One of the pieces that is often missing in new supervisor and new manager training
is advice about setting smart boundaries when you see that help is needed. The
trick is for you as manager to assess what kind of help would be most useful,
when and how much.
- Don’t jump in before you are asked. This kind of “help” is likely to be seen as an intrusion and perhaps even a lack of confidence in the employee’s ability.
- Don’t overdo it. As a manager, you should seek to develop your employees. If you step in and take over, there is little learning to be done. Act more as a sounding board to solve problems or a coach to guide and encourage effort in the right direction.
- Don’t give bad help. If your employee asks for your assistance, you have done well in building a relationship of trust. But don’t flub it by giving the wrong kind of help. Do they need you to manage the problem or lead the solution? Tune in and listen carefully to the request and its source.
