Metal fabrication management: A guide for new supervisors

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Imagine you’ve been working at a fab shop for about a decade, and you’ve been given the opportunity to supervise. You’ve held a variety of roles, starting as a general laborer and helper, then advancing through hard work, studying, and excellent technical coaching. You learned to operate the press brake and, over the past five years, became an expert welder.

Because of your record and your willingness to train new employees, managers have offered you the shop supervisor role—but you hesitate. The operation has 35 employees, with 10 dedicated to the shop: two press brake operators, five welders, one laborer/helper, a shop manager, and a supply room and delivery person. Are you ready? Do you even want to supervise? You aren’t sure, so your manager suggests you call me to talk about concerns and perhaps receive some coaching.

We talk about your education and technical training. You graduated from high school in 2012, and since then you’ve taken many technical classes, the most recent being an introductory welding course followed by many specialized welding certificate classes.

Could you make the transition to supervisor? I’m confident you’ll have no problem, especially considering how well you’ve learned the various skills required in your current and past roles. Those technical skills will be critical in your new supervisor role as you coach, mentor, develop, and evaluate your direct reports. How did you become an expert brake operator and welder? You took classes, practiced, and received coaching. The same would hold true in becoming a shop supervisor.

“I may make mistakes,” you tell me.

I nod, then ask, “Isn’t that how you became an excellent welder?”

Three Lessons New Supervisors Learn

We start our leadership coaching with the basics. Every new shop supervisor must learn three foundational lessons.

1. Change your mindset - Up to now, you’ve been an individual contributor. You were evaluated on your individual output, effort, and skill. As a supervisor, you will be evaluated on the output and effectiveness of your team. You no longer ask, “How will I do that?” Instead, you ask, “How can my team achieve it?”

This is the biggest change new leaders need to make, and many fail to make the transition. Sometimes, a new manager acts more as a “super-worker,” retaining the most challenging aspects of their former job and never developing people on the team to grow beyond what they already do. They often become micromanagers, hindering the growth and creativity of the team. Again, they haven’t changed their mindset.

Managers help employees grow and feel valued; set clear and objective performance expectations; train and coach to help them become fully competent in their job; provide frequent and effective feedback, both positive and corrective; all while encouraging them to learn and get better over time.

Your most important role is to have productive and engaged employees. Keep this in mind when evaluating employee performance and giving them feedback to maintain or improve the quality and quantity of their work.

2. Ask, don’t tell - If you want to develop an employees’ problem-solving skills, you need to ask … then wait for the answer. If you always give them the answer, they don’t try to work things out on their own, and you subtly send the wrong message: You’re not smart enough to figure it out.

Say employees ask, “How do we do this?” Instead of just telling them, try asking, “How do you think you should do that?” Or, “How have you approached a similar problem in the past?” Or, “Where would you need to look to find the answer?”

If the employee responds with an answer that will work, especially if it is not what you might have done, you can say, “That’s a good idea; I knew you could work it out” or, “Wow, I love that idea.” You don’t have all the answers, and you need to show it. You want to develop their confidence and their ability to think and grow.

Yes, mistakes happen. What have you learned from them? Think of your best managers. It’s likely they too have shared examples of their biggest mistakes and stressed how they often learned the most from them.

Whether you praise or correct members of your team, tell why you’re doing so. This helps them see how their job connects to the customer’s needs and the company’s success. When you make them feel recognized, respected, and appreciated for their efforts and successes, they feel like an important part of the team, not just an anonymous cog in a wheel.

3. Promptly address personnel problems - Nothing undermines morale more quickly than a supervisor not promptly addressing performance or behavior problems. Too many simply lose credibility just by not dealing with problem employees.

You can probably relate. Think back. Do you remember that one co-worker who just wasn’t dependable, who performed poorly, leading to numerous headaches and even lost customers? When other employees complained, the supervisor just said, “Mind your own business.” Everyone with authority ignored the problem, morale suffered, and some really good employees quit.

Waiting and hoping the employee will get better is not an effective strategy. Problem employees never get better, and you’ll look ineffectual and weak by not promptly addressing the issues at hand.

Address Problems the Right Way

Again, remember the impact problematic co-workers had on your team and the frustration you felt when supervisors simply ignored the issue. With that in mind, consider the following steps to deal with problem employees.

Describe the Problem. Do this in a factual, straightforward way using no more than two simple sentences. For example, you might say, “Joe, this week you came in late twice—10 minutes late on Monday and 15 minutes late on Tuesday. Being late affects your co-workers and makes you look unreliable.”

It sounds direct, but it gets to the heart of the issue: Being frequently late just isn’t acceptable. Remember, your job is to listen more and tell less. Too many managers spend so much time indirectly stating the problem that they end up just confusing the employee.

Ask Why. Ask how or why something happened, why they behaved the way they did or said the things they said: “I need your help, Joe. Can you tell me why you were late?” This applies to any problem. An employee could have improperly welded two parts together or yelled at a co-worker. Regardless of the issue, you can’t know what the employee was thinking unless you ask why. Assuming you know is a mistake.

Ask questions. Tell me more about that. Do you have another example? These and other queries allow you to analyze and think about the situation. Then, just listen—one of the most important parts of your job. Avoid the temptation to provide answers or ideas. Wait for their explanation; only when you hear it can you use your skills to diagnose what the root cause actually is.

Imagine you start having frequent headaches, and so you go to the doctor. A good doctor starts by asking good questions. What part of your head hurts? When does it hurt? Is the pain sharp or dull? When do the headaches occur? When do they subside? Is anything happening at work or in your personal life that may be triggering the headaches? Questions help accurately assess the potential causes. Then, and only then, can the doctor recommend a treatment or course of action. Remember, treatment without diagnosis is malpractice, whether in medicine or in management.

Paraphrase and Confirm. As you listen, paraphrase what the employee said and ask if you’re understanding correctly. If so, ask if there are any other reasons why the problem occurred. Paraphrase all the responses, and again ask if there are any other reasons. Always probe until you hear, “No, there are no other reasons.”

At this point you might be tempted to bring up a reason you feel might be contributing to the problem, even if the employee didn’t bring it up. Don’t. Just silently make a note of it, then go on to the next step.

Ask for Ideas. Ask how the problem could be prevented in the future. Again, avoid the temptation to offer suggestions, ideas, or solutions. Let employees think about how to address the issue. Most already know the answer; let them verbalize it. Silence is your friend here. Patiently wait. Their silence means they are thinking, and if you speak, you may derail their train of thought.

When they offer their ideas, listen and paraphrase what they said to make sure you got it right: So you are saying … Only when they say “yes” do you move on. If they say no, ask them to try again, or say it in another way. Until the employee says “Yes, you have it right,” you don’t have it right.

Here again, you continue to probe. Ask if they have any other ideas. Until they say “no,” don’t stop asking. Having all the reasons and all the potential solutions will pay dividends later on. The goal is to get all of their ideas before you ask the employee to make any commitments and arrive at a course of action. Your job is to go through your managerial diagnostic checklist to correctly assess what is happening and why, and whether the solutions offered will truly address the problem.

Employees might not come up with solutions you feel are “ideal.” Regardless, go with those solutions and recognize their efforts. Of course, sometimes their ideas simply will not work. They might be new or have less experience. In this case, you can suggest ideas, but when doing so, phrase them as questions. For example, if an employee is late with a job, you might ask, “Would starting a bit earlier allow you to complete the work on time?”

You need to develop employees to be independent thinkers who, with the skills they’ve learned, can approach a challenge, achieve it, and continue to get better. Your dedication, technical skills, and productivity got you to where you are. Success now, as a shop supervisor, is about achieving the company goals and helping the skilled people on your team develop and grow.