Home Health & Hospice Week

Beware this common new supervisor pitfall.

You were a great employee, and now management has asked you to step into a supervisory role. All of a sudden, the rules have changed. How can you adjust to the demands of the new position?

Take a deep breath, says change management and leadership consultant Jim Jenkins, president of Creative Visions Consulting. Then follow these tips:

1. Self promote. The company promoted you through its ranks, so don't forget to promote yourself. You have to arrive with a mentality that demonstrates and affirms your newly-vested authority.

2. Change your perspective. You're no longer coming to work to do a job, Jenkins says. Instead, you're charged with making sure that other people have the resources and abilities to do their jobs properly and add value to the company. However, most new supervisors inevitably fall into the trap of trying to "do" rather than "manage." To determine if you're guilty of the most common new supervisor snafu, solicit feedback from a trusted employee in your department. Ask her if you're overstepping your bounds, and let her know that you need her honest feedback.

3. Clear your mind. Make sure you give yourself time to mentally transition into your new role; you'll need it in order to adapt successfully. Don't set yourself up for failure by expecting something unrealistic. Instead, take an extra weekend or a couple of days away from the job to mentally prepare for the new role. Also, use this as an opportunity to set reachable goals for yourself and your team.

4. Borrow. If you're like most new supervisors, your company didn't ask you to complete a lengthy, formal training program (though, ironically, you may be asked to design them for your employees).

If this is the case, find someone in the company who survived a similar transition a few years ago. Ask her to mentor you on best practices and successful strategies.

5. Evaluate. Your experience as a lower-level employee is valuable. Your previous experience on the job will help you to consider problems from your subordinates' perspective. Plus, it probably taught you a thing or two in general. Make a list of the skills you learned in that position and evaluate the possibility of applying them in your new role. You'll see that you're not starting from scratch.