What is a field operations supervisor? What does a field operations supervisor do? If you're asking, that might mean you don't already have one, which could be detrimental to your business success.
Having a field operations supervisor on staff is vital when you have employees working on-site. They oversee the safety and wellbeing of your team while also taking the growth of your business in hand. Does your business need a field supervisor? Let's find out.
What Exactly Does A Field Supervisor Do?
Field operations supervisors are industry-experienced professionals who oversee the day-to-day running of your trade business, ensuring that it runs smoothly and efficiently to produce increased sales and profits. Field supervisor responsibilities also include:
- Creating an annual budget for field operations
- Preparing effective training programs
- Conducting performance evaluations
But not every field operations supervisor role is the same. Their role must, of course, reflect the needs of your industry. Field supervisor duties and responsibilities also include developing the operational policies and regulations that will increase your business and sales. For that reason, your candidate must have a background in your industry. Otherwise, how will they know how to help your business flourish?
Do You Want Out Of A Field Operations Supervisor?
In such an accountable role as a field operations supervisor, the job needs to be filled by an individual with a select skill set. They must:
- Be highly organised
- Have a basic understanding of project management practices
- Be confident in their ability to supervise and manage a team
- Be comfortable working within a budget
- Incorporate the team and involve them in any decision making
- Be able to collect and analyse statistical data
- Have practical communication skills.
It's a tall order. But without these skills under their tool belt, a field supervisor simply can't perform their role effectively.
Challenges Of The Role
Just like in any other supervisory role, the biggest challenge of being a field supervisor is knowing how much leadership they should apply to any given situation. When is it best to take a step back and provide learning opportunities, and when do they need to step in and take charge? Given the very real safety concerns on any job site, a field supervisor needs the experience and level-headed thinking to make that decision quickly.
They're also faced with the challenges of running a high-stress work environment that depends on others to succeed. When sub-contractors or suppliers run late, everything else falls behind. A field operations supervisor must be able to navigate these stressful situations to produce an effective outcome.
Key Responsibilities Of A Field Operations Supervisor
A field operations supervisor is a senior position in any organisation - their responsibilities are considerable.
Site Safety
A field supervisor is first and foremost employed to keep staff safe when working on-site. Some of the duties and responsibilities performed by a field supervisor include developing and executing health and safety guidelines at the site, preparing and enforcing legal policies, evaluating current workplace practices, and recommending improvements where needed.
Staff Training
The perfect candidate for any role does not exist, so one of the responsibilities of a field supervisor is filling any skills gaps to ensure employees are able to meet the needs of the company. They do this by providing training and upskilling opportunities.
Labour Requirements
This is a senior position not meant for those new to the construction industry. While a field operations supervisor might be required to conduct little or none of the physical work on the job, they certainly need background experience in the manual applications of your industry so that they know how to run a site and how to train your staff. A field supervisor's past experience on the tools will ensure they have the credibility to make appropriate decisions on the job.
Meeting Deadlines On Time
As part of a field supervisor's job description, they must oversee many moving parts. As such, it's essential that they have good organisational skills and can keep up with their deadlines, contacts, and budgets.
The ability to learn
A field supervisor should have extensive experience in your industry, but that doesn't mean they know everything. Therefore, they must have the humility and drive to continuously explore new technologies, particularly as new platforms and resource management software are always in development. These digital administration and work management software tools are designed to streamline the everyday tasks of field supervisors, erasing costly human errors and ensuring all staff have access to the same information when they need it. AroFlo's job management software has been developed with the role of a field supervisor in mind, hosting a full suite of project management and scheduling tools for field supervisors to manage their staff. If you're interested in a software solution that's built to handle the specifics of the field supervisory role, please book a live demo.
Conclusion
There are certain skills that field operations supervisors must have in order to bring value to your business. Just remember, your field supervisor will hold the wellbeing of both your staff and your business in their hands.
Choose a worthy candidate.
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