Supervisors represent an important force in the economy. You have the power to turn on or turn off the productivity of the people who report to you. You are the crucial interface between the employee on the shop floor or the service desk and the managers of the organization. 

Although you usually have more technical experience than the employees you supervise, you may not have had a lot of leadership experience. This course will give you the skills in communication, coaching, and conflict that you need to be successful.

Pre-assignments are designed to get you thinking about the topic and preparing for learning. In this case, you have explored some ideas about leadership skills for supervisors and what you are ready to learn.
In this session, you will review the pre-assignment and see how your thoughts about supervision will help you to grow as a leader.

Can you describe yourself in a few paragraphs? Have you had the opportunity to analyze your temperament? When we open ourselves to self-discovery, we gain insights into our own behaviors and motivation.
In this session, you will complete a self-assessment and then read about the main attributes of the types included here.

Another powerful aspect to understanding yourself and others is to recognize whether you are an introvert or an extrovert. We often talk about introversion and extroversion in terms of how comfortable we are being around other people. Extroverts appear comfortable socially, can enter conversations easily, and are considered outgoing. Introverts are seen as being less open, quiet, and often preferring their own company over being social. However, there are other considerations to introversion and extroversion, like where we get our energy from. To add some complexity, there are lots of introverts who act like extroverts in order to collaborate, converse, and work or play in social situations.

Part of being a leader involves a process of continuous learning. Are you excited about your new role? Are you just getting your feet wet or have you been doing it for a while now?
In this session, you’ll learn some aspects of leadership, including managing performance, servant leadership, and onboarding.

As your responsibilities increase, you will want to make time for a period of learning and adjustment as you transition away from front-line work and take on the supervisory role.
In this session, you will learn some tips about applying your energy when you are most alert and managing your time well.

In this session, you will explore the commitment curve in stages. You will also consider how you can apply your knowledge of the curve to enrich the orientation process.

The employees that report to you will exhibit a range of temperaments, just as supervisors do. Part of your role will be determining the best approach to work with your staff, and how best to encourage and lead them.
In this session, you will learn a coaching model that we find very effective, a dialogue model, the power of I messages, and the consequences and benefits matrix.

When we work with people, differences in opinion and values can lead to conflict. Sometimes it is straightforward for individuals to work things out, and other times necessary for a supervisor to intervene.
In this session, you will reflect on dealing with these issues. We will also share some techniques for resolving differences.

As businesses evolve, our perceptions of what leadership means can also change. The managerial styles of the last century are not necessarily the preferred approach in this century.
In this session, we’ll consider what makes a successful leader and what kind of techniques or applications you prefer.

Now that you have completed this course on Leadership Skills for Supervisors, how will you use the things you have learned? Creating a personal action plan can help you to stay on track and on target. When you take responsibility for yourself and your results, you get things done!

In this session, you will be asked questions to help you plan your short-term and long-term goals. This final exercise is a way for you to synthesize the learning that you have done and to put it into practice.

Congratulations! You have completed the course "Leadership Skills for Supervisors."

We began this course by reviewing the pre-assignment and considering your current thoughts on leadership. Then, you completed a self-assessment to identify your leadership type as well as your introversion/extroversion level.

Next, we considered some different models of leadership, including the Situational Leadership II® Model and servant leadership. We also learned about onboarding, orientation, and managing performance. After that, we learned some ways to manage our time and energy to maximize productivity.

Then, we learned about the commitment curve, which we can use to help employees adjust to their new job. We also learned some other tools for helping employees, including a coaching model, “I” messages, the consequences and benefits matrix, and conflict resolution techniques.

We wrapped things up with a look at some secrets to success. We also considered what we can do going forward to be a successful leader.

You should now understand how to use communication, coaching, and conflict resolution skills to strengthen your leadership abilities.