Greenbush Publishing

Preface

GETTING PROMOTED to supervisor may be one of the most rewarding events that happens to you over the course of your career. That’s great news. Unfortunately, in many cases, newly promoted supervisors receive neither mentoring before being promoted nor leadership training after promotion. I see this as a serious gap in the promotion process. Young supervisors require mentoring and leadership training to help them learn how to supervise and lead effectively. Recognizing these issues and proposing solutions to them were the primary reasons I wrote this book.

     If you have recently been promoted to the position of supervisor, or hope to be soon, then you have selected the perfect book to help you become not only a good supervisor, but a good leader. In my research for this project, I discovered that there are plenty of books and articles written about senior-level leadership (such as presidents, generals, and CEOs of major corporations) but very few concerning first-line supervisors. Taking the Lead addresses that leadership gap. In this book, I will discuss your role and responsibilities as a first-line supervisor, but, more important, I’ll share with you the fundamentals of leadership as I’ve learned them over the past forty years. I believe that if you have been promoted to supervisor, you have a responsibility to yourself and your employees to become a leader.

     For those of you wondering what qualifies me to write a book on leadership, let me explain. I’ve always had an interest in leadership, and I paid attention to those who I thought did it well. I’ve followed, I’ve learned, I’ve led, and I continue to learn. You don’t have to bark out orders or appear larger than everyone else, but you do need to demonstrate leadership-specific qualities that we will discuss soon. I have been fortunate to have received extensive training and experience during my nearly four decades of employment.

     I acquired my most valuable leadership skills during my career in the United States Army. The Army, like all branches of service, has an amazing, constantly evolving leadership education process. I was formally taught the appropriate leadership skills necessary for each rank I achieved, up through the senior noncommissioned officer level. Not only was I taught appropriate leadership techniques for my particular rank, but I, like the others in my unit, had to pass written evaluations and intensive hands-on practice scenarios in order to graduate.

     I was promoted to my first leadership role in 1983, shortly after graduating from high school, and I remained a supervisor and leader in some capacity until I retired in late 2020. It is an amazing responsibility—and very rewarding—to lead people, train them, care for them, and help them advance in their careers. I’ve led soldiers in peacetime and in a combat environment, and in my civilian role, I’ve directed employees during calm and highly stressful times. Whether mundane or highly chaotic, each situation has its challenges, but the leadership skills necessary to supervise in either one remain the same.

     Another reason for writing this book was to address what I consider concerning trends in the workforce—trends that are affecting us all in one way or another. One of those is poor customer service in the restaurant industry, the retail field, and the public service sector. I am sure many of you have received the wrong order or encountered unfriendly waiters or waitresses or have noticed employees who don’t take time to show customers where products are in the store you patronize. Many of you, I’m sure, have occasionally received shipped merchandise that is broken, has missing parts, or both. I know the public service sector is experiencing this disappointing trend as well. Phone calls go unanswered, and messages don’t get returned more than an explainable number of times.

     I know there are some reasonable explanations behind this ongoing trend, such as a shortage of service-industry workers and more people wanting to work from home. Few would dispute that COVID-19 altered the traditional working world. The pandemic severely affected the rhythm of employment we had been used to (such as going to the office five days a week for eight hours a day). It affected our economy, our social lives, and, frankly, our lifestyles.

     In this post-COVID era, the practice of working from home has taken a firm foothold and likely will continue into the foreseeable future. For all these reasons, I believe that cap-able leadership is needed now more than ever. What you are learning in this book mostly applies to in-person supervision, but nearly all the methods and techniques mentioned here are just as applicable to the work-from-home model.

     After giving the matter a lot of thought, I know most employees don’t intentionally perform below standards. Based on my experience, I believe that the problem has less to do with the employees and more to do with the fact that their supervisors had not received mentoring or training sufficient to lead and inspire their personnel. As a leader, you will have the opportunity to help close those gaps. For me, this issue is worth writing about; it’s worth trying to help you avoid these frustrating situations. In Taking the Lead, you will learn that as a leader, you will not only teach your employees their basic tasks, but you will also inspire them to always do their best for themselves, for the customer, and for your company. 

     I recall a time in the spring of 2004 when, as I was preparing to deploy overseas, a supply sergeant asked me if I could help him put away a number of supplies and equipment that would have taken him and his two assistants several hours into the night ahead to perform.

     It was already late, and I was just about to release a platoon of personnel who had traveled all day, had been performing tasks into the early evening, and were obviously exhausted and ready to get some rest. With no good avail-able options, I had a quiet discussion with my personnel, of which there were approximately thirty. Because we were a National Guard infantry division activated for the Iraq War, personnel came from all over the country to fill positions, and I had only just met most of them. I talked about the long day we had, the need to assist the supply sergeant, and the importance of teamwork. I had the authority to have them all help, but I chose to ask for just a few volunteers to help put the supplies away. To my surprise, every one of them offered to help, and we got the job got done quickly and efficiently. 

     I share this memory with you because that incident ties in well with the material in this book. Taking the Lead, I promise, will help you build great relationships with your employees, help you lead them, and help you perform your duties as a supervisor far more effectively and efficiently than a boss without the knowledge you are about to learn.

     What you will not find in this book are arcane academic discussions of theory or psychology nor extensive pages of data or hard-to-understand tables, charts, or graphs. What you will find in this publication are real-life and hypothetical scenarios and examples to enhance your learning and understanding of leadership topics.

     Taking the Lead keeps it simple. In it, you will learn about the major skills and character traits necessary to become a good leader as well as what is arguably the most important leadership skill of all: communication. You will learn about leadership styles and how you can, and should, vary yours under certain conditions. You will discover the importance of self-assessment and how, by identifying the leadership traits you already possess and those you don’t, you can ultimately improve not only your job performance but your character. You also will gain insight into how to motivate and inspire your employees, how to train and cross-train them, how to reward and reprimand them, how to mentor them—and more.

     Many of you reading this book work in the retail and wholesale fields, in the commercial and industrial sectors, in small and large businesses, and at government agencies at all levels. Many of you run your own businesses, but most of you work for someone else. Some of you supervise one person, and many of you supervise dozens of employees. Some of you work indoors, some outdoors; some of you are in close contact with your employees all the time, and some of you rarely see your workers. No matter your situation or where you are in the world, the material in Taking the Lead is universal and will apply to all of you.

     As you read this book, think of it as a conversation between the two of us. Ponder the ideas put forth, think out loud, and visualize how you can implement the suggestions expressed here where you work. I am confident you will learn the most important fundamentals of leadership. Sometimes in life, problems arise, and you get busy doing other things. If that happens, you won’t finish reading this book, or you won’t clearly recall some of what you’ve already read. To thwart those scenarios, I made this book as simple as possible to ensure that you read it possibly in just one or a few sittings. I’m hopeful that you will refer to it often throughout your career.

      Though it carries an awesome responsibility, being a supervisor is great—but being a supervisor with leadership qualities is even more rewarding. I believe that everyone can be a leader and that our world will be a better place with more of them. With more leaders, there will be less hatred, less bias, and more compassion. I hope, therefore, that you read and take to heart the information in this book so that you can become the leader you aspire to be and make the world a better place. If you are ready and willing, let’s begin taking the lead!