The start of the new year is a natural time to revisit your HR policies and reflect on your supervision practices. Robust HR policies and clear supervision practices can be a guiding light for your organization, grounding employees in our shared values and sustaining our organizations through the ups and downs of our work in the world.
Are your policies up to date and in compliance with updated regulations? Are they equitable and inclusive? Is your staff well supported and actively engaged? Are supervisors well-resourced to best support their staff? A great place to start answering these questions is a review of TREC’s Supervising With Confidence webinar.
HR and supervision go hand and hand, one supporting the other to foster effective teams and engaged staff. While there is certainly an overlap between these core areas, they are quite different in how they support the functioning of an organization.
Human Resources (HR) is a crucial part of organizational culture because it is the foundation of the employee experience. It fosters consistency across decision-making and establishes a base understanding of the rights and responsibilities of employees. Employee handbooks in particular are a form of empowerment that allows employees to advocate for themselves and simply have necessary information related to their employment (knowledge is power!).
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Human Resources (HR) is a department that manages an organization’s staff, policies, and benefits. It establishes systems and protocols as the foundation for the staff experience. It includes but is not limited to:
- Compliance and governance with state and federal laws organization wide. Protecting employee rights.
- Designing and updating the employee handbook including policies, procedures, and benefits.
- Managing conflict resolution according to established protocols.
- Facilitating orientation for new employees.
- Managing employee experience including some elements of team culture.
While HR is about setting organizational standards, supervision is about implementing those standards. Supervisors are a crucial part of the employee’s experience, and they have the biggest impact on employee satisfaction and retention. After all, 70% of an employee’s engagement is determined by their relationship with their supervisor! Oftentimes, staff are promoted into supervisory roles based on their external accomplishments and not necessarily because of their experience supervising others. Maybe you’ve put in the work and executed a major initiative at your organization and now have been promoted- but suddenly you’re managing two staff members! This is just one reason why supervision requires regular training and evaluation of organizational practices. Are supervisors confident in their ability to successfully manage their staff? What’s working for the team? What could be improved?
Supervision is a job function that involves managing the day-to-day operations and implementation of the established HR systems and protocols. It includes but is not limited to
- Helping onboard and train new employees.
- Creating and communicating expectations for staff based on their individual role. The what, when, where, how, and why of their work.
- A source for mutual accountability including work plans, staff evaluations and developing a culture of feedback.
- Ensuring staff understand the relationship between their work and the overall organizational mission and goals.
- Stewarding team culture and the professional development of staff.
TREC is offering a 3-part Supervision Workshop series starting in late April for organizations interested in learning how we approach supervision and doing a deep dive into specific practices for the ultimate skill-building experience. Participants will walk away feeling confident to lead their teams with tools to support a culture of feedback, inclusive decision-making, intentional delegation, and more. Keep an eye out for more information and how to register soon!
Below you will find a selection of resources from the Staff Management Essentials collection as well as HR related policies from the TREC website. Looking for more? Explore the new TREC Learning Guides where you’ll find more resources for HR and Supervision as well as other core organizational areas like fundraising and strategic planning.
In solidarity,
HR & Supervision Learning Guide
This learning guide includes essential management tools, HR policies and protocols, and culture-building resources to support a more inclusive and equitable work environment for staff.
Staff Management Essentials
Strong management and supervision skills and tools build trust, increase engagement, and are a foundation for your organization’s work—investing in these skills is crucial. This collection provides a framework of five core elements of management, systems, and behaviors to develop a culture of feedback in your organization, and practical tools for delegating and decision making that help create transparency and clarity within your organization.
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A streamlined job board and referral board for easier access to opportunities and connections. TREC’s newsletters will also be posted on our website blog, and most blog posts are open for your discussion!
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When I escape the chilly, windy city, I love to visit New Orleans! It is truly my happy place. I enjoy the local live music, the amazing food, and meeting the most interesting and kindest people.
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