Thrown Into Training

When I teach classes such as Introduction to Supervisory Skills, I have the participants introduce themselves and state why they want to be a manager or supervisor. Here are the typical answers:

• Money
• Money
• To help people
• Money
• To change things
• Money
• Money
• Money

I thank them for their honesty.  And then I give them some back:  You should not become a supervisor or a manage in order to make more money.

First of all, supervising and managing people is never about the money.  Obviously, it’s a bump in pay.  But if that’s the only thing that you want out of it,you are not meant for this job.  That bump in pay is usually taking you from being an hourly with overtime options employee to a salaried employee, which means your job is 24/7.

Supervising people is about wanting to lead, because you have a vision for what you want the team to be.  Supervising is about wanting to develop the people underneath you, helping them become their personal best.  And supervising is about dealing with the personnel issues which come your way:

1. I don’t like Susie.  I don’t want to sit next to her anymore.
2. Stan’s choice of music is not the same as mine.  Please outlaw radios across the board.
3. Jenny and I were dating, but now we’re not.  Can she be transferred?
4. My mother has to have surgery.  I need to be off every other day for the next six months.
5. I just found out my husband is cheating on me.  We’re getting a divorce.  I’m scared.

A range of emotions will be presented to you by your employees every day.  And you have to be able to adjust your management style to each individual, based on what that person needs from you.The higher you go in management, the more your life becomes about personnel issues, not the day to day running of the team.

So how do you make money without going into management?  Companies need to be creative and utilize different levels of employees, i.e. Junior Developer vs. Senior Developer.  Another example is the Project Manager:  Project Managers often don’t have people reporting to them, but they have the pay and some of the authority of a supervisory role.

Ask yourself:  do I like dealing with people?  If the answer is no, please don’t force yourself into a position just for the money.  You will make yourself and your future employees unhappy.  Talk to your own supervisor and find out if there is a way to implement a level system, so that you can still be rewarded for all of the hard work you do.

Part of being emotionally intelligent is realizing your strengths AND your weaknesses.  There is a saying that a duck can’t climb a tree, no matter how much he wants to.  Some things about your personality and temperament are set – unless you really want to go against your own grain, you are not going to climb that tree.  Figure out where you excel, and build on those skills.

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