Many people feel that a Supervisor has to just supervise; no need to work. He will keep on supervising the work of others and always find faults. This assumption is common as most of the Supervisors feel that their prime duty is to supervise and not to take up any task. Role of the Supervisor is changing fast. Now a days, a supervisor has to play the roles of coach, team builder, facilitator, expediter, barrier smasher; getting things done, crossing when necessary, boundaries previously held sacred; the stress on partnership, not paternalism. The supervised not supporting the supervisor but the supervisor supporting them.

The following tips may help supervisors to excel in their workplace.

1. Know yourself: Good Supervisors know themselves. They know their strong points as well as their weak points. They know where they are secure and where they will need help.
2. Know your people: Know the names of your people. Everybody likes to be called by his or her name. Know what they expect, how they differ, how well the group can pull together. Know who are the key people for getting group support.
3. Know when to make decisions yourself and when to ask help from the group. As supervisor it is your duty to see that the necessary decisions are made, but whether you make the decision by yourself or with others is for you to decide. Shared decisions are usually best but this is not always practical.
4. Keep cool: Your men can lose their tempers but as their supervisor you cannot lose yours.
5. Be concerned about the task, and even more about your people. The best supervisors are those who are task-minded as well as people-minded. Their teams accomplish much because they have a hand in setting goals and feel they have a stake in the work, for they are treated with respect and trust, as resources, not as costs to controlled.
6. Be fair: Do not play favourites. Justice is blind. You have to do justice to your team with your decision making skills.
7. Take responsibility, do not run away from it. You grow as a person by taking responsibility. Stand up and be counted. Be honest with yourself.
8. Foresee problems: Something will always go wrong. Foresee obstacles like a visionary. Have back-up plans to meet unexpected consequences.
9. Develop your people: By developing team work, by training, by involving your people more and more in group decisions, leave your team better people for having worked under your supervision.
10. Be yourself: Do not pretend or bluff. When you say something, mean it. Remember workers take very seriously what a supervisor says to them.
11. Be a good listener: Studies the world over have shown that one of the most appreciated qualities of a supervisor is their ability to listen.
12. Develop your people: By example, by developing teamwork, by training, by involving them more and more in decision making, leave your people better persons for having worked under your supervision.