Make Room for Observations
Early in our working career, we notice the element of supervision, someone giving us orders. Our observation will be that some appear to be better qualified than others for that role.
Sometimes we may wonder what that role is, considering they sit, and you do. And then, you find out that they get paid more for doing less than you do. Or so you think.
More Pay, More Responsibility
As you might seek out that leadership role, to be a supervisor, you take your duties more seriously and do them more willingly. That will get you notices and rewarded with more responsibility and a raise. Yippee!
The catch comes with more responsibility. There will be new things to learn and more things to consider and think about. And, if the role is supervisor, you will have an added layer of responsibility. Now, you are starting to see why your supervisor was coming in earlier and staying later. That is when they had to organize and plan.
Plan to Oversee Yourself
If you are given the opportunity to supervise others, your first challenge will be to oversee yourself. It will be your responsibility to help them learn and grow in their abilities and understanding of how and why they are to do what they do. The challenge will come with how to react when they are not able to or not willing to follow your directions. You must learn how they need to be led.
Do that well and earn their respect along with your boss’s respect and your raises will keep coming.
Remember: To whom much is given much is required.
Give Time Value
As a supervisor, you will be given goals and a timeframe to achieve those goals. Just remember, you will have to ascertain how reasonable those goals are, because they are the whims of others who are passing the responsibility to you.
You will need to give time value, make priorities on what to do first, and allocate time for planning your day, week, month, etc.
When you take on that kind of responsibility, you become more essential to getting things done. Delegation may be difficult for you and taking time off will become harder to do. Vacations will be interrupted by calls requiring your decision. Just remember, you are getting paid to do that!
Make Contacts, Get Insights
Learn what you can from other supervisors. Insights can benefit you many times over. Good contacts will develop friendships and a means to qualify ideas before you execute them.
As you observe others and try out a variety of leadership theories and practices, you can grow your value even more.
Learn to Earn
Read. Read. Read. That is the sign of a good leader. They read to learn all they can that can improve their skills and an understanding of the industry they work in. Added knowledge will give you an advantage over many who might want your job. Better yet, you might get notices for a better-paying job in your organization or with another company. Then, they can have your old job!
Knowledge is essential. Ignorance will lead to job loss or less pay. The simple truth is that you must value learning if you want to improve your earnings.
More to Being in Charge
Whether it is people or a machine or a process, do the best with what you know. Then, read and talk to others about what you read, to know more.
As you grow in your responsibilities, it will be important to be responsible at home with your growing income. Be the example of good stewardship, which means keep your balance sheet heavier on the asset side.
You will be able to focus on your job functions better if your personal finances are under control. If you have that kind of mindset for money, you will be more relaxed at work and less distracted by personal cash flow issues.
Everyone wants to follow a stable leader who knows what needs to be done. You are capable if you make the effort.
Much Is Required
Keep this in mind: As you learn to lead and learn about what makes things work, you will increase the options you have for earning an income. Those options may eventually include being the big boss or starting a business of your own.
Eventually, if you have developed a good mindset for money, with purposeful saving to prepare for investing opportunities, you can take advantage of the moment as those opportunities come to you. And they will come to you!
Work on Yourself
Regardless of the difficulty and demands of your job, you must schedule time to keep your skills and level of current knowledge refreshed and updated. If you are wondering why, I will explain. We tend to lose what we do not use right away. In fact, per studies by corporate trainers, as noted on learningguild.com, most students lose about 50% of what was taught in about an hour, about 70% after 24 hours, and up to 90% after a week! They refer to this as the Forgotten Curve. That revelation should be reason enough to continue to read and study to make sure you do not forget what may be important to know on your job!
Let’s add some perspective. Like studying for a school exam, we cram for what we need to know to pass the test. The good news is that we gather a lot of information that can be useful when the time comes to use it. For a lot of us who never seek out more responsibilities, a lot of that information is filed away in our minds, our subconscious minds, until we can retrieve it when we need it. The retrieving process is aided by our continuous efforts to learn. Learn how you can beat the Forgotten Curve.
To keep information fresh and close to the surface of our thinking, we need to repeatedly feed our minds the information we currently need. Repetition can be boring but if we are making a conscious effort to remember, our efforts will make us more productive and respectful for what we know and how we apply what we know.
Sounds Like Work to Me
Yes, that sounds like a lot of work to feed your mind. However, with an attempt to make time for daily reading, even 30 minutes per day or three and a half hours per week, will put you at a level far exceeding the average person. Most of us are functioning illiterate.
Now we can listen to books, like listening to the radio. We do not even look at words much, except for texts, which have a lot of shorthand and emojis. Does that help you with email writing?
The point is you must be concerned about your ability to communicate. That will be very important as you try to position yourself for a leadership role or to be able to sell something, especially yourself!
Work Provides Means
Whatever form of employment you seek to provide an income, your means to provide a livelihood, you must decide to make the effort to work on what you need to do to provide for your needs.
The more you want over your needs, the harder you will have to work to acquire the skills and the knowledge that is required.
Remember: To whom much is given much is required.