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BLUF: Who do you do O3's with, and how often, when you have up to 45 DR's?

The company I work for has all new supervisors go through Supervising for Success which recommends O3's but how realistic is it when you have 3 teams, a workflow specialist (WFS) for each team, a technician 4 (T4) for each team, and a total of 35-45 technicians and assemblers for each supervisor.
Sometimes the WFS and T4 are the same but often they are not.
The supervisor is responsible for writing reviews for each of their DR's and has daily interactions with each of them

I work in an aviation aftermarket repair and overhaul site for a large company. This is currently 1 of 4 sites in the US that work on aviation electronics equipment. This time next year there will only be 2 sites.

The WFS is responsible for planning and executing team daily deliverables with the the assigned manpower and equipment.
T4's are the more technical members of the team who often have decades of experience with troubleshooting and repair of customer units.

Who should a supervisor hold O3's with, given this information, and how often?
I think I know the MT answer but do not see how anyone can schedule 45 1/2 hour meetings (22 1/2 hours) and still perform.

Mac
DiSC 7121

awalton's picture
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It sounds like the O3s will need to be handled bi-weekly. We do that with our supervisors who have large teams (over 20) directs. Fortunately, the number of supervisors here with that many directs is very limited.

drenn18's picture
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Remember, the purpose of doing O3s isn't to do O3s, it's to encourage professional relationships. That's what you need to figure out how to do.

I have 40+ directs. Most of them have a primary career and/or school in addition to working for me. Needless to say, meeting with me during their off day isn't an attractive option.

We still must communicate with them about things important to them. Phone O3s might work for you. You also might target top performers and those asking for promotion. You might find that you have too many directs to meet regularly with all of them. Embrace that reality, as Mark would say. Delegate smaller balls (regular communication with DRs would be a big ball).

I waited a long time to start O3s and realized all the planning and perfecting I did to nail down HOW I was going to do them went out the window. It wasn't until I used trial and error that I learned what worked and what didn't.

Good luck to you and keep us updated!

David (Indianapolis)