" MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISION "

What is "Supervision"? What Do Supervisors Do?

What is "Supervision"?

There are several interpretations of the term "supervision", but typically supervision is the activity carried out by supervisors to oversee the productivity and progress of employees who report directly to the supervisors. For example, first-level supervisors supervise entry-level employees. Depending on the size of the organization, middle-managers supervise first-level supervisors, chief executives supervise middle-managers, etc. Supervision is a management activity and supervisors have a management role in the organization.

What Do Supervisors Do?

Supervision of a group of employees often includes
1. Conducting basic management skills (decision making, problem solving, planning, delegation and meeting management)
2. Organizing their department and teams
3. Noticing the need for and designing new job roles in the group
4. Hiring new employees
5. Training new employees
6. Employee performance management (setting goals, observing and giving feedback, addressing performance issues, firing employees, etc.)
7. Conforming to personnel policies and other internal regulations

CORE SKILLS IN MANAGEMENT & SUPERVISION ===

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Much of what managers and supervisors do is solve problems and make decisions. New managers and supervisors, in particular, often solve problems and decisions by reacting to them. They are "under the gun", stressed and very short for time. Consequently, when they encounter a new problem or decision they must make, they react with a decision that seemed to work before. It's easy with this approach to get stuck in a circle of solving the same problem over and over again. Therefore, as a new manager or supervisor, get used to an organized approach to problem solving and decision making. Not all problems can be solved and decisions made by the following, rather rational approach. However, the following basic guidelines will get you started. Don't be intimidated by the length of the list of guidelines. After you've practiced them a few times, they'll become second nature to you -- enough that you can deepen and enrich them to suit your own needs and nature.

(Note that it might be more your nature to view a "problem" as an "opportunity". Therefore, you might substitute "opportunity" for "problem" in the following guidelines.)

1. Define the problem

This is often where people struggle. They react to what they think the problem is. Instead, seek to understand more about why you think there's a problem.

Defining the problem: (with input from yourself and others)

Ask yourself and others, the following questions:
a. What can you see that causes you to think there's a problem?
b. Where is it happening?
c. How is it happening?
d. When is it happening?
e. With whom is it happening? (HINT: Don't jump to "Who is causing the problem?" When we're stressed, blaming is often one of our first reactions. To be an effective manager, you need to address issues more than people.)
f. Why is it happening?
g. Write down a five-sentence descriptttion of the problem in terms of "The following should be happening, but isn't ..." or "The following is happening and should be: ..." As much as possible, be specific in your descriptttion, including what is happening, where, how, with whom and why. (It may be helpful at this point to use a variety of research methods. See .

Defining complex problems:

a. If the problem still seems overwhelming, break it down by repeating steps a-f until you have descriptttions of several related problems.

Verifying your understanding of the problems:

a. It helps a great deal to verify your problem analysis for conferring with a peer or someone else.

Prioritize the problems:

a. If you discover that you are looking at several related problems, then prioritize which ones you should address first.
b. Note the difference between "important" and "urgent" problems. Often, what we consider to be important problems to consider are really just urgent problems. Important problems deserve more attention. For example, if you're continually answering "urgent" phone calls, then you've probably got a more "important" problem and that's to design a system that screens and prioritizes your phone calls.

Understand your role in the problem:

a. Your role in the problem can greatly influence how you perceive the role of others. For example, if you're very stressed out, it'll probably look like others are, too, or, you may resort too quickly to blaming and reprimanding others. Or, you are feel very guilty about your role in the problem, you may ignore the accountabilities of others.

2. Look at potential causes for the problem

a. It's amazing how much you don't know about what you don't know. Therefore, in this phase, it's critical to get input from other people who notice the problem and who are effected by it.
b. It's often useful to collect input from other individuals one at a time (at least at first). Otherwise, people tend to be inhibited about offering their impressions of the real causes of problems.
c. Write down what your opinions and what you've heard from others.
d. Regarding what you think might be performance problems associated with an employee, it's often useful to seek advice from a peer or your supervisor in order to verify your impression of the problem.
e.Write down a descriptttion of the cause of the problem and in terms of what is happening, where, when, how, with whom and why.

3. Identify alternatives for approaches to resolve the problem

a. At this point, it's useful to keep others involved (unless you're facing a personal and/or employee performance problem). Brainstorm for solutions to the problem. Very simply put, brainstorming is collecting as many ideas as possible, then screening them to find the best idea. It's critical when collecting the ideas to not pass any judgment on the ideas -- just write them down as you hear them. (A wonderful set of skills used to identify the underlying cause of issues is  system thinking.)

4. Select an approach to resolve the problem

When selecting the best approach, consider:
a. Which approach is the most likely to solve the problem for the long term?
b. Which approach is the most realistic to accomplish for now? Do you have the resources? Are they affordable? Do you have enough time to implement the approach?
c. What is the extent of risk associated with each alternative?
 

5. Plan the implementation of the best alternative (this is your action plan)

a. Carefully consider "What will the situation look like when the problem is solved?"
b. What steps should be taken to implement the best alternative to solving the problem? What systems or processes should be changed in your organization, for example, a new policy or procedure? Don't resort to solutions where someone is "just going to try harder".
c. How will you know if the steps are being followed or not? (these are your indicators of the success of your plan)
d. What resources will you need in terms of people, money and facilities?
e. How much time will you need to implement the solution? Write a schedule that includes the start and stop times, and when you expect to see certain indicators of success.
f. Who will primarily be responsible for ensuring implementation of the plan?
g. Write down the answers to the above questions and consider this as your action plan.
h. Communicate the plan to those who will involved in implementing it and, at least, to your immediate supervisor.
(An important aspect of this step in the problem-solving process is continually observation and feedback.)

6. Monitor implementation of the plan

Monitor the indicators of success:
a. Are you seeing what you would expect from the indicators?
b. Will the plan be done according to schedule?
c. If the plan is not being followed as expected, then consider: Was the plan realistic? Are there sufficient resources to accomplish the plan on schedule? Should more priority be placed on various aspects of the plan? Should the plan be changed?

7. Verify if the problem has been resolved or not

One of the best ways to verify if a problem has been solved or not is to resume normal operations in the organization. Still, you should consider:
a. What changes should be made to avoid this type of problem in the future? Consider changes to policies and procedures, training, etc.
b. Lastly, consider "What did you learn from this problem solving?" Consider new knowledge, understanding and/or skills.
c. Consider writing a brief memo that highlights the success of the problem solving effort, and what you learned as a result. Share it with your supervisor, peers and subordinates

Planning

Quick Look at Some Basic Terms

Planning typically includes use of the following basic terms.

NOTE: It's not critical to grasp completely accurate definitions of each of the following terms. It's more important for planners to have a basic sense for the difference between goals/objectives (results) and strategies/tasks (methods to achieve the results).

1. Goals

Goals are specific accomplishments that must be accomplished in total, or in some combination, in order to achieve some larger, overall result preferred from the system, for example, the mission of an organization. (Going back to our reference to systems, goals are outputs from the system.)

2. Strategies or Activities

These are the methods or processes required in total, or in some combination, to achieve the goals. (Going back to our reference to systems, strategies are processes in the system.)

3. Objectives

Objectives are specific accomplishments that must be accomplished in total, or in some combination, to achieve the goals in the plan. Objectives are usually "milestones" along the way when implementing the strategies.

4. Tasks

Particularly in small organizations, people are assigned various tasks required to implement the plan. If the scope of the plan is very small, tasks and activities are often essentially the same.

5. Resources (and Budgets)

Resources include the people, materials, technologies, money, etc., required to implement the strategies or processes. The costs of these resources are often depicted in the form of a budget. (Going back to our reference to systems, resources are input to the system.)

Basic Overview of Typical Phases in Planning

Whether the system is an organization, department, business, project, etc., the basic planning process typically includes similar nature of activities carried out in similar sequence. The phases are carried out carefully or -- in some cases -- intuitively, for example, when planning a very small, straightforward effort. The complexity of the various phases (and their duplication throughout the system) depend on the scope of the system. For example, in a large corporation, the following phases would be carried out in the corporate offices, in each division, in each department, in each group, etc.

NOTE: Different groups of planners might have different names for the following activities and groups them differently. However, the nature of the activities and their general sequence remains the same.

NOTE: The following are typical phases in planning. They do not comprise the complete, ideal planning process.

1. Reference Overall Singular Purpose ("Mission")

or Desired Result from System  planners have in mind (consciously or unconsciously) some overall purpose or result that the plan is to achieve. For example, during strategic planning, it's critical to reference the mission, or overall purpose, of the organization.

2. Take Stock Outside and Inside the System

This "taking stock" is always done to some extent, whether consciously or unconsciously. For example, during strategic planning, it's important to conduct an environmental scan. This scan usually involves considering various driving forces, or major influences, that might effect the organization.

3. Analyze the Situation

For example, during strategic planning, planners often conduct a "SWOT analysis". (SWOT is an acronym for considering the organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats faced by the organization.) During this analysis, planners also can use a variety of assessments, or methods to "measure" the health of systems.

4. Establish Goals

Based on the analysis and alignment to the overall mission of the system, planners establish a set of goals that build on strengths to take advantage of opportunities, while building up weaknesses and warding off threats.

5. Establish Strategies to Reach Goals

The particular strategies (or methods to reach the goals) chosen depend on matters of affordability, practicality and efficiency.

6. Establish Objectives Along the Way to Achieving Goals

Objectives are selected to be timely and indicative of progress toward goals.

7. Associate Responsibilities and Time Lines With Each Objective

Responsibilities are assigned, including for implementation of the plan, and for achieving various goals and objectives. Ideally, deadlines are set for meeting each responsibility.

8. Write and Communicate a Plan Document

The above information is organized and written in a document which is distributed around the system.

9. Acknowledge and Celebrate Accomplishment of the Plan

This step is frequently forgotten, which can lead to increasing frustration and skepticism on the part of those people who are responsible to carry out the plan.

During planning

planners have in mind (consciously or unconsciously) some overall purpose or result that the plan is to achieve. For example, during strategic planning, it's critical to reference the mission, or overall purpose, of the organization.

2. Take Stock Outside and Inside the System

This "taking stock" is always done to some extent, whether consciously or unconsciously. For example, during strategic planning, it's important to conduct an environmental scan. This scan usually involves considering various driving forces, or major influences, that might effect the organization.

3. Analyze the Situation

For example, during strategic planning, planners often conduct a "SWOT analysis". (SWOT is an acronym for considering the organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats faced by the organization.) During this analysis, planners also can use a variety of assessments, or methods to "measure" the health of systems.

4. Establish Goals

Based on the analysis and alignment to the overall mission of the system, planners establish a set of goals that build on strengths to take advantage of opportunities, while building up weaknesses and warding off threats.

5. Establish Strategies to Reach Goals

The particular strategies (or methods to reach the goals) chosen depend on matters of affordability, practicality and efficiency.

6. Establish Objectives Along the Way to Achieving Goals

Objectives are selected to be timely and indicative of progress toward goals.

7. Associate Responsibilities and Time Lines With Each Objective

Responsibilities are assigned, including for implementation of the plan, and for achieving various goals and objectives. Ideally, deadlines are set for meeting each responsibility.

8. Write and Communicate a Plan Document

The above information is organized and written in a document which is distributed around the system.

9. Acknowledge and Celebrate Accomplishment of the Plan

This step is frequently forgotten, which can lead to increasing frustration and skepticism on the part of those people who are responsible to carry out the plan.

Effective Delegation

The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation. Delegation is when supervisors give responsibility and authority to subordinates to complete a task, and let the subordinates figure out how the task can be accomplished. Effective delegation develops people who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive. Managers become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staffs and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.

Delegation is often very difficult for new supervisors, particularly if they have had to scramble to start the organization or start a major new product or service themselves. Many managers want to remain comfortable, making the same decisions they have always made. They believe they can do a better job themselves. They don't want to risk losing any of their power and stature (ironically, they do lose these if they don't learn to delegate effectively). Often, they don't want to risk giving authority to subordinates in case they fail and impair the organization.

However, there are basic approaches to delegation that, with practice, become the backbone of effective supervision and development. Thomas R. Horton, in Delegation and Team Building: No Solo Acts Please (Management Review, September 1992, pp. 58-61) suggests the following general steps to accomplish delegation:

1. Delegate the whole task to one person
This gives the person the responsibility and increases their motivation.

2. Select the right person
Assess the skills and capabilities of subordinates and assign the task to the most appropriate one.

3. Clearly specify your preferred results
Give information on what, why, when, who and where. You might leave the "how" to them. Write this information down.

4. Delegate responsibility and authority -- assign the task, not the method to accomplish it
Let the subordinate complete the task in the manner they choose, as long as the results are what the supervisor specifies. Let the employee have strong input as to the completion date of the project. Note that you may not even know how to complete the task yourself -- this is often the case with higher levels of management.

5. Ask the employee to summarize back to you, their impressions of the project and the results you prefer

6. Get ongoing non-intrusive feedback about progress on the project
This is a good reason to continue to get weekly, written status reports from all direct reports. Reports should cover what they did last week, plan to do next week and any potential issues. Regular employee meetings provide this ongoing feedback, as well.

7. Maintain open lines of communication
Don't hover over the subordinate, but sense what they're doing and support their checking in with you along the way.

8. If you're not satisfied with the progress, don't take the project back
Continue to work with the employee and ensure they perceive the project as their responsibility.

9. Evaluate and reward performance
Evaluate results more than methods. Address insufficient performance and reward successes. See the next major section, "Employee Performance Management."

Effective Delegation

The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation. Delegation is when supervisors give responsibility and authority to subordinates to complete a task, and let the subordinates figure out how the task can be accomplished. Effective delegation develops people who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive. Managers become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staffs and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.

Delegation is often very difficult for new supervisors, particularly if they have had to scramble to start the organization or start a major new product or service themselves. Many managers want to remain comfortable, making the same decisions they have always made. They believe they can do a better job themselves. They don't want to risk losing any of their power and stature (ironically, they do lose these if they don't learn to delegate effectively). Often, they don't want to risk giving authority to subordinates in case they fail and impair the organization.

However, there are basic approaches to delegation that, with practice, become the backbone of effective supervision and development. Thomas R. Horton, in Delegation and Team Building: No Solo Acts Please (Management Review, September 1992, pp. 58-61) suggests the following general steps to accomplish delegation:

1. Delegate the whole task to one person
This gives the person the responsibility and increases their motivation.

2. Select the right person
Assess the skills and capabilities of subordinates and assign the task to the most appropriate one.

3. Clearly specify your preferred results
Give information on what, why, when, who and where. You might leave the "how" to them. Write this information down.

4. Delegate responsibility and authority -- assign the task, not the method to accomplish it
Let the subordinate complete the task in the manner they choose, as long as the results are what the supervisor specifies. Let the employee have strong input as to the completion date of the project. Note that you may not even know how to complete the task yourself -- this is often the case with higher levels of management.

5. Ask the employee to summarize back to you, their impressions of the project and the results you prefer

6. Get ongoing non-intrusive feedback about progress on the project
This is a good reason to continue to get weekly, written status reports from all direct reports. Reports should cover what they did last week, plan to do next week and any potential issues. Regular employee meetings provide this ongoing feedback, as well.

7. Maintain open lines of communication
Don't hover over the subordinate, but sense what they're doing and support their checking in with you along the way.

8. If you're not satisfied with the progress, don't take the project back
Continue to work with the employee and ensure they perceive the project as their responsibility.

9. Evaluate and reward performance
Evaluate results more than methods. Address insufficient performance and reward successes. See the next major section, "Employee Performance Management."

Effective Delegation

The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation. Delegation is when supervisors give responsibility and authority to subordinates to complete a task, and let the subordinates figure out how the task can be accomplished. Effective delegation develops people who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive. Managers become more fulfilled and productive themselves as they learn to count on their staffs and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.

Delegation is often very difficult for new supervisors, particularly if they have had to scramble to start the organization or start a major new product or service themselves. Many managers want to remain comfortable, making the same decisions they have always made. They believe they can do a better job themselves. They don't want to risk losing any of their power and stature (ironically, they do lose these if they don't learn to delegate effectively). Often, they don't want to risk giving authority to subordinates in case they fail and impair the organization.

However, there are basic approaches to delegation that, with practice, become the backbone of effective supervision and development. Thomas R. Horton, in Delegation and Team Building: No Solo Acts Please (Management Review, September 1992, pp. 58-61) suggests the following general steps to accomplish delegation:

1. Delegate the whole task to one person
This gives the person the responsibility and increases their motivation.

2. Select the right person
Assess the skills and capabilities of subordinates and assign the task to the most appropriate one.

3. Clearly specify your preferred results
Give information on what, why, when, who and where. You might leave the "how" to them. Write this information down.

4. Delegate responsibility and authority -- assign the task, not the method to accomplish it
Let the subordinate complete the task in the manner they choose, as long as the results are what the supervisor specifies. Let the employee have strong input as to the completion date of the project. Note that you may not even know how to complete the task yourself -- this is often the case with higher levels of management.

5. Ask the employee to summarize back to you, their impressions of the project and the results you prefer

6. Get ongoing non-intrusive feedback about progress on the project
This is a good reason to continue to get weekly, written status reports from all direct reports. Reports should cover what they did last week, plan to do next week and any potential issues. Regular employee meetings provide this ongoing feedback, as well.

7. Maintain open lines of communication
Don't hover over the subordinate, but sense what they're doing and support their checking in with you along the way.

8. If you're not satisfied with the progress, don't take the project back
Continue to work with the employee and ensure they perceive the project as their responsibility.

9. Evaluate and reward performance
Evaluate results more than methods. Address insufficient performance and reward successes. See the next major section, "Employee Performance Management."

Managing Yourself

• There are many sources of additional information and advice referenced at the end of this section.

Role of New Manager or Supervisor of Often Very Stressful

The experience of a first-time supervisor or manager is often one of the most trying in their career. They rarely have adequate training for the new management role -- they were promoted because of their technical expertise, not because of their managerial expertise. They suddenly have a wide range of policies and other regulations to apply to their subordinates. Work is never "done". They must represent upper management to their subordinates, and their subordinates to upper management. They're stuck in the middle. They can feel very alone.

Guidelines to Manage Yourself

Everyone in management has gone through the transition from individual contributor to manager. Each person finds their own way to "survive". The following guidelines will help you keep your perspective and your health.

1. Monitor your work hours
The first visible, undeniable sign that things are out of hand is that you're working too many hours. Note how many hours you are working per week. Set a limit and stick to that limit. Ask your peers or boss for help.

2. Recognize your own signs of stress
Different people show their stress in different ways. Some people have "blow ups". Some people get very forgetful. Some people lose concentration. For many people, they excel at their jobs, but their home life falls apart. Know your signs of stress. Tell someone else what they are. Ask them to check in with you every two weeks to see how you are doing. Every two weeks, write down how you are doing -- if only for a minute. Stick in it a file marked "%*#)%&!!#$".

3. Get a mentor or a coach
Ideally, your supervisors is a very good mentor and coach. Many people have "been there, done that" and can serve as great mentors to you.

4. Learn to delegate
Delegating is giving others the responsibility and authority to carry out tasks. You maintain the accountability to get them done, but you let others decide how they will carry out the tasks themselves. Delegation is a skill to learn. Start learning it.<

5. Communicate as much as you can
Have at least one person in your life with whom you are completely honest. Hold regular meetings with staff -- all of them in one meeting at least once a month, and meet at least once every two weeks with each of your direct reports. A common problem among new managers and supervisors (or among experienced, but ineffective ones) is not meeting unless there's something to say. There is always something to communicate, even if to say that things are going well and then share the health of your pets. New managers and supervisors often assume that their employees know as much as they do. One of the first signs of an organization in trouble is that communications break down. Err on the side of too much communication, rather than not enough.

6. Recognize what's important from what's urgent -- fix the system, not the problem
One of the major points that experienced manages make is that they've learned to respond to what's important, rather than what's urgent. Phone calls, sick employees, lost paperwork, disagreements between employees all seem to suddenly crop up and demand immediate attention. It can seem like your day is responding to one crises after another. As you gain experience, you quit responding to the crisis and instead respond to the problem that causes the crises. You get an answering machine or someone else to answer the phone. You plan for employees being gone for the day -- and you accept that people get sick. You develop a filing system to keep track of your paperwork. You learn basic skills in conflict management. Most important, you recognize that management is a process -- you never really "finish" your to-do list -- your list is there to help you keep track of details. Over time, you learn to relax.

7. Recognize accomplishments
Our society promotes problem solvers. We solve one problem and quickly move on to the next. The culture of many organizations rewards problem solvers. Once a problem is solved, we quickly move on to the next to solve that one, too. Pretty soon we feel empty. We feel as if we're not making a difference. Our subordinates do, too. So in all your plans, include time to acknowledge accomplishments -- if only by having a good laugh by the coffee machine, do take time to note that something useful was done

=== DESIGNING ORGANIZATION, STAFF & TEAMS ===

Designing Organization and Staff

Overall, the organization and its various groups should be organized in the configuration that reaches business goals in the most effective and efficient fashion. Guidelines in this section will help you ensure your organization and its various groups are organized in the best configuration possible.

NOTE: Sources for additional and advanced information are included at the end of this section.

If You Are In An Already Established Organizations, Then Organizing Will Be Easier if You Have Been ...
 

1. Conducting strategic planning to regularly review the purpose of your organization, its overall goals and who should be doing what to meet those goals
 

2. Using sound principles of employee performance management to regularly review what employees should be doing to produce results, how they're doing toward their results, and what must be done to help them do a better job of achieving results

If You Are In An Already Established Organizations, Then Typical Problems That Suggest Need for Organizing (or Re-Organizing) Are ...
 

There are several problems that seem to keep coming up in small businesses, whether for-profit or nonprofit. These problems include:
 

1. An employee keeps complaining (and you agree) that he or she is overloaded with work.
 

2. Employees complain that their activities overlap.
 

3. An employee indicates (and you agree) that he or she does not have enough work to do during a work day.
 

4. Employees complain that they're reporting to more than one boss, or supervisor.
 

5. An employee complains that their work includes very different tasks. For example, they may have a highly complex and demanding project (e.g., leading strategic planning) and a large routine, recurring task (sorting a great deal of the organization's daily mail).
 

6. Management notices a large amount of employee turnover, that is, employees don't stay long enough with the organization.
 

7. A department, or major function in the organization, has recurring problems.

NOTE: It is not always problems that provoke the need for organizing. For example, if the organization has been conducting strategic planning and produced new goals, these goals may require the organization to reorganize. For example, if the business wants to expand marketshare in a certain region, then the organization may need a new office in that region, more sales people, etc.

General Principles to Remember
 

Whether you're in an already established or a new organization, the activity of organizing and re-organizing can be a major undertaking that has substantial effect on everyone in the organization. Therefore, before we visit some specific guidelines for carrying out change, it's important to keep the following general principles in mind:
 

1. Don't get wrapped up in doing change for the sake of change. Know why you're making the change. Know what overall goal(s) do you hope to accomplish.
 

2. Successful change must involve the strong, ongoing, visible participation of top management.
 

3. Usually there's a champion who initially instigates the change by being visionary, persuasive and consistent.
 

4. A change agent role is usually responsible to translate the vision to a realistic plan and carry out the plan.
 

5. Take care of yourself first. Organization-wide change can be highly stressful.
 

6. The process won't be an "aha!" It will likely not be as bad as you might expect, but won't be as good as you'd prefer either.
 

7. Keep perspective. Keep focused on meeting the needs of your customers.
 

8. Don't seek to control change, but rather to expect it, understand it and manage it.
 

9. Change is usually best carried out as a team-wide effort.
 

10. Communications about the change should be frequent and with all organization members.
 

11. To sustain change, the structures of the organization itself should be modified, including strategic plans, policies and procedures.

General Guidelines for Planning the Organizing
 

Recurring problems often seem to have little to do with the business's overall purpose and goals. However, any attempts at reorganizing may be just fine tuning, or tweaking, if not done with the long term in mind. In fact, the recurring problems may be a symptom of the organization's not having clearly thought out what its overall purpose and goals are. Without visiting the overall purpose and goals, redesign is usually a highly reactive and very short-term fix. Therefore:
 

1. Carefully consider conducting a strategic planning process to guide you through reviewing your organization's purpose.
 

2. Consider using a consultant. Ensure the consultant is highly experienced in organization-wide change. Ask to see references and check the references.
 

3. Plan the change. How do you plan to reach the goals, what will you need to reach the goals, how long might it take and how will you know when you've reached your goals or not? What will you need in resources and how much will they probably cost? Focus on the coordination of the departments/programs in your organization, not on each part by itself. Have someone in charge of the plan.
 

4. Document a plan. Forums should be held for organization members to express their ideas for the plan. They should be able to express their concerns and frustrations as well. Note that plans do change. That's fine, but communicate that the plan has changed and why.
 

5. Include closure in the plan to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments.
 

6. Get as much feedback as practical from employees during planning and implementation of the change, including what they think are the problems and what should be done to resolve them. If possible, work with a team of employees to manage the change.
 

7. Widely communicate the plan, including the need for change. The best approaches to address resistance to change is through increased and sustained communications and education.

Guidelines During Organizational Design
 

One of the most frequent and straightforward means to guide decisions about organizational design is to examine similar businesses, including similar design and nature of services and products. However, management should still undertake careful examination of the design of their business. The following guidelines will help you in this activity.

Lewis, Lewis and Souflee, in Management of Human Service Organizations (Books/Cole, 1991, p. 80) list several key questions developing an organizational design. These questions apply, whether for-profit or nonprofit organization. [Items in brackets "[!!]" were inserted by Carter McNamara.!!]
 

1. What are the primary goals and objectives that the organization should be designed to meet? (Strategic planning will help you determine what these goals are.)
 

2. What continuing activities need to be performed in order to implement the strategies that have been selected as part of the planning process? (Strategic planning will help you determine the answer to this question, too.)
 

3. How can the necessary activities to be divided so that individuals or groups can be assigned responsibility for performing them [that is, organized into separate roles and jobs!!]? [Activities should be grouped into related and similar activities as much as possible so that individuals are working on tasks that are related and similar.!!]
 

4. Once activities have been grouped into specific jobs, what kind of authority and responsibility should be assigned?
 

5. How and by whom should decisions be made? [Attempt to always and ultimately have one person who is singularly responsible for decisions!!].
 

6. How specialized should roles be?
 

7. Who should control the work being performed?
 

8. How can communication and coordination among members of the organization be facilitated?
 

9. How can job and role descripttions be developed to take into account both functions and accountabilities?
 

10. How can coordination and communication with the external social environment be facilitated?

[Also strive to have:
 

11. Every employee ultimately reporting to one person, if possible, and they should know who that person is. Job descripttions are often complained about, but they are useful in specifying who reports to whom.
 

12. Carefully consider the span of control, that is, how many people are reporting to whom. Can each manager really supervise that many people in an effective fashion?
 

13. When done designing the group, always build structure into the new design through the use of organizational charts, job descripttions, policies and procedures that document the design and who is doing what in it.

=== === STAFFING === ===

Defining a New Job Role

1. Recognizing the need for the new role
Often, managers realize the need for a new organizational role when employees continue to report being short-handed and mention the same tasks are not being done. Ideally, planning for a new role is done during strategic planning or when a new product or service is added to the organization.

2. Draft a job descripttion

Management should draft a job descripttion which specifies the general responsibilities of the position along with some of the specific duties to be conducted by the role, the title for the position, and any special skills, training or credentials required. (Do not seek job descripttions from other organizations and merely adopt those. Your open position is unique and job descripttions are very important so you should develop your own -- the process of completing the job descripttion is usually enlightening.) Note which job activities are essential and which are non-essential. Add whom the position reports to and note if the position is full-time or part-time. Consider if the position requires any special physical skills (this may be important when considering accommodations to candidates with physical disabilities and effects from the Americans with Disabilities Act). If the position must be filled by a paid employee (see the next paragraph to consider if a volunteer or consultant is more appropriate), consider if the position is exempt or non-exempt (exempt from being paid overtime). Usually, highly skilled and/or professional roles are exempt, while entry-level positions are non-exempt and will be paid for over-time. Invite employees to review and edit the drafted job descripttion. Consider including a six-month probationary period for the new position and if you do so, be sure to update your personnel policies to describe your organization's use of the probationary conditions. A probationary period allows you to fire an employee during the six months if you have concerns and greatly decreases the chances you will be sued for wrongful termination.

3. Would a volunteer (in the case of nonprofits) or consultant be appropriate?
 

At this point, consider if the new position might be filled by a volunteer or consultant. If the activities associated with the role are highly critical for an extended duration, e.g., over six months, and require both critical and general skills, you may be better off to count on hiring an employee. On the other hand, if the role's activities are entry-level and if you are not sure that the position is really needed for the long term, consider getting volunteers to fill the role. If the role requires highly skilled personnel for a fixed duration, consider hiring a consultant

4. Determine the approximate cost of the new role

Estimate the salary range for the new position. Set this range by talking to other organizations with similar product or services, or by scanning classified sections of newspapers with ads for similar roles. Finalize how much the position will cost the organization by adding "fringe" to the salary. For planning purposes, fringe might be estimated at 40% of the salary. Fringe includes costs of benefits planned for the new role, including health and dental and life insurance, and retirement benefits, along with required unemployment taxes, worker's compensation and any pension plans. Note that, depending on the state in which you live, you may be required to required to pay certain employment taxes for part-time people, often if they are at or over half-time. Additional costs of the position result from training, equipment, rental of space, postage, copying, etc. (You should develop a compensation program, with policies that outline the procedure for determination of salary and benefits.

5. Get feedback and authorization from the board (in the case of corporations)

You may want to work with the board chair to prepare for communication of the new job to the board. Propose the new position to the board by attaching a proposal letter to the drafted job descripttion along with descripttion of how the position will be funded and sending it to all board members for their review before the next board meeting. At the board meeting, invite open discussion and questions about the new role. Seek their authorization for the new position.

6. Finalize the job descripttion

Update the job descripttion with relevant feedback from the boar (in the case of corporations). It's important that the job descripttion be as accurate as possible because it is the basis for determining initial compensation, conveying the role to the new employee and conducting regular performance appraisals. Be sure to note the version of the job descripttion by including the date on the bottom. The job descripttion should be reviewed and updated annually, usually by the employee and supervisor during the performance review cycle (described later on in this section).

Hiring (Advertising, Screening and Selecting)

1. Advertise the position
Post ads in classified sections of local major and neighborhood newspapers. In the ads, include the job title, general responsibilities, minimum skills and/or education required, whom they should send a resume to if they are interested and by when. Consider having a closing date after which you won't accept resumes. Mention the role to customers. Send cover letters and job descripttions to professional organizations. Be sure to mention the role to all employees to see if they have any favorite candidates.

2. Current employees should be able to apply for the job.

Considerations in hiring them for the new role will have to include the impact on the organization if the employee leaves behind a critical and unfilled role in the organization. Some organizations may elect to give internal candidates the first shot at the job.

3. Screen resumes

When screening resumes, note the candidate's career objective -- or the lack of it. If not specified, the candidate may not have considered what they want to do in the future, which may impact their commitment to your new role. Note if they stayed at jobs long or left quickly. Are there holes in their work history? Note their education and training. Is it appropriate for the new role? Consider what capabilities and skills might be evidenced in their past and current work activities. If you have lots of resumes, it helps greatly to enter in a word processor, the "highlights" and "concerns" information about each candidate; otherwise, after about 10 resumes, they all look the same. Having information online helps you keep perspective and you can go back later and have a strong overview of the candidates. Consider routing resumes past key employees to collect their rankings. Interview all candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. (At this point, be sure that you're not excluding candidates because of unfair biases.)

4. Interview candidates

Send the job descripttion to candidates before they come to the interview meeting. While interviewing candidates, always apply the same questions to all candidates to ensure fairness. All questions should be in regard to performing the duties of the job. Ask about their compensation needs and expected or needed benefits. Attempt to ask open-ended questions, i.e., avoid "yes-no" questions. Talk for at most 25% of the time -- for the rest, listen. Don't rely on your memory -- ask permission from the interviewee to take notes. Find out when they can start if offered the job. Consider having multiple people at the interview; although this can be intimidating to the interviewee, this practice can ensure them a much more objective and fair presentation. Have the same interviewers in all of the interviews if possible. Consider asking some challenging, open-ended questions, such as "What skills do you bring to this job?", "What concerns do you have about filling this role?", "What was your biggest challenge in a past job and how did you meet it?" Don't ask questions about race, nationality, age, gender, disabilities (current or previous), marital status, spouses, children and their care, criminal records or credit records. Have all interviewers share/record their impressions of the candidate soon after the interview meeting. Explain to the candidate that you'll be getting back to them soon, and always do this. Ask if you can get and check any references. Always check references and share them with the interviewers. Be sure to tell candidates of any relevant personnel policies terms, such as probationary periods. (The best way to deal with a poor performer is not to hire him or her in the first place. It is often wise to have a probationary period of, e.g., six months, wherein if the employee does not meet the responsibilities of the position, you can terminate the employee.) If practical, look into the applicant's background to ascertain if they have a criminal record.

5. Select the candidate

Usually, this is not as easy as one would like because two or three candidates come in close. Have a highly focused meeting with all interviewers. Have each suggest their favorite candidate. If there is disagreement, focus discussion to identify the one or two areas in which interviewers disagree about the candidates. Then have each interviewer explain their impressions. At this point, interviewers usually come to consensus and agree on one candidate.

6. If there does not seem to be suitable candidate

Consider if the job requirements are too stringent or are an odd mix. For example, you might not find someone who's highly interested in a certain technical skill or service and who also shows strong interest in general skills. Reconfigure the job so that required skills and training are somewhat similar and the role becomes more standard. Or, consider hiring the candidate who came in closest and plan for dedicated training to bring their skills to the needed levels. Or, re-advertise the position. Consider getting advice from a human resources professional (at this point, your need for them is quite specific, so they might provide services on a pro bono basis). Or, consider hiring a consultant on a short-term basis, but only as a last resort as this may be quite expensive.

7. If everyone turns down the job

The best strategy is to ask the candidates why they turned the job down. Usually, you'll hear the same concerns, e.g., the pay is too low or the benefits incomplete, the organization seems confused about what it wants from the role, the interview process seemed hostile or contentious, etc. Reconvene the interviewers and consider what you heard from the candidates. Recognize what went wrong and correct the problem. Call back your favorite candidates, admit the mistake and what you did, and why you'd like to make an offer to them again.

8. Offer letter

If they accept an offer, always follow-up with an offer letter, specifying the compensation, benefits, and starting date and reference an attached job descripttion. Ask them to sign a copy of the offer letter and return it to you.

9. Start a personnel file
Include in the file, the signed offer letter, tax withholding forms, the job descripttion and any benefits forms.

Building Teams

Management experts assert that most work (and most learning) occurs in teams. Therefore, it's important to know how to design, build and support highly effective teams.

NOTE: There are several major "breakthroughs" in how teams are designed and carried out. These activities can be done. These breakthroughs are in regard to the extent of independence of the teams, producing, for example, self-organized teams, self-directed teams and self-managed teams.

NOTE: Additional and advanced information is referenced at the end of this section.

Major Types of Teams (or Groups)

There are many types of teams. The type used depends very much on the nature of the results the team is to accomplish.

Fomal and informal teams

are "official" parts of the overall organization, assigned to a major, ongoing function, for example, quality management, patient care, etc. Management appoints formal teams. Informal teams are usually loosely organized groups of people who volunteer to come together to address a non-critical, short-term purpose.

Committees

are organized to address, major ongoing tasks in an organization and membership is based on position, for example, committees in boards of directors, grievance committees, etc.

Problem solving teams

These teams are formed to address a particular, major problem currently faced by the organization. Often, their overall goal is to provide a written report that includes recommendations for solving the problem. Membership is comprised of people who perceive and experience the problem, as well as those who can do something about it.

Self-directed and self-managed teams

These increasingly used types of teams afford members great latitude in how they achieve the overall results preferred from the team. For example, they may select their leader who serves for a limited time and purpose, depending on the particular point in the group's process. This type of team is used especially when the team is working in a complex, rapidly changing environment.

Stages of Team Development

It helps a great deal to have some basic sense for the life of a team. Teams go through several major phases including the following:

Forming:

Members first get together. Individually, they consider "What am I here for?", "Who else is here", "Who am I comfortable with?", etc. During this stage, it's important to get members involved, including to introduce themselves to each other. The team may require clear leadership to facilitate clarity and comfort for involvement of members.

Storming:

During this stage, members are beginning to voice their individual differences, trying for join with others who share the same beliefs, trying to jockey for position in the group. Therefore, it's important for members to continue to be highly involved, including voicing their concerns in order to feel represented and understood. The team leader should focus on clarity of views, achieving consensus (or commonality of views) and recording decisions.

Norming:

In this stage, members begin to share common commitment to the purpose of the group, including its overall goals and how it will reach those goals. The team leader should focus on achieving clarity of roles, structure and process of the group.

Performing:

In this stage, the team is "humming". Members are actively participating in the team process in order to achieve the goals of the group and its organization. During this stage, the style of leadership becomes more indirect as members take on stronger participation and involvement in the group process.

Closing and Celebration:

At this stage, it's clear to members and their organization that the team has achieved its overall purpose (or a major milestone along the way). It's critical to acknowledge this point in the life of the team, lest members feel unfulfilled and skeptical about future team efforts.

Guidelines for Designing Teams

1. Set clear goals for the results to be produced by the team
The goals should be designed to be "SMARTER", that is, be specific, measurable, acceptable to members, realistic, and have a time frame to be started and stopped, extend the capabilities of members and provide reward for their accomplishment. As much as possible, include input from other members of the organization when designing and wording these goals. Goals might be, for example, "produce a project report that specifies project plan, schedule and budget to develop and test a complete employee performance management system within the next year". Write these goals down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

2. Set clear goals for the effectiveness of the team process
 

The goals should also be designed to be "SMARTER". Goals might be, for example, attain 90% participation of all members during the first 6 weeks of weekly attendance, achieve 90% satisfaction ratings among members, each person takes at least one turn at facilitating the group, meetings start and stop on time, etc. Write these goals down for eventual communication to all team members. Write these goals down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

3. Determine time frames for commencing and terminating the team, if applicable
 

Write these times down for eventual communication to and discussion with all team members.

4. Determine the type of team
 

Various types of teams have various purposes. Consider use of permanent teams, committees, self-directed teams, problem solving teams, etc. (See additional information provided at the end of this section.)

5. Determine the membership of the group
 

Consider the extent of expertise needed to achieve the goals, including areas of knowledge and skills. Include at least one person who has skills in facilitation and meeting management. Attempt to include sufficient diversity of values and perspectives to ensure robust ideas and discussion. A critical consideration is availability -- members should have the time to attend every meeting.

6. Determine the structure of the group
 

Structure includes the number of people in the group, how often they will meet and when and who will be the leader of the group.

7. Determine the process of the group
 

Depending on the nature of the results to be produced by the group, the process might be focused on open discussion, action planning, problem solving and decision making, generating recommendations, etc.

8. Identify any needs for training and materials
 

For example, members might benefit from brief overview of the stages of development of a team, receive training and packets of materials in regard to their goals and the structure and process of their team, etc.

9. Identify the costs to provide necessary resources for the team
 

Consider the cost of paying employees to attend the meeting, trainers and/or consultants, room rental, office supplies, etc.

10. Plan the first meeting
 

In the first meeting, communicate the goals of the team, why each member was selected, the overall benefit of the goals to the organization, the time frame for the team effort, who will lead the team (at least, initially), when the team might meet and where, etc. Have this information written down to hand out to each member.

11. Early on, plan team building activities to support trust and strong working relationships among members
 

Team building activities can include, for example, a retreat in which members introduce themselves, exercises in which members help each other solve a short problem or meet a specific and achievable goal, extended period in which members can voice their concerns and frustrations about their team assignments, etc.

12. Support team meetings and processes
 

At this point, it's critical that supervisors remain available to provide support and resources as needed. Monitor that team goals are being met. Provide ongoing encouragement and visibility to members. One of the most important forms of support a supervisor can provide is coordination with other supervisors to ensure that team members are freed up enough to attend team meetings.

=== === TRAINING === ===

Orienting New Employees

Develop an employee orientation checklist and consider the following activities for inclusion on the list. The following activities should be conducted by the employee's supervisor.

1. Before the employee begins employment, send them a letter welcoming them
to the organization, verifying their starting date and providing them a copy of the employee policies and procedures manual. Note that you'll dedicate time for them to discuss with manual with you later.

2. When the employee begins employment, meet with them
to 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).

3. Show them the facilities,
including 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.

4. Schedule any needed computer training,
including use of passwords, overview of software and documentation, location and use of peripherals, and where to go to get questions answered.

5. Review any policies and/or procedures about use of facilities.

6. Assign an employee to them as their "buddy"
who remains available to answer any questions.

7. Take them to lunch on the first day
and invite other employees along.

8. Meet with them at the end of the day
to hear any questions or comments.

9. Meet with the new employee during the first few days
of employment to review the job descripttion 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 goals for the position, e.g., goals from the strategic plan. In the same meeting, explain the performance review procedure and provide them a copy of the performance review document.

10. Have one-on-one meetings with the new employee on a weekly basis for the first six weeks,
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 their supervisor.