Supervisor Skills: The 9 Key Supervisory Skills

Supervisory skills are abilities that help a person oversee the work of others. They are a type of soft skills that hinge less on technical competence and more on an understanding of other people.

A supervisor must manage a team of employees, coordinate group work, meet company deadlines, and foster a good working environment. They lean on their supervisory skills to achieve these job requirements.

Many organizations view supervisory abilities as essential skills, yet many of these organizations lack specific training programs for supervisory roles. Supervisors often learn intangible supervisory skills on the job. They also pick up tips from work mentors, including their own supervisors.

Some companies offer educational training programs for their supervisors. Employees enroll in these programs before receiving promotions to supervisory roles. Examples include online leadership courses and in-person workplace seminars chaired by current team leaders.

Companies that promote a robust supervisory culture have a distinct advantage over those that don’t. Organizations with strong supervisors enjoy many benefits, highlighted by:

1. 1. Positive work environment: The best supervisors monitor the well-being of team members, thus boosting motivation and morale. When employees feel that a supervisor sees them and cares about their growth, they enjoy deeper connections to the organization at large. When a whole team of employees feels similarly acknowledged and cared for, healthy work environments flourish.
2. 2. Productivity: A leader’s supervisory skills can keep team members on task and meeting deadlines, leading to higher productivity. Supervisors do not need to micromanage their coworkers; they simply need to check in periodically and make sure workers are meeting their individual goals and hitting set benchmarks. If workers fall behind, supervisors may need to make institutional adjustments to help the team catch up.
3. 3. Longevity: Good supervisors keep companies on track. They manage employee needs while always staying focused on big-picture organizational goals. These managers’ supervisory skills foster a resilient, efficient workforce, allowing their company to endure many external challenges.

You cannot thrive as a supervisor without acquiring and refining nine important skills.

1. 1. Communication: Communication skills are a bedrock of supervision. A good communicator listens carefully, provides clear, actionable feedback, and keeps team members informed about company policies and decisions.
2. 2. Leadership: Coworkers look to their supervisor for leadership. As a supervisor, you don’t have to stand on a desk and lead a rally, but you must model good behavior, take on tough decisions, and accept accountability for your actions.
3. 3. Conflict resolution: A supervisor’s job involves listening, mediation, and placing employees in the best roles for success. In a large organization, not all team members work well together. Some people may thrive, while others feel disgruntled. As a supervisor, your job is to address conflict when it rears its head. Treat it seriously and continually work to mitigate, never escalate, a problematic situation.
4. 4. Priority management: Priority management involves making judgments about the relative importance of different workplace tasks. A good supervisor needs to make tough decisions about which initiatives require resources. You may have to overrule a team member who wants to work on a particular project when the organization needs their attention directed elsewhere.
5. 5. Time management: Efficient supervisors possess time management skills. As the old business adage goes, time is money, and company executives view time management as directly impacting their bottom line. When you manage your own time effectively, you also set an example for others to follow.
6. 6. Performance management: In some ways, being a supervisor is like being a coach. You are trying to get the best possible employee performance out of your team, and each member might require their own combination of discipline, encouragement, and guidance to work at their highest level. Not only will performance management benefit the organization, but it will also provide career development to workers under your supervisory guidance.
7. 7. Problem-solving: Supervisory roles tap into your problem-solving skills. Some business problems can be anticipated well in advance, but many spring up without warning. As a supervisor, you must tackle all problems—expected and unexpected—with grace and levelheadedness.
8. 8. Interpersonal skills: The best supervisors specialize in people. They don’t merely hit deadlines; they build relationships with coworkers and demonstrate how they are stakeholders in the same initiative. They also take an interest in their coworkers' personal goals, needs, and interests. They find ways to simultaneously advance the company's interests and individual employees' career growth.
9. 9. Critical thinking: Supervisors must call upon their critical thinking skills as part of their everyday decision-making processes. Some decisions will be nearly automatic, as they conform to common issues in the ordinary course of business. Other decisions will be challenging, even vexing. Supervisors must think on their feet and accept the sometimes thankless task of thinking critically in order to navigate thorny situations.

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