The Just Don't Get It!

In most plants, supervisors are the default answer to one question: "Who's going to handle this?" Equipment breaks? Call the supervisor. Rush order needs babysitting? Supervisor. HR's tied up and a new hire needs training? Supervisor again. Quality issue pops up? The supervisor will "figure it out." One at a time, those things don't seem like much. Stack them together and supervisors spend their days running around putting out fires instead of leading their teams. What That Really Costs When that happens, some predictable things follow: Small issues don't get caught until they explode. Great ideas from the shop floor never make it upstairs. Teams feel like their boss is too busy to support them. Training slips, and skill gaps get wider. In short: the job of "supervisor" disappears, and you end up with a frazzled firefighter instead of a leader.

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