NOVEL SOLUTIONS
Guiding Casting Supervisors
JILLIAN KNUERR, ASSISTANT EDITOR J oyce Karnes’ book Supervisor’ raining Guide s T
is, surprise, a training manual designed to motivate and train rookie and seasoned indus- trial supervisors. Karnes draws upon her industry
experience as a long-time consultant in the metalcasting arena to create this manual-type book in eight diff erent sections. Karnes refers to these sessions as classes. The manual, The How-
T o Book for New and
Experienced Supervisors, is loaded with tips that will help supervisors understand not only their workers but themselves. Karnes spends a lot of time diagnosing workers through various questionnaires that help the reader identify personality types. Then, Karnes spends a good deal of time diving deep into these personality traits, repeating that the mark of a good supervisor is addressing these traits and tailor- ing speech, training and tasks to them. While the overall message of the book is the
supervisor must communicate in a way his or her employees and co-workers understand and respond to, the task of distinguishing personality types can be overwhelming. First, Karnes introduces intro- vert and extrovert personality types, which she says may take in and digest speech differently. Then, Karnes moves to sensory and non-sensory types and cross-examines them with introverts/extroverts. As we move into each new set of traits, it’s important to consider that these are large, generic terms. Not every worker is going to fit into these categories, but they will display some behaviors. While know- ing these personality types may help, it’s not always going to lead to perfect communication. And, while Karnes does a nice job of explaining that this is most likely due to different personality types, at the end of the day, it may not be something easily fix- able by the end of the book. Karnes’ book is easy to read and follow for
anyone, regardless of background. She includes various work scenarios and workbook-type sections so the reader can better grasp concepts in each section. In general, Karnes’ manual is a good resource for
a novice supervisor, someone looking to become a supervisor or the supervisor that seems to be losing his or her way. Readers should not obsess over mas- tering every personality type, but instead try instead to grasp the bigger picture. If we all took the time to think about the people we order around before we do it, there is a good chance we would experi- ence better results.
ABRIDGED
Relevance to Metalcasters Technical Diffi culty Self-Help Fluff Profi t Booster
“…the way you interact with employees is the most
important supervisory skill.
You can make your team’s day miserable or happy, depending on how you treat them.”
Metalcaster’s Translation: Your performance as a
supervisor is highly dependent on the work of your employees. If you give employees respect and communicate with them, they will produce for you. Keeping the working environment positive is as important as production.
February 2012 MODERN CASTING | 49
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