The supervisor's role in a project team.

You've just been asked to put together a team to figure out how to increase widget production. Obviously you should feel proud that upper management has so much confidence in you--but once the euphoria wears off, you'll probably be asking yourself, "Now what do I do?"

The answer to that depends on several factors: who will be on the team, your leadership style, time constraints, and what you expect from the team. Being asked to head up a team gives you an opportunity to show off your supervisory skills, and your chances for success are much better if you approach the project with a positive attitude.

Before You Panic

Actually, if you're good supervisor, you stand a good chance of being a good team leader. Many of the skills you need are the same. You need to be a good listener and communicator. You have to be patient, but you also have to know when to draw the line. You have to be impartial and know not to play favorites. You have to have a sense of trust and rapport with the rest of the team.

There are some differences, however. For one thing, you'll be working with a somewhat different set of goals. The team usually is working on a short-term project created to solve a specific problem. It's more focused than running the day-to-day operations of your department. Not only that, but even though you're the supervisor, you may not be the best informed or most experienced on the subject being dealt with by the team. You'll need input from others not just to help them develop a sense of ownership--you'll need their ideas. You might find that you're new to teams but that others on your team are old team pros. They'll respect you more if you ask for these individual's assistance than if assume an "I'm the boss" attitude and stumble through mistake after mistake.