Kevin Burns Blog

Frontline supervisors are the backbone of any organization. They are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and overseeing the performance and well-being of their employees. They are the link between the management and the frontline workers, and they have a direct impact on the quality and outcomes of the work.

My new book, The CareFull Supervisor: The Tools to Succeed and Become the Supervisor Employees Want to Have is based on the idea that supervisors should be full of care for their employees as human beings, not just as workers. It is a way of leading and managing that focuses on compassion, communication, and collaboration.

Being a supervisor is not an easy task. You have to manage multiple responsibilities, deal with various challenges, and lead your team to achieve the desired goals. But how do you do it in a way that is not only effective but also caring?

I want to discuss a concept, not just straight out of the movies, but deeply rooted in supervisor roles. It's about how to better understand your role in the grand narrative of your team.

Management guru, Tom Peters, at a live event, was extolling the virtues of training managers in proper leadership and management skills. One senior manager asked, “What if we train them, and they leave? He responded, “What if you don’t train them, and they stay?” Training in leadership skills is a gamble. Leadership training is not proprietary. It is personal. If a supervisor decides to leave, the training leaves with them. Leadership skills are personal skills; as are skills in communication, coaching, empowerment, career development, team building, motivation, caring, and mentoring. But they are the skills that employees expect supervisors to have.