SAFETY Between a Rock and a Hard Place— New Frontline Supervisors By Michael France O ne of the most challenging transitions in any business occurs when a frontline team mem- ber is promoted to a frontline supervisory position. These individuals must transition from being a member of a team to leading the team, from working with “friends” to supervising, directing, and motivat- ing the same group. Despite the challenges they face, frontline supervisors and managers, as a whole, have a tremendous impact on performance and organizational culture since they interact with their teams, customers, and vendors on a continual basis. Frontline supervisors are often chosen because they excel at their current job. However, being great at safe ground handling or serv- ing customers doesn’t ensure that an individual has the skills to effectively manage others who do the same jobs. New supervisors have left a position where they excelled and knew what to expect on a daily basis and now find themselves in an environment where they may be far less confident and possibly feel overwhelmed. These feel- ings can turn what used to be an engaged, driven, and customer-focused employee into an insecure, tentative, and indecisive leader. Great organizations recognize that new supervisors need to be supported, empowered, and included to successfully navigate this new career phase. Even the most driven employee can find themselves overwhelmed or insecure in a new environment full of unfamiliar challenges. New supervisors may ask themselves, “Can I do this, am I going to be successful, and what if I fail?” While these feelings and concerns are perfectly normal, they do require support from the organization to effectively overcome. Acknowledging that insecurity and uneasiness are normal parts of any career transition, whether you are a first-time supervi- sor, manager, or even CEO, is a vital first step. Creating Aviation Business Journal | Winter 2019/2020 an environment where new supervisors can express their concerns, recognize they are not alone, and seek advice can help them overcome initial concerns and uneasiness with new roles. Some organizations achieve this by providing new supervisors with a mentor— someone who has successfully navigated through the same transition. New supervisors also face a significant challenge if they have had little to no experience in actually manag- ing people. Without intentional instruction and develop- ment from the organization, new supervisors will resort to managing the way they were managed previously in their career. Of course, this could be good or bad depend- ing upon their former supervisors and managers, but, it should not be left to chance. A defined development path for new supervisors should provide learning opportuni- ties on, at least, the following topics: • Communication—it is vital the supervisors know that different people communicate differ- ently. Empowering supervisors to understand the many communication methods available to them can help them engage with their team. • Delegation—New supervisors probably earned their jobs by being hard workers. Now they have to continue to work hard, but in a different way. Understanding that delegation is necessary, and being an effective and fair delegator, will help the new supervisor build a high-performing team. • Coaching/Disciplining—This can be a challenging component for new supervi- sors. Organizations are well-served when they empower new leaders to know not only what not Continued on page 28 27
