Basic Concepts: The Four Foundations for Good Relations
Good supervisors do not wait for trouble. They do a few definite things every day that keep the Job Relations line strong and head off many problems before they start.
The Introduction made the case that a supervisor gets results through people, and that the everyday line between a supervisor and each person decides whether those results are good or poor. This section is about what keeps that line strong before any problem appears. The supervisors who keep good relations are not lucky and not simply likable — they do a few definite things, day in and day out. Those few things are the Four Foundations for Good Relations.
By the end of this section, you should understand:
- the Four Foundations for Good Relations, and the action points that make each one practical,
- why the foundations are preventive — used daily they keep the Job Relations line strong,
- why people must be treated as individuals, and what shapes a person you supervise,
- which differences a supervisor can recognize but cannot change,
- why the foundations head off many problems but will not prevent every one.
1The Four Foundations for Good Relations
Experience across many supervisors and many industries points to the same conclusion: the ones who keep good relations do definite things, consistently, that keep the Job Relations line in good condition. There are four of them.
The Foundations for Good Relations are basic practices a supervisor applies day in and day out to keep the everyday relationship with each person strong, so that many problems never come up.
The four foundations are these:
Strong Job Relations rest on four foundations a supervisor applies every day. Each is a practice, not a slogan — and each comes with action points that say what to actually do.
What to notice: the foundations are preventive. They are not steps you reach for after a problem appears — they are the daily upkeep that keeps the line strong so that fewer problems appear at all.
None of these is complicated, and none costs money. Read on their own they can sound like ordinary courtesy. What turns them from good intentions into a working practice is the set of action points under each one — the specific things a supervisor actually does. Those action points are printed on the reverse of the JR card, and they are where the foundations earn their keep.
Foundation 1 — Let each worker know how they are doing
Suppose someone goes home and is asked, "How are you doing on your job?" — and has to answer, "I don't know. No one has said anything." That is not good job relations. People want to know where they stand, just as you do.
- Decide what you expect of a person, then tell them where they stand. You cannot tell people how they are doing until you have decided what good work looks like. Settle that first, then let them know.
- Point out ways to improve. It does no good to tell a person only that they are wrong. Suggest a different way to go about it.
Foundation 2 — Give credit when due
We all respond to recognition. If a person has been sick but stays on to finish an important job, you may not be able to give a raise — but you can let them know it helped you out.
- Look for unusual performance. Watch for the extra effort. Sometimes it is the unreliable person who has done something that deserves a word of credit.
- Tell them while it's hot. Do not wait, and do not get so busy that you let a simple thanks slip past the moment it was due.
Foundation 3 — Tell people in advance about changes that affect them
Imagine being told tonight that, beginning tomorrow, you move to the midnight shift. Most people would at least want a chance to be heard. All of us need time to get used to a change.
- Give the reasons. Give the person the reasoning behind the change, not an arbitrary decision handed down.
- Help them accept it. Help the person understand the change so they can come to terms with it, rather than resist it.
Foundation 4 — Make the best use of each person's ability
Have you ever had someone go sour because they felt they could do more skilled work than you had them doing? Have you looked around the shop to see whether you had that work for them?
- Look for ability that is not being used. Be sure you know what skills are in the area. Do not train a new person for a job a skilled person is already capable of while that skilled person sits in a less suitable one.
- Never stand in a person's way. Do not hold people back just to get your own job done.
The action points are the foundations in working form. "Give credit when due" is a sentiment; "look for unusual performance and tell them while it's hot" is something a supervisor can do this afternoon. Carry the card and use the action points as your checklist.
2People must be treated as individuals
It would be a mistake to read the foundations as a procedure you run the same way on everyone. The people you supervise are not interchangeable. No two are alike, and the foundations only work when applied to the person in front of you.
Each person is shaped by their job, family, health, background, education, and more. A supervisor recognizes these differences and works with them — even though the supervisor cannot change them.
A person is affected by the job, but that is only one part of their life. Family, health, background, age, education — and any number of other things — make each person who they are. A person does not leave part of themselves at home when they come to work; the whole person walks in.
The work itself shapes a person — but it is only one part of their life.
Home life and responsibilities come to work with them.
How a person feels affects how they work and respond.
Where a person is from and how long they have been here.
What a person has learned and is able to take on.
Age, interests, money, and the rest — there is always more to a person.
Each person you supervise is shaped by many things at once. The supervisor's task is to know the person well enough to apply the foundations to them.
What to notice: these factors are not something a supervisor can change. The job is to recognize them — to know the person as a separate individual — because those differences affect how the person responds on the job.
Treating "treat people as individuals" as a license to play favorites. It is the opposite. Recognizing differences means applying the same foundations fairly to each person in the way that actually reaches that person — not bending the rules for the people you happen to like.
3The foundations are preventive — and not a guarantee
Put the three ideas together and you have the basis for good job relations:
Applied day in and day out, the foundations keep the Job Relations line strong and stop many problems from ever coming up. That is the whole point of doing them consistently rather than reaching for them only when something has gone wrong. A small matter handled early — like a little blaze put out with a cup of water — never grows into the kind of problem that takes a great deal of time and damage to settle.
But the foundations will not prevent every problem. Conditions change, interruptions happen, and situations arise no matter how well the line is maintained. We have supervisors precisely because there are problems to handle. Good supervision therefore has two halves:
- the foundations, which keep relations smooth and head off many problems day to day, and
- a method for handling the problems that still arise, no matter how good the foundations have been.
For this course, a problem is anything a supervisor has to take action on — a change, an interruption, a failure, or a situation that arises and calls for a decision.
The foundations are the first half. The second half — what to do when a problem does land on your desk — is the four-step method, and it is the subject of the next section.
Section summary
A supervisor keeps the Job Relations line strong by doing four things consistently: letting each worker know how they are doing, giving credit when due, telling people in advance about changes that affect them, and making the best use of each person's ability. Each foundation comes with action points that turn it from a sentiment into a practice — decide what you expect and tell people where they stand; look for unusual performance and tell them while it's hot; give the reasons and help people accept a change; look for ability that's going unused and never stand in a person's way.
The foundations only work when the supervisor treats people as individuals. Each person is shaped by their job, family, health, background, and education — differences a supervisor cannot change but must recognize, because they affect how the person responds at work. Used day in and day out, the foundations keep the line strong and head off many problems before they start. They will not prevent every problem, though — and that is why the next section turns to the four-step method for handling the problems that still arise.