Stripes and Bars AMAURY MURGADO
DEVELOPING MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS To become a better supervisor you need to figure out how to harness your skills and others' to best accomplish tasks. I RECENTLY READ A WHITE PAPER written by the Center for good at something, you should find a way to incorporate Creative Leadership called The Challenges Leaders Face that into your work. For example, if you are a good trainer, Around the World. The most frequently mentioned chal- you should volunteer to do some of your agency's training. If lenge from China, India, and the United States was devel- you are really good at writing, then maybe you should serve oping managerial effectiveness. Managerial effectiveness on your agency's policy review committee to help clarify the includes skills such as time management, strategic think- often conflicted nature of most policies and procedures. In other words, find ways to work on tasks that not only ing, and decision-making. The challenge for any supervisor is to develop relevant skills in order to be more effective. The match your unique skills, but use them to the fullest extent study recommends that supervisors use goal-setting, del- possible. You can either volunteer to work on tasks you like egation, maximizing their value, and clarifying their role as or risk the chance you will be assigned the ones you don't. Clarify Your Role—Your role is defined by two primary ways to improve managerial effectiveness. I will present my sources: agency policy and your immediate supervisor. take on each of the four recommendations. Set Goals—Goal-setting is important for any supervisor Reading policy and what it says about your position is the because it provides direction. This allows you to separate easy part. Understanding how your supervisor identifies what's important from what's irrelevant. It also helps limit your role is a bit more complicated. You must first understand their personal goals and objectives distractions. When working with goals, it's IDENTIFY TASKS and what motivates them. Those two arbest to set them in a way that helps motivate you as a leader. In turn, that will help ONLY YOU CAN DO eas help form what they have planned for you and your unit. If you are lucky, your you motivate others. AS A SUPERVISOR align or at least meet somewhere in Goal-setting will also provide you with AND FIND WAYS TO views the middle. If you're not lucky, it could get benchmarks to determine whether or not DELEGATE THE REST. ugly for you. You only have two choices you're succeeding. If you set them correcthere: work it out or transfer. ly, goals will clear a path for the developThe best way to avoid any problems is ment of standards, objectives, timelines, and deadlines. I consider goal-setting a first step toward be- having a conversation with your supervisor at the start of your ing more effective because it helps you define your mission. assignment. Ask your questions up front so you are very clear Delegate More—Work is often approached differently by on what is expected of you, how much authority you have, the rank and file. Subordinates are usually tasked with do- and what your supervisor considers important information. ing the work and supervisors are tasked with making sure Airing all that out in the beginning will make your life easier. My Additions—In addition to these four recommendathe work gets done. That doesn't mean that supervisors don't work, it just involves a different kind of work, and usually tions, I would add that working on your time management, more of it. In order to help supervisors meet their responsi- learning how to run a project from start to finish, and using a proven decision-making model are critical to becoming bilities, they have to delegate. Delegation is not hard to understand. It's about identify- more effective as a manager. If you have not been afforded ing tasks that only you can do as a supervisor and finding any training opportunities in those areas, specifically projways to delegate the rest. The trick is to find the right person ect management, I would suggest learning them on your for each task and then support their efforts. This is accom- own. The internet is full of references and resources you can plished by using trust and giving clear instructions. Super- tap into. My bottom line as a manager revolves around time visors have to set a realistic deadline and find ways to check being a valuable resource. Therefore, I have always tried to for progress. In other words, delegation is not a free ride for work smarter and not harder. a supervisor. In a nutshell, using delegation is a way to harness the power of other people's help in order to focus on Amaury Murgado retired a senior lieutenant from the Osceomore supervisor-specific tasks. la County (FL) Sheriff's Office with more than 29 years of exMaximize Your Value—Maximizing your value means perience. He also retired from the Army Reserve as a master using your skills to enhance the mission. If you are really sergeant.
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POLICE MARCH 2017