1. Manpower. Who is to do what? How is it to be done? When is it to be finished? Since idleness will breed discontent, have you arranged for another job to start as soon as the first one is finished? Is every crew member fully used?

2. Equipment. Are all necessary tools and equipment on hand to do the job? Is safety equipment on hand?

3. Supplies. Are all necessary supplies on hand to start the job? If not, who should take action? What supply delivery schedules must you work around?

Have a definite work schedule and inspection plan. Set up realistic daily goals or quotas. Personally plan to check the work being done at intervals and the progress toward meeting the goals. Spot-check for accuracy, for workmanship, and the need for training.

Organizing

As a crew leader or supervisor, you must be able to ORGANIZE. This means that you must analyze the requirements of a job and structure the sequence of events that will bring about the desired results.

You must develop the ability to look at a job and estimate how many man-hours are required for completion. You will probably be given a completion deadline along with the job requirements. Next (or perhaps even before making your estimate of man-hours), plan the job sequences. Make sure that you know the answers to questions such as the following:

What is the size of the job?

Are the materials on hand?

What tools are available, and what is their condition?

Is anyone scheduled for leave?

Will you need to request outside support?

After getting answers to these questions, you should be able to assign your crews and set up tentative schedules. If work shifts are necessary, arrange for the smooth transition from one shift to another with a minimum of work interruption. How well you do is directly related to your ability to organize.

Delegating

In addition to organizing, you must know how to DELEGATE. This is one of the most important characteristics of a good supervisor. Failure to delegate is a common failing of a new supervisor. It is natural to want to carry out the details of a job yourself, particularly when you know that you can do it better than any of your subordinates. Trying to do too much, however, is one of the quickest ways to get bogged down in details and to slow down a large operation. On some projects, you will have crews working in several different places. Obviously, you cannot be in two places at the same time. There will be many occasions when a crew member needs assistance or instruction on some problem that arises. If he or she has to wait until you are available, then valuable time will be lost. Therefore, it is extremely important for you to delegate authority to one or more of your experienced crew members to make decisions in certain matters. However, you must remember that when you delegate authority, you are still responsible for the job. Therefore, it is very important that you select a highly qualified individual when you delegate authority.

Coordinating

A supervisor must be able to COORDINATE. When several jobs are in progress, you need to coordinate completion times so one can follow another without delay. Possessing coordinating skill is also very helpful when working closely with your sister companies or shops. Coordination is not limited to projects only. You would not want to approve a leave chit for a crew member and then remember a school during the same time period. Nor would you want to schedule a crew member for the rifle range only to find the range coaches unavailable at that time.

Production

The primary responsibility of every supervisor is PRODUCTION. You and your crew can attain your best by doing the following:

Plan, organize, and coordinate the work to get maximum production with minimum effort and confusion.

Delegate as much authority as possible, but remain responsible for the final product.

Continuously supervise and control to make sure the work is done properly.

Be patient ("Seabees are flexible and resourceful").