and their coworkers-turned-employees.

The Supervisory Skills Questionnaire is a comprehensive and practical assessment tool that helps supervisors to focus on the 5 most critical skills for effective supervision: Guiding the Work, Organizing the Work, Developing Your Staff, Managing Performance, and Managing Relations.

Learning Outcomes

• Improve proficiency in 5 key skill areas
• Identify skill strengths and weaknesses
• Learn which actions every supervisor should avoid
• Understand the keys to effective planning, prioritizing, and delegating
• Build productive relationships with other work groups

Theory

The research on effective supervision identifies numerous skills that a supervisor should possess. The Supervisory Skills Questionnaire organizes these skills into 5 categories:

• Guiding the Work: Taking the direction of the organization and translating it into actionable plans for the work group.
   
• Organizing the Work: Assigning people, equipment, and tasks to meet work goals.
   
• Developing Your Staff: Actively working to increase the skill level of each employee being supervised.
   
• Managing Performance: Removing the obstacles to better performance so employees can meet their own and the organization’s objectives.
   
• Managing Relations: Developing and maintaining good relationships with other groups so that the supervisor’s employees and the organization meet their goals.

The ability to balance the goals of the organization with the needs of the work group is the common thread that runs through all of the skill dimensions.

Uses for the Supervisory Skills Questionnaire

Perfect for both individual and group supervisory training, the Supervisory Skills Questionnaire can be particularly helpful in surfacing issues within existing situations. Some appropriate uses of the SSQ include:

• To prepare new supervisors for their changing roles and responsibilities
• To gauge an individual’s degree of readiness for a supervisory position
• A centerpiece of a comprehensive supervisory training program
• A refresher course for more experienced supervisors
• A mentoring tool for experienced supervisors to discuss situations with new supervisors
• A discussion starter in any supervisory training
• A post-training assessment tool