Leadership, Management
and Supervision
Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D.
Institute for Nonprofit Organizations
University of Georgia
Basic Definitions
• Leadership: drawing people together to identify
shared values and goals and then formulating
plans to achieve them
• Management: overseeing activities to carry out
plan and accomplish goals, including planning,
organizing, delegating, and coordinating
activities
• Supervision: guiding production and procedures
of staff to accomplish a delegated goal or
objective
• Overlap of skills
• Distinctions made in larger organizations
Components of Leadership
• Envisioning situations that are in line with
values, vision for the future
• Engaging others in shaping vision
• Deciding together on our shared goals
• Identifying ways to attain them
– Inspiration rather than authority
– Motivated by vision and purpose
– Problems resolved by referring back to shared
vision
Components of Management
• Planning: identifying ways, means, and
resources to accomplish goals
• Organizing: creating structures and
assignments to pursue goals
• Coordinating: overseeing the application of
people and resources to accomplish goals
• Monitoring: assessing progress toward
goals; rearranging applications of
resources to refine pursuit of goals
Core Skills of Management
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Planning, goal setting
Problem-solving and decision-making
Delegating
Motivating
Sustaining communications
Facilitating meetings
Ensuring accomplishment of goals
– Monitoring staff performance
– Removing barriers to performance
• Managing oneself, improving interpersonal skills
Components of Supervision
• Guiding the activities of staff to accomplish
delegated goal or objective
• Identifying tasks and roles needed
• Developing effective teams
• Ensuring that the right competencies are being
applied to tasks
• Seeing that problems are resolved
• Monitoring and refining staff/team performance
• Conforming with organizational policies
Core Skills of Supervision
• Translating delegated goals into action,
including:
• Conducting feasibility studies to refine work plan
and to identify required resources and skills
• Mobilizing the right mix of people and skills to
accomplish components of delegated goals
• Team building
• Ensuring understanding of work objectives and
tasks
• Facilitating meetings, sustaining progress
• Monitoring progress toward goals and objectives
• Trouble-shooting, resolving problems & conflicts
Managing Staff Performance
• Def. Processes that provide effective
management of individuals and teams in order
to achieve high levels of organizational success
• Emphasizes strategic goals and application of
organization’s resources to accomplish them
• Integrates all aspects of the organization into
coordinated activities to accomplish goals
• Encourages behavior that fosters good working
relationships and ongoing improvement
• Provides ongoing means for continuous quality
improvement
Performance Management
seeks to ensure that staff members
• Understand what is expected of them and how
their work leads to organization’s goals
• Have the skills and abilities to deliver on those
expectations
• Meet those expectations
• Are actively engaged in designing and
implementing work tasks
• Sustain positive relationships
• Receive feedback on their performance
• Have opportunities to improve performance
(Re)Designing the Organization
• Start with a solid mission statement and clear strategic
plan
• Identify the skills and resources needed to accomplish
strategic goals
• Specify the activities needed to attain goals
• Group up those activities into clusters for individuals/
teams
• Establish structures of coordination and accountability
– Depict positions in chart, showing lines of accountability
• Delegate objectives and tasks, making sure that
everyone understands expectations
• Sustain clear communications
• Monitor and evaluate results, use feedback loops
Key Components of Strategic Planning
• Goals: large, overall preferred results for the
organization in the future
• Mission: goals must be consistent with mission
• Market: planning must engage important internal and
external audiences, seeking their views and involvement
• Strategies: the overall methods or processes for
accomplishing the goals
• Objectives: specific accomplishments that must be
completed to reach the goals; major milestones along
the way
• Criteria: indicators of successful accomplishment of
objectives and goals
• Implementation: delegation of tasks to people who will
complete each objective
• Evaluation: monitoring progress toward goals
Basic Steps in Strategic Planning
• Identify factors relevant to future of organization
• SWOT analysis
– Internal strengths and weaknesses
– External opportunities and threats
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Identify alternative futures for organization
Weigh options and draw conclusions
Set goals
Establish strategies to accomplish each goal
Specify objectives along way to each goal
Identify indicators of success for each
Allocate responsibilities and time lines
Communicate the plan widely
Address barriers and celebrate successes
Project Planning I
• State the problem (not the solution) clearly so everyone
involved has the same, accurate understanding of the
issue to be addressed and solved.
• Identify the goal to be attained, solution (so the problem
is resolved), how it is linked with mission.
• Specify what the team needs to do, a framework or
structure to organize work, tasks linked by structure,
clear enough that person assigned task will know what to
do.
• Identify set of activities that together will accomplish the
goal, with time ordering so they are completed in
sequence and on time for subsequent tasks. Set times
for beginning, milestones for accomplishment, project
completion.
• Organize into sequence diagram, flow chart (project
management software is available for this: Microsoft office has one; see
also www.viewpath.com and www.iteamwork.com )
Project Planning II
• Task allocation: assign specific tasks to individuals who
have competencies to complete them. Include some
stretching so people will develop/grow.
• Resources: ensure that needed resources are available
on time for each task.
• Record-keeping: set up procedures to keep track of
tasks, assignments, due dates.
• Communications: set up procedures for monitoring
work, reporting on tasks, supporting collaboration,
alerting others to barriers, testing for quality
• Plan for errors and handling problems along the way:
convene team to address and resolve.
• Protect team members from other demands on time.
• Disseminate and celebrate results.
Problem Solving
• Impulse is to react in ways that have been used before
• Satisficing: looking close to familiar solutions, selecting
easiest one (fewest demands) to apply
• Instead, seek to understand why you and others think
there is a problem
• Ask what do we see, where, how occurring, when, with
whom, why, own role in it?
• Seek to frame the issue in ways different from past
• Engage others in examining definitions and potential
solutions
• Set priorities in addressing components
Further steps in problem-solving
• Examine potential causes for the problem;
ask for views and advice from staff, peers,
managers, outsiders
• Brainstorm to identify creative alternative
approaches to solving it in long term,
including asking others views, opinions
• Screen alternatives for feasibility,
likelihood of long-term resolution, risks and
benefits, potential consequences
Further steps in problem-solving
• Identify the best solution, test with others
• Identify what situation should look like
when solution implemented
• Specify steps to be taken, by whom, with
what resources, in what time frame
• Communicate plan to others
• Monitor implementation, evaluate results,
refine plan as needed
Delegation
• Assign responsibility for accomplishing a
goal or objective to a member of the staff
• Allow that person to formulate activities
needed to accomplish assignment
– Builds motivation
– Increases competencies
• Risk of assuming “Why bother? I could do
the work in much less time.”
Steps of delegation
• Delegate whole tasks to individuals/ teams
• Select the right person/team for tasks
• Clearly specify results expected, not the
methods for accomplishing them
• Make sure recipient understands and agrees
with assignment
• Agree on criteria for monitoring progress, times
for reporting & feedback
• Maintain open lines of communication
• Set up means for addressing problems/ barriers
• Evaluate and reward successful performance
Communications
• Everyone should submit periodic progress reports to
supervisors
• Hold regular meetings with staff to discuss progress on
assignments, with individual/team summaries, open
feedback
• Learn to listen actively; ask for clarification, check to see
if others understand your point
• Demonstrate practices of open communications, asking
for and giving feedback
• Encourage staff to initiate discussions when tasks
accomplished or barriers encountered
• Solicit views of ways to deal with barriers; invite others to
help solve problems.
• Spread news of successes; show appreciation for others
Risk Management
• Def: Steps to ensure that critical assets and resources
are protected from loss or damage
• People
– Screen applicants, clear job descriptions, fair reviews, adequate
compensation, prevention of discrimination and harassment
– Responsiveness to problems, complaints, grievances
– Policies on conflicts of interest, whistle-blowing
– Policies on giving public information
• Property and resources
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Careful accounting and regular audits
Monitor and ensure workplace safety
Insurance (liability, D&O, property)
Policies on document retention, access, and destruction
Managing Meetings I
• Meetings are costly in staff time, so must be productive
• Decide specifically what should be accomplished with
meeting
• Identify who should attend, based on purpose of meeting
• Decide on meeting agenda and work plan (structure,
format)
• Make sure agenda to engage participants early and
actively. What do you want them to do and why?
• By each agenda item, indicate the type of action sought
(decision, vote, brainstorming, assignment) and time
estimates for each item
Managing Meetings II
• Invite participants, providing clear statement of meeting
purpose and expectations for participants
• Make sure that agenda and background materials are
distributed to participants well in advance of meeting
• Open meeting with summary of purposes, making sure
everyone understands expectations
• Clarify ground rules (such as participate actively, stay
focused on topic, maintain momentum, get to closure)
• Make sure someone takes notes and distributes them
• Clarify own role in meeting; model the behavior you want
others to follow
Managing Meetings III
• Manage the time carefully, keep the process moving
• Make sure that extraverts don’t crowd out the introverts
by calling on silent ones and reminding those who have
spoken
• Ask participants to help you keep track of time
• If time gets out of hand, ask participants for input on
resolution
• Do periodic checks on satisfaction, suggestions
• Check your conclusions with group on conclusions and
delegated tasks
• Leave 10-15 minutes at end for open evaluation
• Try to end on time and on positive note
Presentations
• Identify the goals and purposes of your presentation,
what you want to accomplish with this audience
• State clearly the top 2-3 things you want these listeners
to hear and take away.
• Start presentation with brief overview of the purposes
and plan of the session, why topic is important for them.
• Maintain positive tone, engagement with audience, use
humor when possible, give examples of key points
• Make sure that handouts or slides address key points,
use consistent format. Check out computer in advance.
DO NOT read slides or handouts.
• Maintain eye contact, talk a bit louder and slower than
usual in conversations, stand still, use gestures, smile
• Invite questions and feedback.
• Conclude with restatement of the major things you want
audience to take away.
Managing Yourself I
• Keep the mission in mind always.
• Set priorities among tasks (urgent vs. important).
• Recognize own signs of stress. Tell others and ask for
feedback
• Monitor own time and work hours; take responsibility
for personal rest and renewal
• Set personal growth goals and follow plan to attain
them.
• Get and use a mentor or coach. Ask for help.
• Always tell the truth, keep your promises, build trust.
• Learn to delegate, as it builds others’ competencies
• Understand your own style of learning, approach to
power and to problems, dealing with criticism and
conflict.
Managing Yourself II
• Develop emotional intelligence
• Communicate with staff, supervisors, partner, mentor
(err on the side of too much)
• Learn and practice active listening
• Give constructive feedback to others on the spot; don’t
let discontents fester
• Resist impulse to jump in and “fix” things
• Address underlying issues, not crises
• Identify aspects of work that are satisfying
• Know when to stop, quit, leave. Prepare successors and
stay aware of “founder’s syndrome.”
• Recognize and celebrate own accomplishments
There is never enough time!
Signs of poor time management
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Staff meetings last too long and accomplish too little
I’m spending too much time on e-mails and the telephone
My time gets consumed by unimportant things
My staff does not work productively when I’m not in the office
I tend to get too involved with too many projects at once.
There are always so many interruptions.
I need to make so many urgent decisions that I cannot study them
all
• I’m just a hands-on manager and like to be involve with everything
• If there are problems, I can always finish the job myself.
Principles of time management
• Planning
– An hour of planning can save many hours of
implementation
– Start the day by deciding which issues are the
most important and put them first
– Save smaller issues for late in the day
– Avoid accepting others’ definitions of each
problem as a crisis
– Someone else’s procrastination isn’t my
emergency
More on time management
• Organizing:
– make responsibility congruent with authority
– have people report to only one supervisor
• Staffing:
– Match person with task to optimize motivation
– Orientation for newcomers can save time later
– Learning from training programs should be reinforced
on the job
– Expect people to take initiative and responsibility for
solutions, not just identifying problems
More on time management
• Leading
– If it cannot be changed, don’t waste time on it
– People adopt the organization’s culture, so lead with
solutions, not just complaints, and expect other to do
same.
– Focus on policies not complaints
– Make sure plans are clear about tasks and
responsibilities
– Don’t take on tasks that could be delegated to others
– Delegate responsibility for whole tasks, not just parts
– Communicate expectations clearly
– Keep your eye on the long-term future
More on time management
• Decision-making
– Distinguish issues from causes
– Focus on underlying issues, not complaints
– Build on what works
– Indecision is in fact a decision, one that
wastes time
– Decisions should be made at the front lines,
not executive office, wherever possible
– Decisions should be made by those who have
the most information in the issue.
Emotional Intelligence
• Identifying emotions: the ability to perceive and
recognize emotions in oneself and others
• Using emotions: the ability to generate and feel
emotions in communication
• Understanding emotions: the ability to
understand emotional information, how they
arise and combine
• Managing emotions: the ability to regulate
expressions of emotions in oneself and others
so as to promote interpersonal understanding
and growth.
Personal Emotional Competencies
• Self-awareness of one’s own inner states
• Recognition of how one’s emotions influence attitudes
and communications
• Self-confidence in one’s own worth and capabilities
• Self-management and control of one’s own feelings,
impulses, resources
• Trustworthiness in maintaining personal honesty and
integrity
• Conscientiousness, taking responsibility for personal
performance
• Adaptability, flexibility in handling change
• Initiative, readiness to act on opportunities
• Achievement-orientation, internal readiness to improve
or meet higher standards of excellence
Social-emotional competencies
• Social awareness of others’ feelings, needs, concerns
• Body language: reading voice, movement, gestures, eye
contact, volume, posture, silence, timing
• Empathy: sensing others’ feelings, perspectives, taking
active interest in their concerns
• Organizational awareness: reading a group’s emotional
currents and power relationships
• Service orientation: anticipating, recognizing, acting on
consumers’ needs and interests
• Social skills in inducing desirable responses in others
• Developing others: sensing others developmental needs
and bolstering their competencies
More social-emotional competencies
• Leadership: inspiring and guiding others, using effective
tactics for persuasion
• Communication: listening actively and openly and
sending convincing messages
• Change catalyst: initiating and managing change in
relationships
• Conflict management: negotiating and resolving
disagreements
• Teamwork and collaboration: working well with others
toward shared goals; creating group synergy in pursuing
collective goals; show appreciation to others for
accomplishments.
Staff Motivation
• Motivating others starts with motivating yourself.
Enthusiasm is contagious. What energizes you?
• Find out what motivates other individuals (ask, listen,
observe, recognize differences)
• Note important distinction between satisfiers and
hygiene factors
• Link assignments and rewards with individual
motivations, and keep fresh on this as work and people
change over time
• Align tasks with mission and goals of organizations, and
help others stay clear of those links. “Here’s why you
and your skills are so essential for our success.”
• While positive relationships are important, make sure
policies, assignments, and procedures are clear and fair
to everyone
• Recognize and celebrate successes in variety of ways
Performance Appraisals
• Provide informal feedback on performance when
first noted in work. Don’t allow negative build-up.
• Design formal appraisal method based on job
description, assignments, and expectations
• Use standardized forms, available to everyone
• Include closed-ended ratings and space for
comments
• Announce schedule to everyone, then stick to it
• Remind individuals of scheduled reviews
• Invite individuals to offer changes to job
description and to evaluation forms
More on Performance Appraisals
• Record accomplishments, exhibited strengths and
limitations, recommendations for improvement
• Use observed behaviors of that employee, not hearsay
or rumor
• Invite employee’s input, self-assessments,
accomplishments, needs for improvement
• Provide honest, constructive feedback based on own
observations
• Disagreements are acceptable; note them
• Nothing should be surprising if you have given informal
feedback as work has proceeded
• Allow employee to add own statement at end of form
• Conclude with next steps for improving performance,
resources, and expectations for demonstrating change
Firing
• Should come only after several attempts to
change behavior, with documented feedback
and warnings to employee and based on
specific personnel policies
• Take time to talk with supervisors and managers
about step, gathering ideas and suggestions
• Meet with employee promptly and speak clearly,
constructively, avoiding blaming
• Document decision in letter to employee with
copy to personnel file
• Restrict employee’s access to organizational
files and resources