1 The Challenge of Being a Supervisor

You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.

—Charles Kettering, former president of General Motors

In your previous nonsupervisory position, your major concern was achieving whatever results the company expected from you as an individual contributor. To do this successfully, you probably reviewed goals, desired outcomes, and performance standards with your manager. Then, all you had to be concerned with was your own job performance: Were you doing enough quality work in a timely way at a reasonable cost?

No doubt, you took a great deal of pride in your work, held yourself accountable ...

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