Build supervisory people skills.
Give supervisors the tools to succeed.
Grow more long-term leaders.
You run a solid operation with good equipment, proven processes, and safety standards that work. But your supervisors are learning how to manage people through trial and error, on your best employees.
Problems that should be solved by the supervisor keep landing on your desk. Your safety program isn't getting through to people. Good people walk out for competitors where those supervisors know how to connect with them.
Retention - Good people don't quit companies. They quit supervisors who don't know how to value them. Every exit interview that says "better opportunity" is actually a supervisor problem in disguise.
Productivity - Same equipment. Same processes. Wildly different output depending on who's supervising. That gap isn't mechanical. It's people-skills.
Safety - Compliance gets you the minimum. A supervisor who knows how to lead people gets you a team that looks out for each other without being told. That's the difference between a safety program and a safety culture.
And at least a dozen more metrics.
More than 1,000 industrial supervisors have been through this program. We know what works and what doesn't. The solution isn't hope. It's real people-skills coaching.
Build People Skills Foundation
Your supervisors learn the seven skills employees actually want from them (technical skills rank last).
Build Confidence
They discover how to coach and motivate instead of just giving orders, creating teams that solve problems independently.
Supervisors Lead With Authenticity
Every supervisor learns new people-skills so they can lead as their authentic selves.
Weeks 1-8: The Intensive Foundation (60 days)
Your supervisors go through our 7 CareFull Supervisor modules - the core training that changes how they see their role. They get daily video lessons (under 10 minutes each) delivered by email so they can watch whenever and wherever they are. Then, we supplement their learning with 7 weekly live coaching Zoom calls with Kevin Burns.
Weeks 9-58: Ongoing Support
After the intensive 60-day learning, supervisors continue with twice-weekly support. They're building habits, not just learning concepts. We set a weekly mindset on Mondays (and review the learning materials, latest trends and discuss business books that can help), and then we focus on getting employee buy-in to safety every Friday with a new video from the 52 Benefits of Safety program for frontline employees.
No Operational Disruption
All video lessons are under 10 minutes. All Zoom coaching sessions are scheduled around your operations and schedule. Supervisors don't have to leave their teams alone for days at a time - they learn while they work. Moments after learning, they can be front-facing their teams, putting into practice what they just learned.
Seriously, where are you going to find another program designed like this without building it yourself? And why would you build it yourself when you could start your team of supervisors next Monday?
PeopleWork Supervisor is not always the right fit for every company.
Here's the honest list.
This was such an eye-opener for me in the way I approach people, and my attitude. This is some of the best training I've ever been involved with.
For 30 years I've been in some type of management position and have seen myself in a lot of the segments discussed in this program. But now I have new tools and techniques to get better results.
I think it's a great program. I wish I'd had it earlier in my career. I will use these tools on a daily basis.
Module 1: Know Your Role
Your supervisors discover the seven skills employees actually want from them (technical skills rank dead last). They learn why being a "gunslinger" who handles everything alone destroys team cohesiveness, and how to become the example they'd want to work for.
Module 2: Become Premium-Brand
Your supervisors understand they already have a brand - the question is whether employees see them as "budget-brand" or "premium-brand." They learn what makes the difference and how to build engagement that keeps good people around.
Module 3: Focus Down, Not Up
Your supervisors stop trying to impress you and start focusing on their team. They learn why people don't leave jobs - they leave supervisors - and get three things they can do immediately to be more effective.
Module 4: Create Elite Teams
Your supervisors learn what separates elite teams from ordinary ones: certainty and trust. They learn the three types of supervisors and why only one creates elite-level performance. They get tools for setting standards, identifying team strengths, and building mission focus.
Module 5: Selling the Safety Brand
Your supervisors learn how to get genuine buy-in to safety instead of just compliance. They learn how to "sell" safety by getting permission to help people be better, and what benefits employees actually get from working safely.
Module 6: Motivating Your Team
Your supervisors learn what really motivates people (hint: it's not money). They learn the six things more important to employees than pay, and how to use safety meetings the way sports teams use pre-game talks - to build buy-in and enthusiasm.
Module 7: The Supervisor As Coach
Your supervisors learn how to replace chasing people with coaching and mentoring. They learn why consistency builds trust, why conversations matter more than commands, and four things they should be talking about in safety meetings to make them actually work.
And your frontline supervisors can't move them without the right people-skills.
Every metric your company measures (safety, retention, productivity, quality, engagement) is touched by your supervisors every single day.
Without the skills to lead people, they're guessing. And your employees are paying for it.
Find out how much your unskilled supervisors are costing your organization today. Click the Hope Promotions Calculator button below.
It's a year-long employee engagement program. 52 short videos, one per week, each giving your employees a specific reason to buy in to safety. It comes with a Facilitator's Guide that has discussion questions and coaching tips for every week. Your supervisors or safety managers play one video per week at crew meetings or toolbox talks. No preparation needed. It's not a course your supervisors take. It's a coaching tool they use with their teams all year long.
That's exactly why we built our program the way we did.
The Academy is non-disruptive. All video lessons are under 10 minutes. The weekly Zoom coaching sessions are scheduled around your operations.
Supervisors don't leave their teams alone for days at a time — they learn while they work.
If your supervisors can't find 10 minutes in their day to get better at the job, that's worth paying attention to.
You'll see it in your results: fewer problems landing on your desk, better retention, and more safety feedback from employees. The best way to track progress is to talk with your supervisors about what they're learning.
If you need it, we can also give your operations or safety manager backend access to see who's watching the lessons.
All video content in both programs features Kevin Burns, founder of the PeopleWork Supervisor Academy and author of the international bestseller PeopleWork: The Human Touch in Workplace Safety and The CareFull Supervisor.
For the Academy, you will need a cohort of 12-15 supervisors to get started. That can include supervisors, lead hands, forepersons, shift leads, managers, and senior leaders.
Got 12? Let's get started.
Your supervisors are experimenting on your employees right now. Every single day without the right people-skills costs you in turnover, safety incidents, and problems that land on your desk instead of getting solved where they start.
You already know something has to change.
The only question left is when?
