Great article Doug!

In my former life in HR I found that the Production Supervisor's job is to walk such a fine line between the needs of the Production Employees and that of Management and often times we had promoted our best Production Employees thinking they could just walk into a Management role.

There are some great resources available at EMC to help companies develop their Supervisor staff.  For example - have a look at the THRC training courses - they could be a great start to providing some of the training all Production Supervisors need.  In such areas as Problem Solving, computer skills and Communication just to name a few.  

As well, by having your Production Supervisor attend a local SIG they would be able to see the layout and documentation used by other manufacturers and help perfect the way they do things at your organization.

Thanks again Doug for another insightful article.  In Eastern Ontario over the past year almost all of our Consortia have had at least one Supervisor SIG event.  A great deal of the discussion took place around the gap between expectations of our supervisors and need for coaching/training and skills development.  Every one oif the supervisors that attended these sessions genuinely wants to do a great job for thier companies.  We will be continuing these discussions this fall and in 2010.  At some point soon we will need to bring the Supervisors and thier Managers back together for a discussion of how to reduce this gap.  As Laura stated, there are some great tools available through EMC - it is a matter of need recognition and putting the resources in place (time) to invest in the future!

It's nice to see someone out there appreciates the work of a production supervisor. I don;'t get many 'hugs' at work.  I've been a production supervisor for almost six years now, and I still love the challenge it brings almost daily. No two days are the same because of what you mentioned in your words...employees face their own challenges on a daily basis and they seek help from their supervisor to meet those challenges. The production supervisor is logically the first resource of the floor employee for most everything they encounter through their day. In my experiences, just being given the title of production supervisor does not necessarily mean floor employees will come to you with their issues and concerns. You must illustrate that you DO want to help them. The first time they approach you, you will be jugded by the employee as to whether you are approachable, you want to help, you are knowlegdable, or you care and that impression will stay with you for a long time. In fact, that impression will shape what kind of supervisor you become. Your behaviour will change based on how you are being treated by your floor employees, and how they treat you is up to you only. Training may be able to help, but once that impression is formed, it's very difficult to get employees to trust that the supervisor has changed.

I came to this company as a general labourer. I worked all areas of the plant rising through the ranks to become a production supervisor. Perhaps I was seen as someone who knew the floor activities well and could then be successful at supervising those activities. I like to think it was more than that. I like to think it had to do with my attitude that I was there as a contributing team member to do what I could do for the benefit of the company. I was sent to many courses designed to provide me skills for my new position, along with my fellow supervisors, who had been in their positions for some time. I absorbed the information from these courses and used the skills I learned back in the plant, but I did not see that from the other supervisors. They went to these courses with the idea they had nothing to learn, they knew their jobs, they saw the training as a waste of time (although they did appreciate the time away from work). I'm not saying that based on their facial expressions or behaviours during the course, they actually said those things! Alas, training did not help them become better production supervisors. Training failed not because the training program was poor, but because they went to the training without the proper attitude, they failed to apply what they learned from the course to the work place.

I do value training, in fact I do most of the training for the entire company, so I do understand the need for continual training and upgrading. I feel what's more important in achieiving good results in the position of mentor, coach, production supervisor is the initial screening of the people chosen for that position. I agree with many of the points you bring up. It's not about knowing the jobs, it's not about being popular, it's not about kissing the butt of the plant manager. It's about finding the individual who values achievement through cooperation, coordination, and communication. It's finding that Gerard or Fabregas (no I don't follow soccer) to bring out the best in the other performers in your company to make your team a winner. Training can help, but you need the talent first.

Dan - great comments and very timely I might add. In our organization we are having the very same discussion about investing in training but expecting a return on that investment. It certainly looks like you and your organization have both benefited from the investment made in you and the return you're providing. Well said and well done!

Doug