Staff training is something that every business needs to think about. Along with training the junior members, you need to ensure supervisors receive appropriate training. A supervisor needs to know how to manage the people under them effectively. And you need to ensure they meet the experience and knowledge requirements you ask of them. Your hiring or promotion process will help you find the right people. But there’s more to it if you want supervisors who are knowledgeable and in control. A combination of workshops and on-the-job training will help bring them up to speed.
Start with the Basics
Before launching into anything more in-depth, start with simple things. New supervisors need to know all the essential information about their role and team. You should begin by handing them all the crucial things they need to know. These range from the names of their junior staff members to contact information and their new job description. Make sure they have access to the tools they need. They could include relevant information such as passwords and codes for any software they’ll need to make use of. You also have to make sure they can use all the tools they need to do their job.
Cover Policies and Procedures
You’ll have to go over the company’s policies and procedures, as well as any manuals for work activities. You can sit down together and go through them, highlighting anything of particular importance. You can talk about the day to day operation of the area they’ll be supervising and what procedures they will need most on a daily basis. Discuss what their authority does and doesn’t allow them to do, and when they will need to gain authorization for any actions. Go over how they can communicate with both their juniors and their superiors too.
Help Supervisors Get to Know People
It’s essential for supervisors to be able to connect with their team on a human level. They need to know more than their names and their responsibilities so that everyone can work together more efficiently. Make sure communication channels are open from the beginning by helping new supervisors to get to know their team. Choosing the right person for the job is a big part of this. But you can also assist by helping them understand how to deal with people’s concerns and questions. Staff want to know that their supervisor is there to help them, not just scrutinize their work.
Offer Continual Training and Monitoring
Like with all staff members, training for your supervisors shouldn’t end right after hiring. Continuing to monitor them and offer further training is important too. For one thing, supervisors need to keep up with what their team is doing. For example, if you have production workers taking injection molding seminars, supervisors should take them too. You should try to have regular process meetings and check up on your new supervisors to ensure that you are helping them to progress and flourish.
Whether you promote someone within the company or hire an outsider, training your supervisors properly is crucial. If you develop a training plan, you can get it right every time.
