True Confessions: I Hate Being a Supervisor

During tough economic times, folks spend so much time worrying about money that all too frequently they forget to worry about people.  And yet, truth be told, the most important resource any nonprofit has is its people.  If we don’t worry about them, it doesn’t matter how much—or how little–money we have, we won’t be doing a good job of fulfilling our mission promises. 

There is absolutely no question that the human resources at a nonprofit who suffer the most during financially bad times are those who lose their jobs.  That is a given.  But a close second are those who remain on payroll while their friends and colleagues are let go.  Anxiety runs high:  will I be next?  Guilt runs high:  why them and not me?  Mistrust can develop:  do I ask for clarification or will I look unqualified and rise to the top of the “next to go” list?  I have a 103 degree temperature, do I call in sick?  You get the picture. 

So, what are you doing to address the turmoil? 

The key rests with the supervisors—all of them—in your organization.  Are they prepared and ready?  Being a supervisor is one of those things that few are prepared to do, and once done, most hate.  Yet, for anyone who wants to rise up the ladder, being a supervisor is inevitable.  So, for the good times and the bad, we need to make sure those who supervise know what they are doing. 

Without being exhaustive by any stretch, let’s think for a minute about some of the basic tasks of a supervisor, and the challenges our current economic times present. 

1. Reorganize your department:  how do you determine staffing needs of a moving target?  Will you have the money to run your program at 10% of capacity or 50% of capacity? 
2. Performance appraisals:  these take on extra importance if they help inform the decision of who to let go and who to keep; if they aren’t done well, the wrong person may be kept and the wrong one let go, leading to an impact on the ability to deliver mission.
3. Foster teamwork:  how do you foster teamwork when the composition of the team is changing? when fear about job security may lead to people wanting to hunker down and do their own work and not worry about “helping the team?”  We’ve all heard too many times “there is no ‘I’ in team,” and more often than not when a superstar is protecting his super stardom rather than promoting the team.
4. Inspire people to excel:  inspiration, in general, is a hard thing to achieve when people are worried about survival.  Striving for excellence, however, means taking risks:  is A or B the better approach? And risk-taking, unfortunately, tends to go out the window when people are insecure about their jobs.
5. Motivate:  pom-poms just don’t shake as briskly in a gloomy environment.  And pats on the back go only so far when your salary has been frozen and your health benefits cuts.
6. Provide guidance:  for what future with the organization? for preparing a resume? for where to look for a job?

If ever there was a worthy expenditure during bleak economic times, it is for professional development for supervisors who can never learn enough about how to do their job—in good times and bad. 

The Nonprofit Center has several upcoming full-day classes to support nonprofit staff in their desire to be more competent supervisors, among them:  

Developing Your Supervisory Skills – First Steps:  9/30/09

Supervisory Skills – Beyond the Basics:  10/21/09

Interpersonal Skills & Communication for Managers:  11/17/09

How to Lead Effective Teams – 12/3/09

Year-Round Employee Performance Management:  3/11/09

The Principles and Practices of Managing Change :  4/13/10