needed benefit and tax forms, explain the time-recording system (if applicable), and provide them copies of important documents (an organization chart, last year’s final report, the strategic plan, this year’s budget, and the employee’s policies and procedure manual if they did not get one already.
Show Them the Facilities
Show them the layout of offices, bathrooms, storage areas, kitchen use, copy and fax systems, computer configuration and procedures, telephone usage and any special billing procedures for use of office systems. Review any Policies and/or procedures about use of facilities.
Schedule Any Needed Computer Training
Include training about the most frequently used software applications. Be sure the employees learn any security procedures for computer information, including careful use of passwords, overview of location of manuals and other useful documentation, location and use of computer networks and other peripherals, and where to go to get questions answered.
Assign a Staff Member As Their “Buddy”
This is extremely important. Identify another employee, other than you (the supervisor), that the employee might quickly establish rapport with, to pose any questions that the employee is not comfortable posing to the supervisor. The buddy can invite the new employee to various social functions undertaken by other employees.
Take Them to Lunch on the First Day
Use this opportunity to be with them in other than a work setting. Don’t talk about work. Ask them about their family and share some information about yourself.
Meet With Them at the End of the Day
Take just a few minutes to ask if they have any questions or any needs they’d like to talk about. Remind them that you or their buddy is there if they have any questions or needs.
Meet Again With the New Employee During the First Few Days
Review the job description again. Remind them to review the employee manual and sign a form indicating they have reviewed the manual and will comply with its contents. Review any specific performance goals for the position. In the same meeting, explain the performance review procedure and provide them a copy of the performance review document.
Have One-On-One Meetings On a Weekly Basis for the First Six Weeks
One of the biggest mistakes of new supervisors is to meet with direct reports only when there are problems. That sends the message “I’m only here if you have a problem, and you better not have any problems.” Instead, meet to discuss the new employee’s transition into the organization, get status on
work activities, hear any pending issues or needs, and establish a working relationship with the new employee.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to this Topic
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to this topic. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Learn More in the Library’s Blog Related to Taxation and Nonprofits
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Taxation and Nonprofits. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
Do I Need Help to Get Started (with taxes, payroll, etc.)?
(If you’re just getting started with your new nonprofit, then see the section Starting a Nonprofit.)
You Can Do Much of the Work Yourself — But Get Tax Advice and Guidance
You should strongly consider getting some help with your taxes. You can do much of the work yourself, but you should have some basic guidance and advice from a tax advisor who understands nonprofit matters. For example, it’s very important how you characterize your plans when filing for incorporation with your state or for tax-exemption with the IRS. In addition, there are various reports and filings you likely have to submit. When you’re tax-exempt, you’re likely to also be exempt from a variety of other taxes, including state, property and sales taxes. A nonprofit-knowledgeable
tax advisor can help you a great deal. Ask other nonprofits for references to good tax advisors. Ask a local funder. Call the accounting aid association. Note that, in Canada, you can get tax-exempt status at the provincial or federal level.
As a new nonprofit, you should strongly consider using a payroll service. This type of service can work with your tax advisor (or provide tax advice, as well) to ensure regular and accurate withholdings for various types of taxes. The service can also produce the reports needed to file your yearly taxes. You might get a recommendation for a service by calling your local association of certified public accountants or several nonprofits that are similar in nature to yours.
Importance of Good Record Keeping
Good tax management starts with good record keeping, especially financial records. You should have a basic sense about Financial Statements
Getting Tax Exempt Status
You do not have to get tax-exempt status. However, you should seriously consider this because it allows you to avoid paying federal taxes on your income (within certain limits and types of income). It also helps you to raise money more easily.
NOTE: Obtaining tax-exemption if often one of the steps visited when formally starting up your nonprofit. See Starting a Nonprofit.
NOTE: Most states also allow tax-exempt nonprofits to also be exempt from some types of income, sales and property taxes. To find out which taxes you might be exempt from, contact your Attorney’s General office in your state.
You might review the list of types of tax-exempt organizations to note (most of) the IRS’s wide variety of organizations and classifications of tax-exempt nonprofits.
There are a variety of tax-exempt classifications. The 501(c)(3) is one of the most well known, and is for “charitable organization”. Note that this classification does not necessarily mean that the nonprofit is also charitable and/or tax-deductible. Form 1023 Help
Federal, State, Sales, Payroll Taxes, etc.
Tax-exempt organizations usually do not have to pay federal taxes on income. In addition, many states provide exemptions to income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, etc. It would be extremely difficult to track and report any standard guidelines about these various types of taxes across the states. The best way to find out what taxes you have to pay is to contact your Secretary of State’s office.
Using a Payroll Service
(As noted above, if you are a new business, you should strongly consider using a payroll service.)
The IRS limits the amount the revenue a nonprofit can make that is not directly associated with the mission of the nonprofit. This is in order to prevent nonprofits from unfairly competing with for-profit organizations. Nonprofits Can Generate an Earned Income
Be Careful: When Hiring, Need Independent Contractor or Employee?
The IRS seems increasingly skeptical about business use of independent contractors. The IRS is concerned, for example, that businesses might be avoiding employment taxes by using independent contractors instead. Therefore, businesses must be careful when determining if they should hire a contractor or an employee. The following link will help you in this regard.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
U.S. Business Taxes for Small For-Profit Businesses
Scope of Information in this Library Topic
This library could include thousands of links to tax-related
sites. As with other topics in the library, there are enough links
included below to cover the basics and help the reader find more
information if needed. Regarding federal taxes (the type of taxes
most written about), the most comprehensive overviews are included
in IRS Publications 17 and 334 (links to these are included below).
Many federal tax-related links on the Web are to articles that
are basically a rewrite of information that’s already in these
two publications. Other types of taxes are reviewed below, too
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to This Business Taxation
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs
that have posts related to Business Taxation. Scan down the blog’s page to see
various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar
of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.
The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
Educate Yourself — Key Publications For You to Get Started
Whatever the condition of your business finances, always pay
your taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) states that small
businesses pay four kinds of taxes: Income tax, Self-employment
tax, Employment taxes, and Excise taxes. The form of business
determines what kinds of taxes you’ll pay. (More on this later.)
If the nature of your business is fairly consistent from year
to year, you may be able to manage your business taxes by yourself.
However, you may be better off the first year to hire a tax advisor.
BUT, you should still be aware of the basic process — time spent
studying taxes is time spent saving money! There are several basic
publications from the IRS that you should get and review. The
following 2 publications take about 3 hours to go through — it
will be some of the best time you spend to save money for your
business. The following section “Basics — Overviews of Small
Business Tax Management” will help you, as well.
It matters whether you’re a sole proprietorship, partnership,
corporation (and which type of corporation), limited liability
corporation, etc. You probably know this already if you have registered
your business with your state. Otherwise, review the materials
in Enterprise
Law.
Basics — Overviews of Small Business Tax Management
Good tax management starts with good record keeping, especially
financial records. Be sure you’re familiar with financial records.
See Financial
Statements
Do Your Own Taxes or Get Help?
If the nature of your business is fairly consistent from year
to year, you may be able to manage your business taxes by yourself.
However, you may be better off the first year to hire a tax advisor.
As a new business, you should strongly consider using a payroll
service. This type of service can work with your tax advisor (or
provide tax advice, as well) to ensure regular and accurate withholdings
for various types of taxes. The service can also produce the reports
needed to file your yearly taxes. You might get a recommendation
for a service by calling your local association of certified public
accountants or several businesses that are similar in nature to
yours. Your local Chamber of Commerce may know several good sources,
as well.
Special Topic — When Hiring, Need Independent Contractor
or Employee?
The IRS seems increasingly skeptical about business use of
independent contractors. The IRS is concerned, for example, that
businesses might be avoiding employment taxes by using independent
contractors instead. Therefore, businesses must be careful when
determining if they should hire a contractor or an employee. The
following link will help you in this regard. Consultants (hiring)
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Three of the biggest breakthroughs in how we understand and successfully guide changes in ourselves, others and organizations are systems theory, systems thinking and systems tools. To understand how they are used, we first must understand the concept of a system.
Many of us have an intuitive understanding of the concept. However, we need to make that intuition even more explicit in order to use systems thinking and systems tools.
Sections of This Topic Include
Much of the content of this topic came from this book:
Also See the Library’s Blogs Related to Systems Theory, Chaos Theory and Systems Thinking
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Systems Theory, Chaos Theory and Systems Thinking. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
One of the biggest breakthroughs in how we understand and guide change in organizations is systems theory and systems thinking. To understand how they are used in organizations, we first must understand a system. Many of us have an intuitive understanding of the term. However, we need to make the understanding explicit in order to use systems thinking and systems tools in organizations.
Simply put, a system is an organized collection of parts (or subsystems) that are highly integrated to accomplish an overall goal. The system has various inputs, which go through certain processes to produce certain outputs, which together, accomplish the overall desired goal for the system. So a system is usually made up of many smaller systems, or subsystems. For example, an organization is made up of many administrative and management functions, products, services, groups and individuals. If one part of the system is changed, the nature of the overall system is often changed, as well — by definition then, the system is systemic, meaning relating to, or affecting, the entire system.
(This is not to be confused with systematic, which can mean merely that something is methodological. Thus, methodological thinking — systematic thinking — does not necessarily mean systems thinking.)
Systems range from simple to complex. There are numerous types of systems. For example, there are biological systems (for example, the heart), mechanical systems (for example, a thermostat), human/mechanical systems (for example, riding a bicycle), ecological systems (for example, predator/prey) and social systems (for example, groups, supply and demand and also friendship).
Complex systems, such as social systems, are comprised of numerous subsystems, as well. These subsystems are arranged in hierarchies, and integrated to accomplish the overall goal of the overall system. Each subsystem has its own boundaries of sorts, and includes various inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes geared to accomplish an overall goal for the subsystem. Complex systems usually interact with their environments and are, thus, open systems.
A high-functioning system continually exchanges feedback among its various parts to ensure that they remain closely aligned and focused on achieving the goal of the system. If any of the parts or activities in the system seems weakened or misaligned, the system makes necessary adjustments to more effectively achieve its goals.
A pile of sand is not a system. If you remove a sand particle, you have still got a pile of sand. However, a functioning car is a system. Remove the carburetor and you no longer have a working car.
Five Disciplines of Systems Thinking — Per Peter Senge
Peter Senge wrote a seminal book about systems thinking, The Fifth Discipline (Doubleday, 1990). In his book, he suggested five disciplines necessary to cultivate systems thinking in an effort or organization. In addition to the discipline of systems thinking, he suggests the following four disciplines, as well.
Personal Mastery
Senge describes personal mastery as “continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively” (The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday, 1990, p. 7).
Senge explains “Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action” (p. 8).
Senge notes “If any one idea about leadership has inspired organizations for thousands of years, it’s the capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create” (p. 9).
Senge asks “How can a team of committed managers with individual IQs above 120 have a collective IQ of 63?” (p. 9.).He adds “Team learning is vital because teams, not individuals, are the fundamental learning unit in modern organizations” (p. 10).
Chaos Theory — Seeing Patterns and Themes in Chaos
Systems theory has evolved to another level called chaos theory. In this context, chaos does not mean total confusion. Chaos refers to the dynamics of a system that apparently has no, or little, order, but in which there really is an underlying order. In these systems, small changes can cause complex changes in the overall system.
(In technical terms, chaos theory applies to complex non-linear dynamics systems.) Chaos theory has introduced new perspectives and tools to study complex systems, such as biological, human, groups, weather, population growth and the solar system.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Sustainable Business Development (For-Profit or Nonprofit)
The World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland
Commission), in its report “Our Common Future” (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1987), defines sustainable development:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:
the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of
the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given;
and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology
and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet
present and future needs.”
The profession of management is increasingly interested in
sustainable development as today’s organizations confront the
realities of managing limited resources, many of which were previously
considered to be unlimited in scope. For example, sustainable
development was the main topic of the national Organization Development
Network’s 2003 conference. Sustainable development often looks
at three major aspects of development, including sociological,
ecological and economic. The information in this topic is by no
means complete. However, like so many other topics in the Library,
there’s enough in this topic to get you started.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Sustainable Development
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs
that have posts related to Sustainable Development. Scan down the blog’s page
to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in
the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post
in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
NOTE: If you were looking for guidelines to
ensure that your organization remains sustainable, then see the
topic Organizational
Sustainability. If you were looking for guidelines about business
development, in general, see Business
Development.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
The guidelines and resources in this topic are not sufficient to develop strong competencies in supervision. Those competencies come from extensive experience in applying that information.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Supervision
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Supervision. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
Supervision is a widely misunderstood term. Many people believe it applies only to people who oversee the productivity and development of entry-level workers. That’s not true.
The term “supervisor” typically refers to one’s immediate superior in the workplace, that is, the person whom you report directly to in the organization. For example, a middle manager’s supervisor typically
would be a top manager. A first-line manager’s supervisor would be a middle manager. A worker’s supervisor typically would be a first-line manager.
Supervisors typically are responsible for their direct reports’ progress and productivity in the organization. Supervision often includes conducting basic management skills (decision making, problem solving, planning, delegation and meeting management), organizing teams, noticing the need for and designing
new job roles in the group, hiring new employees, training new employees, employee performance management (setting goals, observing and giving feedback, addressing performance issues, firing employees, etc.) and ensuring conformance to personnel policies and other internal regulations. Supervisors typically have strong working knowledge of the activities in their group, e.g., how to develop their product, carry out their service, etc.
NOTE: Many people also use the term “supervisor” to designate the managerial position that is responsible for a major function in the organization, for example, Supervisor of Customer Service. This topic in the Library does not address that context of supervision, but rather addresses the context described in the above paragraphs.
To Truly Understand Supervision, Be Acquainted With Its Broader Context
Know How Organizations Are Typically Structured and Operate
Without knowing about organizations in general, your role as a supervisor will be extremely limited. For example, perhaps the greatest affect on how you work and the success of your department is the culture of the organization. Supervisors should fully understand the mission and strategic goals of the organization.
Also, the expectations, resources and influences to do your job usually come from other parts of the organization, whether it comes from the management levels above you or other departments that you serve.
Collaboration between other departments in the organization is often one of the most effective ways for the departments to do their job. Your employees’ questions are often about other parts of the organization, as well. The likelihood of your promotion depends on how well you understand the rest of the organization. See Organizational Structures and Design
Know Major Functions in Management in Organizations
Traditionally, management is interpreted as be an integration of planning, organizing, leading and coordinating resources. The role of supervision is essentially a management role.
For example, you are planning your department’s goals, how to reach those goals, the resources that you will need, and who will doing what and by when to achieve those goals. You will be organizing resources, including jobs, people, funding and facilities. You will be leading individuals and teams in your department. You will be continually coordinating your department’s activities to make sure that activities are being conducted as planned.
You will take measures to get things back on track when needed. Therefore, it is very important that you understand best practices in management. Those practices are often quite similar across the organization, but just of a different scope and impact. See What is Management? How Do I Manage?
Know Which Leadership Approach to Use and When in Organizations
Simply put, leadership is the set of activities to clarify direction and priorities, and influence people toward those. Leadership is a strong component in a supervisor’s overall activities of management. You are responsible for leading other individuals, teams and your department and — perhaps most important — leading yourself.
Especially for first-time supervisors, the role can be quite stressful because they are now faced with responsibilities they have never had before — they are leading people, not just activities that usually have clear-cut and routine tasks. Therefore, it is extremely important for supervisors — especially first-time supervisors — to understand principles and various styles of leadership, including which style to use and when. See What is Leadership? How Do I Lead?
Typical Roles in Supervision
The job of a supervisor is a very dynamic one, depending on the culture of the organization, complexity of the department’s goals, access to sufficient resources and expertise of the people in the department, and especially on the supervisor’s ability to successfully delegate to their direct reports. A supervisor might play different roles even in the same day.
Advocate
The supervisor is often responsible to represent the employee’s requests and to management, along with also representing the employee’s case for deserving a reward. For example, if an employee deserves a promotion, the supervisor often must justify the case for promotion to the supervisor’s supervisor, as well.
If the employee has a rather unique personal situation that warrants special consideration by the rest of management, the supervisor must explain this situation and how it can be handled.
The supervisor is also responsible to advocate for upper management when it wants all employees to understand and embrace a major management decision. It’s not unusual for employees to sometimes see the supervisor as part of “management” while at other times seeing the supervisor as a personal friend.
Boss
There are many different names for leaders in organizations and how they are viewed. However, the most conventional term and the most widely understood is that of boss. The supervisor is deemed to be the boss when people in the department are ultimately looking for direction and guidance in their jobs. The ways that a supervisor carries out that role can vary from strong direction, advice and deadlines to consensus-based decisions, thoughtful questioning and adaptive deadlines.
The term coach has taken on an entirely new meaning with the recent growth of the field of personal and professional coaching. Coaches in that field are experts at supporting others to bring out and apply their own wisdom. Often, they pose thoughtful questions to help that happen. Still, supervisors might guide their employees to increased performance and satisfaction in a variety of ways ranging from useful advice and feedback to thoughtful questions and support.
The job of a facilitator is to support a group of people to clarify their desired results and achieve their results by working with each other. The nature of how facilitators do their job ranges from rather directive advice (especially when the group is getting started) to thoughtful questions, paraphrasing and summarizing. Thus, with an established team, a facilitator works much like a coach.
A mentor is a person who helps another (a mentee) to develop in their job and career. The mentor may have officially accepted that role, for example, as part of an overall mentoring program, or informally accepted the role based on a mutual relationship. The mentee sees themselves as being able to count on the mentor for help. The mentor might use a variety of methods to help the mentee ranging from advice and materials to thoughtful questions and guidelines.
The supervisor is often the first person who is considered when a new employee needs to learn the job or when an employee is struggling to improve performance in the job. Employees also often turn to the supervisor to ask about personnel policies. Progressive employees might ask about the organization’s culture.
The supervisor is responsible to ensure that training occurs, and might do the training themselves or arrange it through a subject matter expert. Training could be done in a variety of ways ranging from ongoing on-the-job advice to participating in a formal, systematic training program.
Suggested Core Competencies to Supervise in Any Situation
Various experts would disagree on what skills and practices should be required for supervisors. Various roles and skills are listed throughout the next sections in this topic. However, it would be difficult to undertake them without having the following core skills.
NOTE: Many of the following staffing activities are designed by a Human Resource Department (HR) if an organization has that type of department. Still, the activities are best carried out in collaboration with the supervisor who brings strong knowledge of the needed skills in the department. Organizations without an HR Department usually rely on the supervisor to conduct the activities, hopefully in accordance with up-to-date personnel policies.
Ensuring Conformance to Personnel Policies
The activities of supervision should always be respectful, fair and equitable and should always conform to relevant laws, rules and regulations. The best way to make sure that those conditions will continue to exist is to work from up-to-date personnel policies. Thus, staffing activities usually start by ensuring the personnel policies are up to date. Supervisors should be acquainted with all of the relevant policies as well as to make sure that the employees are, as well.
Especially in today’s highly diverse organizations, the ability to work with people having diverse values and cultures is extremely important. An organization’s culture is driven by the values throughout that organization. Employees need to feel included — that their values are being recognized, understood and respected.
They need to feel that their ideas and concerns are being heard. Those conditions create strong motivation and momentum for strong satisfaction and performance in their jobs. Personnel policies should include guidelines to ensure a workforce is diverse and inclusive. Diversity and Inclusion
Designing Job Roles
There are several occasions when a job role needs to be created or updated. For example, supervisors would be designing a new role when there is sufficient evidence that enough new tasks that a new role was required. Another occasion would be if a current job needed to be updated. Ideally, planning for a new role is done during strategic planning or when a new product or service is added to the organization.
When designing a new job role, it should be associated with a suitable salary range that ensures sufficient compensation and benefits for the types of responsibilities needed in the role.
Compensation includes topics in regard to wage and/or salary programs and structures, for example, salary ranges for job descriptions, merit-based programs, bonus-based programs, commission-based programs, etc. Employee benefits typically refers to retirement plans, health life insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, vacation, employee stock ownership plans, etc. Employee Benefits and Compensation (Employee Pay)
Recruiting Good Candidates
After the job role has been specified and approved by management, the supervisor is ready to recruit job candidates who might fill the job role. There are a wide variety of ways to recruit job candidates. The best methods are those that are most likely to reach out to the most suitable candidates. How to Find and Recruit the Best Job Candidates
Screening Job Candidates
The thoroughness and professionalism you use to interview candidates can make a strong, positive impression on candidates. It also conveys to them that you expect the same from them if they are hired by your organization.
In an effort to mitigate the risk of a bad hiring decision, companies can use multiple tools in their hiring strategy. One of those, background screening, can help identify if your candidate is included in the 56% of applicants that provide false information on their resume.
Hiring employees involves a variety of tasks, any of which if not done effectively, could result in a mismatch between the needs of the department and that of the new hire. Thus, one of the most important tasks of a supervisor is hiring highly suitable employees. That includes going to as many sources as possible for finding good candidates, screening the candidates’ resumes and conducting interviews, and then coordinating the activities to making — and accepting — a formal offer for employment.
A new employee should be sufficiently oriented to the organization and its employees so that the employee feels familiar enough to begin doing a good job in the role. Planning an orientation to employees should be as carefully done as planning a systematic approach to training. For example, there should be overall goals that you want to accomplish with the orientation. There should be carefully chosen activities and materials used in the orientation to achieve the goals. Employee Orientation
Retaining Employees
One of the most expensive labor costs is the replacement of employees. Fortunately, there are many things a supervisor can do to increase the likelihood that good employees will remain. The supervisor can ensure the employee understands the job, is fully oriented and trained to do it, has suitable compensation, is effectively led, has a job design that helps the employee to be motivated, shares useful
feedback, and supports the employee’s career development. How to Retain Your
Best Employees
Rewarding Employees
There are a variety of ways for a supervisor to reward employees for the quality
of the work they do in the workplace. For example, rewards can be in the form
of money, benefits, time off from work, acknowledgement for work well done,
affiliation with other workers or a sense of accomplishment from finishing a
major task. Rewarding Employee Performance
Employee Performance Management
Employee performance management includes the activities to ensure that all employees are effectively and efficiently working toward the departmental goals that are assigned to them. That means assigning appropriate goals to the employee, ensuring the employee is sufficiently equipped to achieve the goal, monitoring and measuring the employee’s activities and accomplishments, and rewarding the employee for accomplishments or addressing situations where goals are not being achieved in a high-quality and timely manner. How to Ensure Strong Employee Performance Management
Goals can be established for a variety of reasons, for example, to overcome performance problems, qualify for future jobs and roles, take advantage of sudden opportunities that arise and/or give direction to training plans. Goals provide clear direction to both supervisor and employee. They form a common frame of reference around which the supervisor and employee can effectively communicate.
They clearly indicate success, and can facilitate strong sense of fulfillment for employee and supervisor. Also they help clarify the roles of the supervisor and employee. Goal Setting With Employees
Training Employees
Effective training includes clarifying the goals that are to be achieved by the employee, assessing the gap between the employee’s current capabilities and those needed to achieve the goals, and then ensuring suitable training to close those gap. High-quality training also ensures that gap has been closed over time. The supervisor might conduct the training or arrange it to come from another source. Training could range from on-the-job advice to more formal training programs.
Leading Employees (Delegating, Coaching, Mentoring, etc.)
Supervisors provide ongoing guidance and support to their employees in a variety of ways to suit the nature and needs of both the supervisor and employees. Good leadership involves providing the right context for each employee to motivate themselves. Delegation involves clarifying the result desired by the supervisor and encouraging the employee to decide how best to achieve the result.
Coaching might be used to bring out the employee’s own wisdom to address a current situation. Mentoring involves ongoing advice and coaching to help an employee to develop in their jobs and careers.
A major function of supervisors is to support the motivation of their employees. Different people can have quite different motivators, for example, by more money, more recognition, time off from work, promotions, opportunities for learning, or opportunities for socializing and relationships. Therefore, when attempting to help motivate people, it’s important to identify what motivates each of them. Ultimately, though, long-term motivation comes from people motivating themselves. Helping People to Motivate Themselves and Others
Sharing Feedback
The “life’s blood” of successful supervision is the continued and effective feedback between the supervisor and employee. Feedback to employees is information regarding their performance and also is information they can act on. Feedback must be shared in a manner that is understandable to them and is perceived by them as being provided in a highly respectful manner. Sharing feedback involves skills in effective listening, verbal and non-verbal communications, and working in multi-cultural environments. How to Give Useful Feedback and Advice
Conducting Performance Reviews
Regular performance reviews are critical. Performance reviews help supervisors feel more honest in their relationships with their employees and feel better about themselves in their supervisorial roles. Employees are assured clear understanding of what’s expected from them, their own personal strengths and areas for development and a solid sense of their relationship with their supervisor. Conducting Performance Appraisals/Reviews
Addressing Performance Problems
Supervisors should promptly respond to occasions where an employee’s performance is not acceptable. Performance issues on the actual behaviors of the employee, whether they were insufficient for the job or inappropriate in the workplace. Any special circumstances that caused those behaviors should be understood. The supervisor should carefully document the notification in the employee’s file. How to Address Employee Performance Problems
Terminating Employees
As with the other activities in staffing and employee performance management, the termination of an employee should be done in accordance with the procedure described in the personnel policies. The policies might specify, for example, that the supervisor first issues a verbal warning to the employee and then a written warning before the formal action to terminate an employee. How to Effectively Fire an Employee
Team Performance Management
The activities in team performance management are very similar to those of employee performance management, as listed above. Team performance management refers to the cycle of activities to enhance the performance of a team. The activities to first develop the team are often referred to as team building.
The activities to manage each meeting are about meeting management. The activities to guide and support the members’ activities during a meeting are referred to as facilitation.
High-quality teams need strong and trusting relationships between members. However, they also need a firm foundation of structures, including a clear purpose and goals, sufficient resource, adaptable guidelines for assigning and changing leadership, reliable means to sustain continual communications among members and the organization, and means to make group decisions and solve problems. All About Team Building
Leading Teams
After a team has been built, it needs ongoing direction, guidance and support from upper management for the team to continue to be successful in achieving its goals. Help from the supervisor can range from strong involvement with ongoing directives to a more indirect and supportive role.
This is the initial phase in team performance management where the supervisor works with the team to specify the goals to be accomplished by the team and by when. The supervisor explains how the goals are directly aligned with achieving the strategic goals of the organization. The supervisor and team might associate specific and measurable milestones toward those team goals. They document the results of their planning into an overall team performance plan. Team Performance Management: Performance Planning Phase
During this phase, the supervisor conducts ongoing observations and monitoring to assess how well the team goals are being achieved. The supervisor decides if the quality of the team’s performance has exceeded or met expectations and decides how to reward the team accordingly. This phase could be done in a highly collaborative manner between the supervisor and members of the team. Team Performance Management: Performance Appraisal / Evaluation Phase
Team Improvement Planning
During this phase, a plan is developed for how the team could improve its performance to more effectively achieve or exceed the team goals. The plan might suggest further training, providing more resources or adjusting the goals to be more realistic. Team Performance Management: Development (Improvement) Planning Phase
Getting Started in Supervision
Typical Experience of First-Time Supervisor
The job of supervisor, especially for new supervisors, can be one of the most confusing, frustrating and stressful jobs in an organization. Many times, a person is promoted to a supervisor role, not because the person has already shown strong skills in supervising people, but because the employee continued to do a high-quality job that was much more technical in nature than leading people. Thus, after the person is promoted, it can be an entirely new situation for the employee. There are several more reasons for this, including:
Supervisors often do not have adequate training about their new roles, responsibilities and ways to lead people. They might be used to doing very well in a technical job, but now are faced with diverse and challenging tasks they have never done before.
Supervisors are often intimidated when faced with enforcing a wide range of policies and procedures, many of which seems highly technical and legal in nature. Even if they do not understand the policies, they still are responsible for all of them.
Supervisors rarely have enough time to monitor and measure the progress of their department, while cultivating working relationships with a diversity of people who are to be guided and supported by the supervisor.
Supervisors often feel very alone in their jobs. This is especially true if they were promoted over people who used to be their peers. Supervisors are responsible to meet the needs of their bosses above them, and yet do the same with those below them.
Supervisors can often feel overwhelmed and stressed out. It can take a lot of courage to admit this, especially to the supervisors’ bosses who already are expecting a lot from them.
Here are insights from years of working with managers, teams, and new leaders on the realities of supervision. For some of you it may be “old hat”; for others an “ah’ha”. In either case, know that the moment you start taking things for granted, you stop being effective. So what can you learn from these seven supervisory principles.
1. There is no routine to management work. Changes are that your old job came with a familiar routine. You performed the tasks assigned to you and you did them in a prescribed order. Some things had to be done by noon, while others had to be completed before you left for the day. As a rule, when the day’s
work was done, your day was over. But for managers, there’s no such thing as “the day’s work,” so bid a fond farewell to routine.
2. People and issues arrive un-prioritized. As a manager, you now have more people and issues to deal with. It’s your job to filter them for urgency and importance, and help employees stay focused by doing the same.
3. People start acting differently towards you. You’re still the same person, but you’re in a different role. Some people withdraw from you; others want to get closer. Ultimately, your employees are dealing with managerial change in their own way and trying to figure out what kind of manager you really are.
4. You have to give up your old job. You have a new job so don’t hang on to your old one. This can be hard. After all, it’s because of your previous success that you’ve been promoted. But failure to let go of your old job causes more problems for first-time managers than anything else.
5. Guard against the perception that certain people are your favorites. Yesterday you had co-workers; today you have employees. While it’s only natural to like some individuals more than others you no longer have that luxury as manager. Employees are keenly aware of who has direct access to you. In the
past, you had coffee or lunch with the same people every day, but if you keep this up, your employees will earmark these people as “your favorites.”
6. Employees want their manager to manage them. Friendly behavior is great, but it shouldn’t be a substitute for good managing. Your employees expect you to deal with poor performers at work. You need to demonstrate that you won’t tolerate poor performance. If you’re fair and decisive, your good performers will give you their hard-earned respect and best effort.
7. Don’t hold on to information, rather communicate, communicate, communicate. When you’re on an airplane and it encounters turbulence or the flight is delayed, you want to know what’s happening. Not knowing makes you nervous. Employees also want to know what’s happening — what’s causing the bumpy ride. If people don’t understand, then anxiety mounts, trust declines and rumors fly. The next thing you see is morale plummeting and work not getting done. That’s why ongoing communication is so important.
Management Success Tip
Understand your role had changed. You are now in charge tasked with getting work done through others. You must move from doing to delegating; from being liked to being respected; from holding on to letting go; from knowing all the answers to getting input from others.
Make Sure You Supervise Yourself
The job can be stressful and it can be tempting to continue to focus on the job and your employees. However, there is an old saying that you can’t effectively lead others, unless you can first effectively lead yourself. That means:
Monitor your work hours — If it gets to be an average of 55 hours per week or more, than start finding other activities outside of work that are at least as rewarding. No one on their death bed says, “I wish I had worked harder.”
Recognize your own signs of stress — Are they increasing irritability? Fatigue? Drinking alcohol? Confusion and frustration? Aches and pains? Warnings from friends and colleagues?
Get a mentor or coach — They can be invaluable when you consider that your health is priceless. It doesn’t matter how much your boss compliments you if your family and body are paying the price.
Learn to delegate — That is one of the most important skills for any supervisor. Effective delegate decreases your workload while expanding the opportunities for learning among your employees.
Communicate as much as reasonable — That is one of the best antidotes to loneliness and fatigue. Be honest with your friends and family about how you are feeling and what you want.
Know what’s important versus what’s urgent — If you take care of the important things, then the urgent ones go away. For example, attend to proactive planning about the future rather than reactive responses to surprise and crises.
Recognize accomplishments — That can be one of the biggest satisfactions and motivators, not only for yourself, but for the employees who work for you.
You can improve your skills in a rather informal approach or in a carefully designed and systematic approach. The latter is often referred to as a supervisor development program. Here are guidelines for either approach.
Here is a link to a complete, well-organized set of guidelines for the basic functions in supervision. The guidelines comprise a basic guidebook, which can be printed.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Supervision
In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which have posts related to Supervision. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.
Often, employees are promoted to supervision because of their strong technical expertise — expertise in building a product or providing a service. Suddenly, the new supervisor is now charged with a whole new range of responsibilities, many of which have little to do with technical expertise.
Managers often deal with great deal of paperwork and people. Although paperwork is usually the most tedious, it’s often the most predictable. People aren’t predictable. They have moods, illnesses, career expectations, crises in their family lives, etc. The supervisor’s technical expertise is often useless when it comes to supervising people.
Sometimes Intimidated by Wide Range of Policies and Procedures
The new supervisor is suddenly faced with a wide range of rules and regulations — each of which the supervisor is responsible to enforce. The supervisor is responsible for signing time cards, authorizing overtime, granting compensation time, dealing with performance problems, developing job descriptions, following hiring procedures, dealing with grievances, conforming to a complicated pay system, and the list goes on. It can be quite difficult to conform to today’s wide range of employee laws, rules and regulations — and at the same time, produce a product or service.
New Supervisors Rarely Have Enough Time
No matter how many courses or degrees a new supervisor has completed, they’re often surprised that management activities are so hectic and demanding. No matter how thorough the planning, managers rarely get to spend much time on any one activity. The role of most managers, whether new supervisors or executives, is interspersed with frequent interruptions. Any surprise in the work or lives of employees is a sudden demand on supervisors.
New supervisors often expect to have complete knowledge of everything that goes on in their group. They don’t want to encounter any surprises. So they spend more time reading, thinking, planning, communicating with employees — new supervisors often spend 60 hours a week on the job. Still, they don’t feel they have enough time to do the job right.
New Supervisors Often Feel Very Alone
Each manager has a unique role in the organization. Each organization is unique. Usually there are no clear procedures for dealing with the numerous challenges that suddenly face management. Ultimately, it’s up to each manager to get through the day. Faced with a great deal of pressure, little time and continuing demands from other people, the new supervisor can feel quite alone.
The supervisor is responsible to be an advocate for the organization and an advocate for the employee. For example, if the organization implements an unpopular new policy, the supervisor is often responsible to communicate and justify that new policy to the employee. In this case, management expects the supervisor to present and support the new policy, and the employee vents his or her frustration to the supervisor. However, if the supervisor wants to promote the employee or present some other reward, he or she is now representing the employee’s case to the rest of management. The supervisor is often alone, stuck in the middle.
The new supervisor wants to come across as having deserved their promotion, as being in control of the situation. It’s difficult to seek help from others in the organization. Even when there is someone there to talk to, it’s difficult to fully explain the situation — the new supervisor sometimes doesn’t know how things got so hectic and confusing.
New Supervisors Often Feel Overwhelmed, Stressed Out
The new supervisor is responsible, often for the first time, for the activities of another employee. The supervisor must ensure the employee knows his or her job, has the resources to do the job and does the job as effectively as possible.
Until a new supervisor develops a “feeling for the territory”, they often deal with the stresses of supervision by working harder, rather than smarter. They miss the comfort and predictability of their previous job.
The stress and loneliness in the role of new supervisor can bring out the worst in a person. If they deal with stress by retreating, they’ll retreat to their offices and close the door. If they deal with frustration, they’ll become angry and unreasonable with their employees. If they are used to getting strong praise and high grades, they’ll work harder and harder until their jobs become their lives.
Support and Development Are Critical for New Supervisors
Courses in supervision, delegation, time management, stress management, etc., are not enough. New supervisors need ongoing coaching and support. They need someone whom they can confide in. Ideally, they have a mentor in the organization who remembers what it’s like to be a first-time supervisor, someone who makes themselves available.
If the experience of first-time supervision is successful — it’s challenging, but fulfilling — the supervisor goes on to become a progressive, supportive manager.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to this Topic
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to this topic. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
This activity is usually conducted near the overall process of strategic planning. Therefore, the reader might best be served to first read the information in the topic Strategic Planning.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Writing and Communicating the
Strategic Plan
In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which have posts related to Writing and Communicating the Strategic Plan. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.
1. Have a small number of people write the first draft of the plan. An outside facilitator (someone hired from outside of the organization to facilitate the planning process) should not be the one who writes the plan.
2. Don’t worry about having every last detail in the first draft.
3. The draft should be presented to the board of directors (if applicable) and upper management for review and approval. It’s not unusual for the board and/or top management of large organizations to provide major input primarily to the contents in the body of the document, that is, the mission and vision and values statements, and the goals and strategies. Employees and other staff often provide the major input to the action planning portion, including the objectives, responsibilities and timelines for completion of objectives.
Formatting of the Strategic Plan
Note that it’s wise to distribute copies of the plan to major stakeholders (investors/funders, trade associations, etc.). Therefore, you should organize the format of the plan such that the body of the plan can be sent outside of the organization and the appendices can include the more confidential and detail-oriented documents — documents which also tend to change a lot. The format of the plan should fit the culture and preferences of the organization.
Consider the Following Sections
(The following sections might be viewed as the “body” of the plan document.)
1) Executive Summary — This is written to the scope and level of content that an “outsider” can read the summary and grasp the mission of the organization, its overall major issues and goals, and key strategies to reach the goals
2) Authorization — This page includes all of the necessary signatures from the board of directors (if applicable) and other top management designating that they approve the contents of, and support implementation of, the plan
3) Organizational Description — This section describes, for example, the beginnings and history of the organization, its major products and services, highlights and accomplishments during the history of organization, etc.
4) Mission, Vision and Values Statements — These statements describe the strategic “philosophy” of the organization
5) Goals and Strategies — Lists all of the major strategic goals and associated strategies identified during the strategic planning process.
Appendices
(The appendices often include information that is somewhat confidential, detail-oriented and/or tends to change a lot.)
A) Action Planning — Specifies objectives, responsibilities and timelines for completion of objectives
B) Description of Strategic Planning Process Used — Describes the process used to develop the plan, who was involved, the number of meetings, any major lessons learned to improve planning the next time around, etc.
C) Strategic Analysis Data — Includes information generated during the external analysis (for example, environmental scan) and internal analysis (for example, SWOT analysis), and includes listing of strategic issues identified during these analyses.
D) Goals for Board and Chief Executive Officer — Goals of the board and CEO should be directly aligned with goals identified during strategic planning. This appendix will list goals for the board and can include recommendations for redesigning board committees to be associated with strategic goals. The appendix also lists goals for the CEO goals — these can be used (along with the CEO job description) to form the basis for performance evaluations of the CEO.
E) Budget Planning — Depicts the resources and funding needed to obtain and use the resources needed to achieve the strategic goals. Budgets are often depicted for each year of the term of the strategic plan
F) Operating Plan — Describes the major goals and activities to be accomplished over the coming fiscal year.
G) Financial Reports — Includes last year’s budget (with estimated expenses and the actual amounts spent), this year’s current budget (again with estimated amounts and actual amounts spent), a balance sheet (or in the case of nonprofits, a statement of financial position), income statement (or in the case of nonprofit, a statement of financial activities), etc.
H) Monitoring and Evaluation of Plan — Include criteria for monitoring and evaluation, and the responsibilities and frequencies of monitoring the implementation of the plan
I) Communication of Plan — Describe the actions that will be taken to communicate the plan and/or portions of it, and to whom
Communicating the Strategic Plan
Note that certain groups of stakeholders might get complete copies of the plan, including appendices, while other groups (usually outside of the organization) might receive only the body of the plan without its appendices.
1. Every board member and member of management should get a copy of the plan.
2. Consider distributing all (or highlights from) the plan to everyone in the organization. It’s amazing how even the newest staff member gains quick context, appreciation, and meaning from review of the strategic plan.
3. Post your mission and vision and values statements on the walls of your main offices. Consider giving each employee a card with the statements (or highlights from them) on the card.
4. Publish portions of your plan in your regular newsletter, and advertising and marketing materials (brochures, ads, etc.).
5. Train board members and employees on portions of the plan during orientations.
6. Include portions of the plan in policies and procedures, including the employee manual.
7. Consider copies of the plan for major stakeholders, for example, funders/investors, trade associations, potential collaborators, vendors/suppliers, etc.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
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