Synopsis

A persuasive and compelling guide for supervisors so you can finally break free from the stress and overwhelm and lead your team to peak performance.

Too many supervisors are promoted because they excel in their field, but few receive supervisor training. It's the expectation that supervisors are inherently stressed and overworked, but this does not have to be the case. In fact, by supervising the right way, you can create a happy work environment and lead your team to peak performance.

In The Super Leader: From Survival to Peak Performance, Shanda K. Miller – a bootstrap leader who learned the lessons of leadership one principle at a time over her 20 year career as a supervisor – teaches other supervisors how to implement transformative principles and practices to allow one to move beyond struggle to a high level of effectiveness. Supervisors are waking up to the fact that important areas of their life are being neglected, and that there is more to life than long hours and high stress.

As a supervisor, team leader, or manager in a corporate, public, or startup organization, this book will change your work life by guiding you to:

1.       Successfully delegate roles and tasks to staff by providing the right level of support and expectations

2.       Create high performing teams to drastically increase productivity and achieve the results expected by your organization

3.       Reduce stress and overwhelm, so you can leave work at 5 everyday knowing your team is on track to meeting expectations

Outline

1. Introduction: You Can Be a Supervisor and Have a Life (Being a supervisor doesn’t have to mean high stress, overwhelm, or long hours)

Part I: Lead Yourself

Be the employee you expect your staff to be. Being a Super Leader begins with yourself, getting your own stuff in order, practicing radical empathy and emotional intelligence, and committing to good time management.

2. Know Yourself (personal insight, emotional intelligence, openness to feedback)

3. Know Your Role (understand your objectives)

4. Create a Personal Vision and Mission (know where you’re going and understand your purpose)

5. Get Organized and Practice Good Time Management Habits (organize your schedule, plan your day, focus on one thing at a time, do your most important tasks firsts)

Part II: Lead Your Team

This part is the core of the book and provides step-by-step practices for building a cohesive team that functions at peak performance.

6. Build Strong Relationships and Build Trust (connection, conversation, candor, openness, radical empathy, emotional intelligence)

7. Know Your Staff (learn their strengths and aspirations)

8. Clarify Roles and Set Clear Expectations (effective supervisors provide high expectations and high support)

9. Provide Candid and Effective Feedback (provide constructive feedback balanced with positive feedback)

10. Celebrate the Wins and Learn Together (take the opportunity to bask in your team's greatness)

11. Be the Project Manager (introduction to tools, including the use of Gantt charts and the Scrum method of project management)

12. Team Communication Plan (regular one-on-one check-ins and team check-ins create the space for all the other habits)

Part III: Lead Your Boss

This last part provides the reader with strategies and practices for ensuring s/he meets expectations, understands priorities, and creates a strong alliance with their manager.

13. Build Strong Relationships (connect with your manager and know them - know their strengths and aspirations and let them know yours)

14. Get Clear on Your Priorities (manage scope creep and know what is expected of you)

15. Communication Plan (schedule regular one-on-one meetings with your manager and actively manage group meetings to Reach Decisions)

16. Practice Organizational Performance Management (planning, budgeting, implanting, and tracking results)

Audience

The stereotypical supervisor is overworked and overwhelmed. In a time where more and more of us are valuing more than just work, we need to provide supervisors with the tools they need to succeed within the 40-hour work week.

• Core audience of new and seasoned supervisors, particularly those who are feeling overwhelmed and trying to figure out how to be more effective and create more work-life-balance.
• Secondary audience of aspiring supervisors who may hesitate in seeking a promotion, because they believe that stress and long hours comes with the job.

For supervisors and managers in the U.S:

• Almost 18% (24 million) of the U.S. workforce are front-line supervisors, managers, or administrators
• 70% of supervisors (including managers and administrators) are not considered effective in their role
• 58% of managers said they didn’t receive any management training.
• 66% of full-time employees say they don’t have a good work-life balance

These statistics show that supervisors may be lacking in both effectiveness and good work-life-balance. The purpose of The Super Leader is to provide the strategies and practices for solving both these problems at the same time. You too can be more effective and successful as a supervisor and create more work-life-balance.

Promotion

• Connect one-on-one with large network of auditors and peer supervisors (500+ connections)
• Social Media Posts and Engagement (450+ connections)
• Hire promotion specialist and social media expert
• Promote through dedicated website and promotional videos
• Plan live workshops/training across the U.S. (10 or more per year)

Competition

1. Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know

By: Jill Geisler

Publisher: Center Street (January 7, 2014)

The author focuses primarily on the interpersonal and emotional intelligence aspects of managing staff. The Super Leader includes those elements, but also includes other practices to move toward peak performance, including time management practices and organizational performance management.

2. The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams: New and Revised Edition

By Ken Blanchard, Eunice Parisi-Carew, Donald Carew

Publisher: William Morrow (March 24, 2009)

The authors explain how all groups move through four stages of development on their way to becoming high performing teams. In comparison, The Super Leader provides comprehensive strategies and practices so supervisors can become high performers and lead their teams to high performance.

3. The New Supervisor: How To Thrive In Your First Year As A Manager 

By Martin M. Broadwell, Carol Broadwell Dietrich

Publisher: Basic Books; 5 edition (May 20, 1998)

The authors cover the basics of effective management, including delegation, problem solving, motivation, time management, communication, and performance appraisal. The Super Leader goes beyond these basic concepts and provides comprehensive strategies and practices in both the areas of emotional intelligence and transforming your work style so you can lead your teams to high performance, all under 40 hours a week.

4. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

By Patrick Lencioni

Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (April 11, 2002)

The author reveals the five disfunctions of a team through storytelling with actionable steps to overcome these obstacles. The Super Leader also provides practices and strategies for building relationships, creating accountability, and tracking results, but also includes getting clear on roles, priorities, and expectations; and practicing good time management.

5. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

By: Kim Scott

Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (March 14, 2017)

The author shares her story and how open communication is crucial to building trust and cohesion with a team. The Super Leader includes these concepts, and additional comprehensive strategies and practices to lead your teams to peak performance, all while reducing stress and overwhelm.