Supervisory Development Content Library

Being intentional and clear about how decisions are made helps teams avoid conflict and wasted effort, and improves the quality of team decisions.

Establishing norms and expectations that foster psychological safety, which is a shared belief that the
team is safe for interpersonal risk taking, allows team members to communicate and coordinate their
efforts effectively, resulting in stronger performance and better decisions.

Feedback is information communicated for the purpose of helping another person modify their behavior to improve learning and performance.

Goals are the most important way to set expectations for an employee that include both key RESULTS of what needs to be accomplished and behaviors, or how the results are accomplished over the next year.

These four skills are the most effective, especially when the audience is highly interested in the outcome. Combining these skills increases your chance of success.

Every candidate has a unique set of knowledge, skills and abilities, also known as behavioral competencies. Every position requires a specific set of these behavioral competencies. An effective interview allows you to match the candidate’s skill set with the behavioral competencies that the position needs. 

When a member of your team or department is involved in a conflict at work, your role as a supervisor
is to provide feedback and coaching to help them develop and use effective conflict management
skills. In many cases, you may not be directly involved, but your support will be important in helping
the person manage the situation effectively.

When hiring don’t be tempted to rush the final decision. This may save time in the short term, but can lead to problems later if you end up hiring the wrong person. A sense of being rushed can lead to making a decision without fully considering the candidate’s development needs or not allotting time to address concerns that the hiring team has about the candidate.

As a supervisor, you know the work of your team best and are well-positioned to make informed decisions about flexible work in consultation and alignment with local campus, college, or unit guidance. This quick guide will help you apply best practices for engaging and managing flexible teams which will help the people you supervise do their best work.

When facing a conflict, it is normal to feel angry, frustrated, and stressed out. Managing these negative fee ings allows you to focus on the situation in a productive way and to avoid doing and saying things that make the conflict worse. Reacting out of anger and frustration is not likely to resolve anything.