I feel the need to write about supervisors and their health today. I have worked for a variety of people through my long working history and have seen many supervisors react to various situations. There are ones who take things as they come and others who go into full-blown panic mode. To be a successful supervisor and also keep your health in good shape is a hard thing to do. I will be the first to stand up and say, if your health is deteriorating because of the job you hold, it’s time for a change.
Now, I’m not suggesting you quit your job or step down from your position, I’m saying you need to calm down and take one nightmare at a time. Having a heart attack because you are too stressed at work is no joke! Here is my suggestion, if you work in a high stress position, then you need to prepare for it before getting to work. What do I mean? Okay here goes, I’m preparing to go to work, let’s say in the mining profession, I have one hundred people I am responsible for when I get there.
Now, when working in the mines, equipment breaks, people get hurt and upper management wants more out of my crew than I can produce during my shift. Do you get the picture?
Firstly, let me throw this out there, keep home at home and work at work. This will keep your family happy and keep your mind on your job. Now back to our mining job.
When you leave your house for work, you should go into work mode. Always leave one hour early in case of traffic, flat tire or weather. Also, leaving early will help you prepare for the nightmare that’s about to happen. When you get to the parking lot don’t go directly into work. This is your prepare time. I suggest you do not carpool if you are a supervisor. I know it saves gas and all but you need to prepare yourself without those that work with you taking away your focus. Now you are sitting in your car alone with the radio off. Just imagine the worst day that could happen today. Keep this going for half the time you have before you have to go into work. Did a piece of equipment break? Did you lose electricity or water or something else that is essential to the company? Did a person or persons you need there call off sick? Think of all these things happening today.
The other half of your time is imagining how you’re going to fix these problems. Did you find your solutions to each situation? Now you are prepared to go to work because you have a plan! If you go in and some or all of these things happen today, it’s ok because you have already figured out how to cope with each situation. If you go in and none of these things happen, well then, you will have that fantastic day you have been waiting and wanting for a long time.
Always remember, when things do happen, deal with one nightmare at a time. If five employees are talking to you at once, you can’t hear anything but noise. Pick one employee to tell you their problem, and then move to the next person. Usually picking the calmest one is the best because it gives the others time to settle down before it’s their turn to talk.
I know it’s hard out there, and I feel for you, but you chose this job, so learn to work within your abilities and most of all keep your health. Your family needs you as much, if not more than your company. Be safe, healthy, and deal with one nightmare at a time. Remember, we are all in this together.
4 replies on “Calm down supervisor”
I understand that many Managers and Supervisors job are not easy. But on the flip side, many of them are placed into these leadership roles only becase they are a good workers. They are not trained or given the management tools needed to lead and manage a team. So many Supervisors lead with emotions and not their intelligence. They in turn, creates a very toxic work environment for their workers and leads to stress for everyone on the team.
You are exactly right. I have seen this myself in various work places. It is sad to note that some are given higher positions in workplaces for reasons that are not the best for the workers. Sometimes it is because others do not want the position of authority.or because they are not very good at their jobs and are put there to essentially “get them our of the way”. This is done in a lot of larger companies, especially those that are unionized. Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to comment.
Hi Billy, great article!
Being a retail store manager of nearly 20 years I can relate to allll those issues.
And many of those issues are way I stepped away from all those pressures and I would say that my personal growth and happiness have both increased drastically.
All your points are completely valid and make common sense (see what I did there), unfortunately when you are in the mix of all that chaos you’re not open to recieve the information that will improve your life and your families.
So how do you think you could get that message over to someone that is completely consumed in that hectic lifestyle?
Wow! You have a point there. The only thing that I can do is put the information out there and hope that if the person themselves don’t see it, maybe a close family member will and lend a hand. Thank you for your insight.