Outline – SACSA 2012
Courageous Supervision
Purpose: To explore what it means to be a courageous supervisor and break the cycle of bad supervision
Question at Issue: What does an engaged supervisor look like? How can I be one?
Fundamental and Powerful concept: strengths based leadership
Trust, stability, hope and compassion
Concepts
 Q 12 – define the right outcomes and let each person find his own route toward those outcomes p. 110
 Turn talent into performance
 “The best managers…know that the manager’s challenge is not to perfect people, but to capitalize on each
person’s uniqueness. They select for talent, no matter how simple the role. Their first instinct is to trust the
people they have selected. And they believe that, with enough thought, even intangibles like “customer
satisfaction” and “employee morale” can be defined in terms of outcomes.” p. 121.
o “They strive to carve out a unique set of expectations that will stretch and focus each particular
individual.
o They try to highlight and perfect each person’s unique style. They draw his attention to it. They help
him understand why it works for him and how to perfect it.
o And they plot how they, the manager, can run interference for each employee, so that each can
exercise his or her talents even more freely.
 If this is how you see your role, if this is what you are doing when you spend time with your
people, you cannot help but be drawn toward your most talented employees.” P. 154
 Performance management
 “These four characteristics – simplicity, frequent interaction, focus on the future, and self-tracking – are the
foundation for a successful “performance management” routine.” P. 222
o The routine is a simple format that allows concentration on the truly difficult work: what to say to
each employee and how to say it.
o The routine forces frequent interaction between the manager and the employee
o The routine is focused on the future; discuss what could be rather than allowed the convo to
descend into recriminations and postmortems.
o The routine asks the employee to keep track of his own performance and learnings
 Write down goals, successes, and discoveries
 Take responsibility for your performance
 Performance planning meetings p. 226
o What actions have you taken?
o What discoveries have you made?
o What partnerships have you built?
Direct the convo for the future:
o What is your main focus for the next ___?
o What new discoveries are you planning?
o What new partnerships are you hoping to build?

Strength in numbers
Are you going to join the revolution? How?
Courageous Supervision
Purpose: To explore what it means to be a courageous supervisor and break the cycle of bad supervision
Question at Issue: What does an engaged supervisor look like? How can I be one?
Fundamental and Powerful concept: strengths based leadership
Trust, stability, hope and compassion
Concepts

Q 12 – the focus of great managers, p. 48
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
9. Do my fellow employees commit to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked bo me about my progress?
12. In the last year, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?
Define the right outcomes and let each person find her own route toward those outcomes p. 110
 Turn talent into performance
 “The best managers…know that the manager’s challenge is not to perfect people, but to capitalize on each
person’s uniqueness. They select for talent, no matter how simple the role. Their first instinct is to trust the
people they have selected. And they believe that, with enough thought, even intangibles like “customer
satisfaction” and “employee morale” can be defined in terms of outcomes.” p. 121.
o “They strive to carve out a unique set of expectations that will stretch and focus each particular
individual.
o They try to highlight and perfect each person’s unique style. They draw his attention to it. They help
him understand why it works for him and how to perfect it.
o And they plot how they, the manager, can run interference for each employee, so that each can
exercise his or her talents even more freely.
 If this is how you see your role, if this is what you are doing when you spend time with your
people, you cannot help but be drawn toward your most talented employees.” P. 154
 Performance management
 “These four characteristics – simplicity, frequent interaction, focus on the future, and self-tracking – are the
foundation for a successful “performance management” routine.” P. 222
o The routine is a simple format that allows concentration on the truly difficult work: what to say to
each employee and how to say it.
o The routine forces frequent interaction between the manager and the employee
o The routine is focused on the future; discuss what could be rather than allowed the convo to
descend into recriminations and postmortems.
o The routine asks the employee to keep track of his own performance and learnings
 Write down goals, successes, and discoveries
 Take responsibility for your performance

Performance planning meetings p. 226
o What actions have you taken?
o What discoveries have you made?
o What partnerships have you built?
Direct the conversation for the future:
o What is your main focus for the next ___?
o What new discoveries are you planning?
o What new partnerships are you hoping to build?
Resources
Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, Strengths Based Leadership
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First Break All the Rules
Dr. John Maxwell, various books
Tony Doody and Patrick Love, Unconventional Leadership http://www.unconventional-leadership.com/
Dr. Susan Komives, Relational Leadership Model
Bob Nelson, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees
Ken Blanchard, Customer Mania
Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge and Encourage the Heart
Shankman and Allen, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
Mike Figliuolo, Thought Leaders blog http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog/
Smart Brief on Leadership blog https://www.smartbrief.com/leadership/index.jsp
Center for Creative Leadership
Daily Good: News that Inspires blog http://www.dailygood.org/
Dr. Brad Shuck, University of Louisville professor researching employee engagement
David Novak, Taking People with You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen
Seth Godin, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
To stay in contact:
Pam Nessle Curtis
University of Louisville
Director, Office of Civic Engagement, Leadership and Service
Pncurt01@louisville.edu
Twitter Pnesslecurtis
Facebook Pam Curtis