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So today we are 14 days into the 4th quarter! Have you reviewed your plan, are you going to reach your 2021 goals. I’m doing pretty good with mine, much better than I thought. I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. We only have 11 more weeks to make everything work out for us. We are that close to 2022!
As we kick off this quarter we should think about our future. Do you know what you’d like your future to bring you? Now is the time to start thinking about 2023. If you have a plan for 2022, you’ll be where you want to be in 2023, 2030 & 2035. How do you want to be set up in retirement?
We’ll enough of all that, we’ll be talking about our goals next month but I did want to bring it up. Thoughts to ponder I guess!
So I was setting in the breakroom with an order selector, a driver helper, an inventory control clerk, and a G/L returns associate one day last week. That sounds like the starting point of a joke right! We we’re all just talking having a coffee when someone asked what warehouse position did, I feel was the hardest. I didn’t have to think about my answer at all. I blurted out the front-line supervisor’s job. Let me tell you, that brought out the laughs. I was kind of saved by the bell as break was over and I had to get back on the road.
I had stopped by the facility to do a quick on-site and just say hi to everyone. I like those visits where I’m not looking for or auditing anything! The question, or the laughter I guess, made me think a lot about the front-line positions. As we advance through the many positions in the warehouse, and if we have a desire for those leadership rolls, our starting point may be that front-line supervisor position. Our first time at being a lead can be a little challenging, but nothing compared to taking on our first supervision role.
Let’s look at why we were chosen or promoted. Of course, there could be a host of reasons. We could be that employee that shows up every day, on time and ready to work. Maybe we don’t gossip and live on drama every day. Maybe we’re the best on the team. Or we’re that person that self-educates, speaks up, participates in every discussion. Maybe we tend to take charge and are always available to help train or mentor a new team member.
Or it could be that is a part of our plan, our goal. And maybe we have been working that plan for a few years now. Or, it could have just landed in our lap, and the offer was a surprise to us.
Whatever the reason, or opportunity, your life changes from this point forward! Seriously, your work life has to change but you’re going to notice that your home life will be affected as well.
If you are already working with the team, you are now going to lead and be responsible for, well there probably friends. Sometimes our closest friends are those we work with. Those relationships are going to change. You used to go after work and have beverages together, hang out and talk about the day’s events. Now you are a big part of those events!
Honestly though. The front-line supervisor is the hardest position I ever held. You’ll find yourself responsible for the productivity & wellbeing of your team and about 1043 other things to. Maybe you will have some reporting duties, tracking of any metrics that your boss needs. Who does the teams safety and that culture of safety fall upon. You. Even if you have a safety manager on your shift it will be the supervisors job to see that all her or his programs are being followed, they are your team. It is up to you to keep everyone’s outlook positive. Scheduling may fall upon your shoulders as well! If it happens on your dock, during your shift, whither you are there or not, it is your responsibility. And then you’ll have training. All the new boots will need to be trained right!
Let’s talk about training for a minute. I think the employee orientation is really our first training opportunity. As a new supervisor, shoot, even us seasoned members of management, we need to remember how anxious we were in our new job. Think about the first time you walked into your facility! A little overwhelmed? A new job can be stressful. We may know how to perform the task we were hired for, at least how our old employer wanted it done. But now we, as that new employee need to meet a friend, at least someone we feel like we can trust. And they need to make us feel at ease, at least comfortable. And they need to teach us, train us, to be successful at our new job. That’s us, that’s a part of our job as the supervisor. Even if we have a full-time trainer working under us. It is our job to make sure that they are successful.
Do you feel bad when an associate walk’s out, or does not come back for their 2nd day of work, or when they are just not getting it? I know that we can’t control how another human acts. But have you ever felt like, or wondered, if you had given them all the tools, rewards, leadership that they needed to succeed on your team?
We’ve talked before how most employees that are involuntary terminated for things like attendance, productivity, or quality of work have really terminated themselves. I mean they knew the rules and hopefully we as supervisors have spoken to them, coached them, and tried to work with them on those points before we’ve had to inform them that it’s time to part ways! I have had to let hundreds of people go throughout my career, but I’ve only fired 2 people. And both of those still bother me to this day. They were both well over 20 years ago! I wonder if I did everythng I could, I mean did I give them the time they needed to learn the job, was I patient enough with them. I guess I’m still wondering if I did my job well. Do you ever think about that? If you did your part?
I feel talking, I’m going to say communicating, with our employees is our task number two, safety is always task 1! Seriously though, as a supervisor our two must have skills are listening, that is 60% of our job, and conveying our plan and goal for the shift through words, speech, talking, not texting or emailing! Email was never meant to be used as a tool to carry on a conversation with.
Think about it, if you use texting as a form of communicating, instead of it just being a tool for that short form of communication say like, I don’t know, maybe texting an item number or a pick location is fine but if you use it to relay todays expectations or direction, well then, how can we get upset when an associate uses it for something they do not wish to speak to us about like, maybe, calling in or leaving early or maybe that they have damaged 3 cases of whole eggs! Most large Corportation’s do not allow texting between their managers. And email! It’s primary use today, at our level, the supervision level, is to push a situation off on someone else! We’ll shoot off an email to HR, to payroll etc with questions from our employees. In our minds we think not our problem anymore once we’ve hit that send button!
So, what is our job. I know we all have our job descriptions, they explain to us what we have to cover each day. Things like, and I’m just going to use one that’s in front of me here on the desk as an example. Let’s see, ok, we are responsible for checking on the inbound loads and that they are properly staged to a door close to their products pick and reserve locations so the putaway operators do not have to drive across the docks to place their loads. This job description states that we are responsible for the scheduling of man hours for our shifts. Making sure we have a proper headcount to meet productivity needs, approved time off, Call-ins, NCNS, and taking care of any training hours we may have. The buildings sanitation is listed on here. Safety is on here. There’s several reports that are listed. And then it talks about setting the plate for the next shift, having the equipment charged, the aisles cleaned and faced forward, and having the pick locations replenished prior to the selection shift starting.
That explains our task pretty well. But I don’t feel that it explains our job. A large component of our position is our human capitol! Were you taught that part? I know I wasn’t. But, over the years as a manager, I have learned that that is a major function of being a front-line management team member.
Think about it. Would you rather work for a person that thinks title should be worn on their shoulders or for that person that carries his or her responsibility themselves, raising their hand when something goes wrong and we as employees know that they have our backs. Of course its easy to bark directions all day long and it’ll be effective until its not! However, you’ll never have a team, you’ll have some great employees that’ll do what you say, and some that just wont. But you’ll never have a team that will work together, share their thoughts and ideas regarding efficiencies, and that would follow you off a cliff!
Have you ever gone to your manager and said something like, boss, I don’t think so and so is going to make it, we should let him or her go. Now the reason could be attendance, tardiness or maybe productivity. What we’re really saying to our boss, what their hearing is hey boss, I have failed to do my job training, working with, or coaching so and so and we should forget about the 2 weeks wages we’ve paid and the onboarding cost we’ve incurred and start over. Think about it! Now yes, sometimes we’ve been given a bad hire. But we need to try and turn them first. A bad employee, in many cases, will work for that individual that respects them, listens to them, a lot of times that’s all it takes.
Do you know all your employees’ birthdays? Put them in your phone! Great them with a happy birthday as they walk in the door. Do you know what their hobbies are, if they have kids, what they like to talk about. Once a week try and take break with your team, you’ll be surprised how much you can learn about your team.
When something goes wrong, its your fault. Accept it. If an employee hits a dock door with his or her pallet jack and bends it, well, they work for you, the responsibility lands on you. When you are reporting it, take responsibility. State it as something like we hit a door today with a pallet jack, I’m going to do a retraining with so and so and this incident will be my safety topic in the morning. Your team had an accident, and you are presenting a solution instead of pointing fingers. I assure you that your manager and your team will notice your growth as a supervisor.
It’s so important as we start our path as front line management team members that we realize titles only means we have more responsibility than our teams members, titles do not, and never will, make us better than our teammates. Without them we aren’t Supervisors. Be that person that you would want to work for!
Being a front-line supervisor is the hardest job you will ever have and it is the most rewarding position in warehousing too.
Well, I could give you 50 more examples of how to be a great supervisor, but I think you get the idea. If you have a particular question or would like to hear more just send us an email to host@warehouseandoperationsasacareer.com and I’ll expand on those questions.
Until next week, be that person you’d like to work for and practice being safe while doing it!