Best Practices Manual 1

Best Practices Manual Quintina Richmond Axia College of University of Phoenix MGT 210 Supervision and Leadership Vanessa Paskaitis August 27, 2007

Best Practices Manual 2 Best Practices Manual for Supervisors What is considered a good supervisor? That may be hard to simplify, but a good supervisor creates an environment where employees succeed in all they do. A supervisor should be capable of orchestrating and controlling work rather than doing it themselves. Mainly a supervisor should be able to demonstrate communication skills, determine effective orientation and training methods, improve productivity, conduct performance appraisals, resolve conflict, and improve employee relations. This manual is equipped to properly prepare you to use best practices as a supervisor. Demonstrating Communication Skills Effective communication skills are is the key to a good relationship with your employees. Without effective communication skills you are destined for failure. Most times when you are communicating you are communicating orally with your employees. One of the best communicating skills to learn is listening. Listening is an essential part of good communication. Good supervisors listen when employees want to talk. When listening to the employee make them the most important person in the room. Be sure to give feedback by clarifying key points, this confirms your understanding and it makes the employee feel like their concerns are important. Communication forms a channel to convey the companys objectives and practices, and in turn, helps the company understand the needs and thought of employees. This process helps establish common ground to build strong relationships and develop teamwork (Acer, 2007). Determining Effective Orientation and Training Methods

Best Practices Manual 3 A successful orientation program will have an instant and lasting impression that is significant to establishing prosperous and productive, working relationships. The new employees first interactions of you and your department should be a positive impression. Spending time planning for the new employees first days and weeks on the job will make an instant and lasting impression of a successful future. During the primary introduction do not jam all orientation information in to one long drawn out session. Several briefings of an hour or two are good. Allow new persons to grasp and retain the concepts during orientation and training, especially detailed information before moving on to something else. Remember there are limits to what any new employee can be expected to understand and retain during the initial induction session (Alaska Department of Labor, 2004). Characteristics of Successful Orientation Programs The new employees introduction should have systematic attention from management and human resource personnel. Be sure to conduct a follow-up session with the new employee on a daily basis for the first few weeks. The new employee can have question, concerns, or problems may have developed since initial introduction and may require further discussion .This will establish a working relationship between employee and employer. An effective orientation should help the new employee: A sense of security within the new employee. Make successful adjustments to the new job. Understand their roll and how they fit into the organization. Achieve goals and shorten the learning curve.

Best Practices Manual 4 Develop a positive working relationship by building a foundation of knowledge about the companys mission, objectives, policies, organization structure, and functions (Berkeley, 2007). Understanding good customer service. Understands company policy, procedures, and accepts the companys ways of doing things. Knowledgeable of available help on the job. Clearly understand the terms of employment and working conditions (Alaska Department of Labor, 2004). Before The Employee Begins Work Before a new employee begins work allow time to make preparations for you and the employee. Develop an orientation checklist and engage in the following: Send the new employee a welcome letter verifying their start date, time, companys physical address and a contact number. Inform everyone in the department that a new person will be starting employment and what their job responsibilities will be. Have the staff to welcome them and give their support. Prepare task for the first day. Schedule any needed computer training. Make copies of their job description and the companys organization chart. Prepare benefits package if available. Identify staff member to buddy up with new person. Put together a list of key people that the new person needs to meet with.

Best Practices Manual 5 Request for a building pass, parking pass and ID if necessary. Plan to have lunch with the new employee (Berkeley, 2007). Employees First Day Once the employee has been hired the orientation program beings. This is handled by both human resources department and supervisor. If there is no human resource department the supervisor normally handles the orientation alone. It is critical that you have a checklist to be sure that you cover everything in orientation. Importantly leave room for questions. Detailed information that needs to be covered in orientation are: On the employees first day of work give them a warm welcome and make them feel comfortable. Review objectives and philosophy of the organization. Review the companys history. Explain the companys operations and levels of authority. Review what is expected of the new worker: attitude, reliability, initiative, business etiquette, emotional maturity, and personal appearance. Introduce them to staff and discuss your plan for the day. Give the employee a tour of the facilities, including emergency and safety procedures. Why the company needs the employee. City, state, and federal laws. Promotional opportunities. Conditions of employment, punctuality, attendance, conduct, hours of work, overtime, and termination (Rue & Byars, 2004).

Best Practices Manual 6 Functions of management. Have employee sign necessary personnel forms. Review telephone, fax, e-mail, and internet use. Give and review the Employees Policy and Procedures manual. Benefits, salary, job security, insurance, recreational facilities, employee activities, rest periods, time-recording system, holidays, vacation, sick leave, leave of absence, tuition reimbursement, and pension. Review performance evaluation forms, dates, and procedures. If there is a probation period, discuss what the probation is all about, how long it is, and when the employees performance will be evaluated (Rue & Byars, 2004). Third Day, Training of New Employee In order to have a lasting impression and have an excellent employee the orientation and training process needs to be broken down over a few days. On the third day you will want to begin the training process by: Review the job description, goals, and organizational charts with the employee. Begin training with the new persons present capabilities before going on to any new assignments. Ask about actual experience and expertise rather than going off of the new persons job application. Demonstration Proceed step-by-step by showing and explaining the work to be performed. Take your time and make sure the employee understand. Most important be sure to answer all questions.

Best Practices Manual 7 Application Give the new employee opportunity to attempt the procedure. Acknowledge the mistakes made and let those be a guide to further training and clarification (Alaska Department of Labor, 2004). Arrange for a brief meeting with the employee and the assigned buddy to go over activities scheduled for the first week. Check with the employee throughout the day to see how well their progress is coming. Evaluating The orientation and training program may be monitored all through the year for a year end evaluation of its complete process. This information allows the company to determine whether or not the program needs improvement. The best way to find out if the orientation and training system is working is from feedback of the new employees, for instance: Meet with the employee to review job description and performance standards. Request for further training and support if needed. Discuss the employees overall impressions. Unidentified surveys or questionnaires completed by all new employees. Thoroughly meet with number of selected new employees (Alaska Department of Labor, 2004). Methods to Avoid Effective orientation and training can make the difference whether or not a new employee succeeds or fail their job position.

Best Practices Manual 8 It is critical that the new employee has a level of comfort this can avoid losing a good worker. General orientation and training techniques to stay away from are: Putting a lot of emphasis on paper work. This approach dampens the welcome which can make the employee feel like they are not apart of the company. Suffocating the new employee. Giving the new employee too much information at a time will make the employee feel overwhelmed and smother. Running through the overview causes a hurried and minimal orientation and training process. When placing the employee to work immediately will cause the employee to not succeed or drown. This demeanor result in the employee feeling neglected, untrained and not wanting to pursue the employment opportunity. Insignificant assignments, is where the employee is given several trivial task to carry out by learning to do them on their own from beginning to end. This results in the employee feeling unchallenged and worthless (Alaska Department of Labor, 2004). A companys policies are only effective as a supervisor enforces them. Supervisors are the ones who can make the difference between succeeding and failing in the way they work among other people in a given job assignment and the way they provide leadership. A supervisor should be able to organize work, delegate work fairly, coordinate, and maintain composure and leadership. The quality of supervision can be improved in a number of ways such as school or private agencies. Supervisor should also be informed and reminded of the importance of complying with disciplinary actions in their department. Improving Productivity for Teams

Best Practices Manual 9 Productivity increases substantially when employees work together as a team. Teams have more input and are more creative than one person alone. In order to have a productive team select team members who are qualified, trustworthy, and who want to make accomplishments. Next you want to get team members to work with you by: Setting department goals. Communicate openly. Set good examples and be consistent. Encourage group participation. Remove obstacles that hinder production. Put affirmative discipline into practice. Be receptive towards individual needs. Support the group when needed. Reward performance by giving rewards that make a difference (Rue, 2004). Conduct Performance Appraisals Performance appraisals can be an effective tool for improving attitude and behavioral changes if they are integrated into a day to day culture of communication. The results of a performance appraisal shouldnt leave you feeling like you just checked something off of the to-do-list and the person being evaluated feeling angry or frustrated. Applying these steps can make a big difference: Use feedback as a part of daily conversation and not only for annual discussions. Do not use technology to communicate with your personnel.

Best Practices Manual 10 Avoid performance reviews where feedback will be unexpected. Information conveyed during review process should never be a surprise. Make criticism of problem areas clear and come up with a solution that will work. Do not focus the entire appraisal on problem areas. Clearly and encourage employees strong points (Rikleen, 2007). Resolving Conflict A part of a supervisor job to make decision and those decisions affect the work of others. In order for a supervisor to make the right decisions they must follow the guidelines provided by top management. Supervisors must be able to do the following: 1. Recognize problems. Supervisors should be alert to indications and symptoms of problems before they occur. 2. Defining the problem. Identifying the problem can be the hardest part of decision making. In order to properly define the problem the supervisor must portray what is exactly causing the problems. 3. Collect facts. By recognizing the symptoms, time, location, and the extent of the problem the supervisor should be able to pin point the exact problem. 4. Identify possible alternatives. After defining the problem identify all possible solutions. Be able to judge what would happen with alternative and the effects on the problem. 5. Gather and organize facts concerning identified alternatives. 6. Evaluate possible alternatives. Compare cost, time, expected end results, and how the alternative will affect other areas of the business.

Best Practices Manual 11 7. Choose and implement the best alternative. 8. Follow-up. Improving Employee Relations In order to improve employee relations is to find out what employees actually think about their job. One way of finding out this information is through Employee Opinion Survey (EOS). This service can give insight on how employees feel or think about issues within the company. For instance, the survey lets the employees know that you are taking an actual interest in their views and ideas. Also, this will help to identify strengths and weaknesses in management performance, policy and procedures which in turn will improve operational efficiency. A companys employees are there most valuable asset. Having happy employees keeps turnover low and promotes a better productive value for the income paid to the employees (SCM, 2004). Successful supervisors lead with common sense and know how to apply communication skills. A good supervisor gives credit and rewards good work but does not put up with poor job performance or improper behavior. As a supervisor you must be accountable for your behavior and admit to your wrong doings and be willing to make changes necessary to be a better supervisor. Most importantly, supervisors keep employees satisfied with high moral and productivity.

Best Practices Manual 12 Reference Acer. (2007). Employee relations. Retrieved August 9, 2007 from, www.global.acer.com Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. (2004). Alaska Employee Handbook. Retrieved July 19, 2007 from http://www.labor.state.ak.us/employer/aeh.pdf. Berkeley University of California. (2007). Guide zto managing human resources. Retrieved July 19, 2007 from, http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/guide/orient.htm. Rikleen, L.S. (June, 2007). Management corner. Time to Reappraise Performance Appraisals. Retrieved August 9, 2007 from, http://content.ebscohost.com Rue, L.W., & Byars, L.L. (2004) Supervision: Key link to productivity (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. SCM Marketing, Inc. (2004). Improve employee relations. Retrieved August 9, 2007 from, http://www.scm-inc.net/whatwedo.html