Supervising With Fewer Managers

    That is, how many people can you supervise effectively? First, the more you share information with your staff the greater the possibility that they will run with their responsibilities and get things done. This goes back to the way we value (and demonstrate that value) to the people we work with. If you hide information from people, they're not likely to use their potential. Plus, when you withhold important facts that can affect your colleagues you risk losing their respect. And soon the information you look forward to receiving from them could come to a standstill.
    A lot of companies have finally tapped into the wisdom that says people can oversee more employees with fewer managers. But some companies, of course, are not that quick to want to give their managers more people to oversee. Instead of giving them more workers to supervise they're changing work environments so that teams can pass off projects more easily. Changing a work environment may mean allowing in some flexibility, such as allowing people to work from home occasionally. When we give people a little more wiggle room in their jobs, especially if those jobs are incredibly demanding, an interesting thing happens: people often work harder.
    I think what's especially critical here is that you keep an open mind, whether you're supervising others or just yourself. Many successful managers become the people they are because they figure out which things they should focus on and then allow their employees to take care of the rest. Some managers, for example, concentrate on getting rid of or managing obstacles that arise. Successful managers also help their people discover new opportunities and figure out ways to leverage those.
    For many of us, it's all about time management, which includes that pesky part of just doing as many things as we possibly can. Very often, that entails chipping away, over time if necessary, what simply is a waste of energy. We can't do everything and almost every single day something is going to have to give in your schedule.
    And speaking of multitasking, I hope you'll forgive me for cutting this post short; I've got more cooking to do for the Passover Seder. Most days I worry about not having enough time to get everything done. Right now, I'm concerned about having enough food . . .