Supervisory Skills for First-Line Supervisors: Planning, Instruction and Discipline – Paris, 25–29 Jan 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Supervisory Skills decide whether a shift delivers its plan, yet most first-line supervisors are promoted from the team for technical ability and left to learn the role alone. Work is allocated by habit, expectations stay unclear, new staff learn by watching others, lateness and conduct issues drift, and information is lost at every shift change. This Core Concept course gives new supervisors and team leaders practical routines for planning, instructing, monitoring and correcting daily work, rehearsed in role-play. Participants assemble a Supervisor's Daily Operating Kit for the team they run.

Course Objectives:

• Establish supervisory authority with former peers and clarify decision limits and escalation routes in the first weeks in the role
• Plan and allocate each shift's work using a team skills matrix, a daily work plan and standard work
• Monitor output and quality during the shift through short-interval control, daily team huddles and deviation logs
• Instruct team members on the job using the TWI Job Instruction method and job breakdown sheets
• Handle attendance, conduct and team conflict issues with the TWI Job Relations method, fact records and documented discipline conversations
• Hand over shifts and report upward using a structured handover log and end-of-shift report

Target Audience:

• Supervisors directing the daily work of operational, production, service or field teams
• Shift leads responsible for staffing, output and handover across rotating shifts
• Newly promoted team members now directing the work of former peers
• Senior technicians and crew leads who allocate tasks to small work crews
• Service and contact-centre team leads who monitor daily service levels and attendance

Course Outline:

Day 1: The First-Line Supervisor Role and the Move from Peer to Supervisor

• Supervisor Role Map: Output, Quality, Cost, Delivery and People
• Peer-to-Supervisor Transition Checklist and First Team Meeting Plan
• Supervisory Authority Limits and Escalation Matrix
• Team Baseline Review Using Output, Attendance and Rework Data
• Training Within Industry Overview: Job Instruction, Job Relations and Job Methods

Day 2: Methods for Standard Work, Instruction and People Problems

• TWI Job Instruction Four Steps: Prepare, Present, Try Out and Follow Up
• TWI Job Relations Four Steps: Get the Facts, Weigh and Decide, Take Action, Check Results
• Job Breakdown Sheet: Important Steps, Key Points and Reasons
• Standard Work Sheet and Visual Work Instructions
• Short-Interval Control Cycle for Hourly Output Checks

Day 3: Planning, Allocating and Monitoring the Daily Work

• Team Skills Matrix and Cross-Training Plan
• Daily Work Plan and Shift Allocation Board
• Expectation-Setting Brief Using Standard Work and Quality Criteria
• Daily Team Huddle Agenda and Team Visual Board
• Output and Quality Tracking Sheet with Deviation Log

Day 4: Attendance, Conduct, Conflict and Upward Reporting

• Attendance and Lateness Pattern Log with Informal Review Conversation
• Conduct Incident Fact Record and Written Notice Preparation
• Progressive Discipline Steps Under Applicable Labour Law and Work Regulations
• Team Conflict Resolution Using a Fact-Based Mediation Sequence
• Shift Handover Log and End-of-Shift Report to the Line Manager

Day 5: Role-Play Practice and the Supervisor's Daily Operating Kit

• Role-Play: Delivering a Job Instruction Session from a Job Breakdown Sheet
• Role-Play: First Conversation About Repeated Lateness
• Role-Play: Settling a Dispute Between Two Team Members with Job Relations
• Shift Change Exercise Using Participants' Own Handover Logs
• Supervisor's Daily Operating Kit Assembly and Peer Review

Skills You Will Gain:

• Work Allocation Planning
• Skills Matrix Management
• Standard Work Application
• Short-Interval Control
• On-the-Job Instruction
• Attendance Management
• Disciplinary Documentation
• Shift Handover Reporting

Why Attend This Course:

• Run each shift from a written plan, so every team member knows the task, the standard and the target before work starts
• Train new and moved staff in hours rather than weeks, with fewer errors, using a method you have delivered in practice
• Deal with lateness, conduct and disputes early and consistently, with records that stand up if the case goes further
• Return with a peer-reviewed Supervisor's Daily Operating Kit of plans, sheets, logs and scripts ready for your own team

Conclusion:

Frontline results are made or lost in the routines a supervisor runs every shift. This course moves from the role and the shift from peer to supervisor, through the Training Within Industry methods and standard work, to planning, allocating and monitoring daily work, and then to the attendance, conduct, conflict and handover cases that test a new supervisor. The final day rehearses each routine in role-play and completes the Supervisor's Daily Operating Kit for use from the next shift.