You’re juggling workloads, employee management and motivation, company policies and culture. Apply these tips for less stress and more success in your role.

➡️ Understand expectations and priorities
Ask what is expected of you. Early in the job, hold meaningful conversations with management to understand the success factors you will be evaluated on. As well, share your expectations of your role with management. Gain clarity about priorities. For instance, are there “pet” projects you’re expected to stay involved with? Can management advise you about how to best supervise in this company culture?

➡️ Communicate goals and expectations
You’ve spent time understanding the company, its policies, and management’s expectations. Just as critical are conversations with team members. Get to know the individuals as individuals, create dialogues that open up connections. Ask about their goals and their expectations and share yours. You’ll build more trust quickly.

New to Supervising or Managing
➡️ Continually offer feedback
Do you understand the standards and criteria by which team members are evaluated? Is there a process or system that makes this more automatic? If not, ask for one and for more support around keeping employees accountable. Employees—and you—need to regularly know where they stand. When you offer both constructive and positive feedback, this builds their confidence.

➡️ Build a support system
Seek out leaders inside the organization who have knowledge and experience of your new role. Ask them to share insight and perspectives about how to navigate challenges you might encounter. Find out what missteps they experienced. In addition, seek out mentors inside and outside the company. Whoever you choose, it’s important to build a team of individuals that support your leadership growth.

➡️ Ask for Training
Research indicates that more than half of new managers and supervisors receive little or no training. Could this be because they don’t ask? Don’t make that mistake.

You may have knowledge and experience in your industry and the job itself, but what about in leading people? The School of Hard Knocks and Trial and Error has its limits. Forge your growth and career path by being intentional about the type of training you need. Could you use help around managing your emotions? Check out Emotional Intelligence training. Need to handle conflicts more proficiently? Try Conflict Management training. To up-level your overall supervisory experience around people-management, take New Supervisor training.

Interested in your thoughts—can you add to my list? Leave a comment below. 👇🏽👇🏾👇🏼