So, you need a new manager?

Filling a vacant supervisory position by promoting a current employee typically makes for a smoother transition than bringing in someone totally new to the business, but it definitely still comes with its own challenges.

Promoting a subordinate employee to a supervisor takes a lot more than training them on hard skills like scheduling, training, and opening and closing. First, it takes an absolute mastery of technical job skills, because if the supervisor isn’t doing things the right way, no one is. And it also requires a great variety of soft skills and leadership techniques involving communication, leadership, motivation, creativity, and much more.

These soft skills, and generally being able to effectively teach, direct, and motivate employees is what really separates an average leader from a great one. They’ve got to develop decision-making skills and the ability to stay calm, reasonable, and objective under pressure. They need to become great motivators, mastering the arts of coaching, counseling, teambuilding, training, and mentoring. And to truly be a great leader, they need to become visionaries, seeing the big picture and identifying creative methods to help you get the business to where you want it to be.

Moving into a leadership position also requires more than individual skills – it demands a broader understanding of leadership styles and how those skills fit into them. There are a number of leadership options that a single leader should be able to use depending on the specific situation and the individual personalities of his or her employees.

Smart Tan’s “So Now You’re a Supervisor” mini training provides the backbone that employees need to move from employee to leader, with a focus on the skills that need to be developed, as well as the different leadership styles and when they should be applied based on personnel and situation.

Click here for more about the So Now You’re a Supervisor track.