Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as an operations supervisor and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.
An Operations Supervisor is liable for supervising the daily activities of an operations unit in any organization to ensure they run smoothly as per the requirements. This position is the backbone of any organization that a company can't do without.
The responsibilities of this post includes determining the workflow and scheduling it, implementing operational policies and procedures, executing and planning the budget for the organization, overseeing the inventory and revamping the department to upgrade its contribution to the welfare of the team, formulate effective strategies that enhances the financial health of the organization, developing measures to motivate employees and undertake office management.
Core Skills Required to be an Operations Supervisor
Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.
Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.
An operations supervisor should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.
Organized Workplace:
Organized Workplace is a vital characteristic that helps the business to thrive for long term due to the sense of structure and order which efficiently promotes the team spirit.
An Operations Supervisor must be organized in the general organizing, planning, communication, time management, scheduling, coordinating resources and meeting deadlines to support the staff in being well structured and run the company successfully.
Urgency:
Urgency is the speed that drives businesses fast in order to keep them from disconnecting from what they are aiming to achieve but pursue it with a sense of urgency.
An Operations Supervisor needs to create a sense of urgency in the business by helping the staff see the need for change by taking advantage of the presented opportunities or by dealing with any issue that is holding them back.
Knowledge of Job:
Knowledge of Job is essential to every employee who needs to have a clear understanding of how their jobs fit into the overall organization to eliminate carelessness and laxity.
An Operations Supervisor must be able to evaluate this criterion when selecting an employee and know the common descriptions of a person with either right or inadequate knowledge of the job early enough to either keep them or let them go.
Supervisory Skills:
Supervisory Skills is the ability to lead and manage people effectively in a difficult and challenging atmosphere in the day to day life.
An Operations Supervisor must cultivate, develop and refine management and supervisory skills to strengthen the present as well as build the future of the business by becoming competent in such roles like problem-solving, communication, managing people, time management, leadership, planning, etc.
Initiative:
An initiative is the ability to assess and initiate things independently often done without any managerial influence offered.
An Operations Supervisor must train his workers to take up tasks without being asked to and work on them without being supervised to a quality that is accepted by the company, therefore nurturing a skill that grows the individual and the group as well.
Orientation to Work:
Orientation to Work is the introduction that is given to a new worker whereby he is introduced to coworkers and given relevant information like schedules, performance standards, benefits and facilities, names of the supervisors, etc.
An Operations Supervisor must ensure that all new employees go through an orientation process to assimilate into the workplace and become familiar with what is expected of them.
Personal Accountability:
Personal Accountability is the feeling that you are entirely responsible for your actions and consequences taking ownership without blaming others.
An Operations Supervisor should provide a list of duties and responsibilities that every employee is expected to perform and define timelines and supervisors who oversee the work to ensure each knows what she /he should do and remain accountable without passing blame.
Results Orientation:
Results Orientation is knowing and focusing on outstanding results and working hard to achieve them because they are significant.
An Operations Supervisor must understand and make it clear to the employees how important results are and the competitive and results driven market that the company is facing while encouraging them to remain focused on the results that every project bears without fail.
Deadlines - On time:
Deadlines - On time is the ability to prioritize the important tasks and setting up a plan on how to work on them first to deliver within the set period.
An Operations Supervisor must have the art of managing deadlines by being able to prioritize the work that is set for scheduling to the workers according to how vital the projects are and how soon they need to be executed and submitted.
Quality Management:
Quality Management is the management approach to the long-term success through customer satisfaction that directly involves the employees in the continual improvement of the daily tasks.
An Operations Supervisor should consider the quality management earnestly for the success of the business by improving the processes, products, services, the discipline and the culture in which they work under to warrant the improvement of profitability and productivity.
Hard Skills Required to be an Operations Supervisor
Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.
Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.
An operations supervisor should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.