Many times, people are promoted into the supervisory ranks from hourly general labor positions. We choose people that have an excellent attendance record, are personable and have a great attitude. We tell ourselves and the supervisor candidate that we’ll spend time with them and develop them into outstanding leaders.Then some months later we find that we did not have the time to mentor and teach them, and we are wondering how the person we thought would be successful is struggling in their new position. Or, we hire supervisors from another company and, although they interviewed well, they bring with them troubles that we did not anticipate or behaviors we do not want. Either route we end up with, supervisors are charged with deploying their leaderships Vision and Mission – but they don’t know how to make that Vision a reality. They are not equipped with the tools to meet/exceed departmental targets and they don’t have the interpersonal skills to be a successful leader capable of developing leaders themselves.

After years of experience dealing with the same issues and giving much thought to the tackling of these issues, Hill Standard Works developed Operational Leadership University.
Hill Standard Works has taken 30 years of successful supervision, management and leadership experience and has developed a series of immediate actionable tools that ensures:

• A company’s Vision and Mission is disseminated throughout the organization
• Goals are attained or exceeded
• Communication improves
• Prevention becomes part of the culture rather than firefighting being the norm
• Succession planning becomes easier
• Ultimately supervisors will be successful

Operational Leadership University was established to provide supervisors across all industries with the ability to reach desired company, departmental and personal goals; to drive communication effectively with management and associates, and to work on value add vs. firefighting activities. Operational Leadership University instructs on how to become a next level associate within an organization 

Operational Leadership University provides the instruments to assist supervisors and leaders in understanding their role, and how to drive their companies Vision and Mission into a reality. Operational Leadership University gives supervisors and leaders the specific tools required to get them to the next level.
Next Level = Move from a watch over/report out state to a state of ownership.
Ownership = Identifying key metrics on their area of influence, setting up an environment that allows for identification of non-value add issues before they become critical, setting up a means to achieve goals, understanding how to create value, developing energy within their teams – all while focusing on the common vision. Firefighting is not ownership!

At Hill Standard Works we are changing the lexicon for training to drills. Over time, the word training has lost some of its value. In some environments, the word training denotes a level of nuisance, some see it as an activity to hurry through or get off one’s desk. Some trainees see training as something to sit through, rarely utilizing any tools or concepts that the training offers. Drills imply a level of participation and repetitiveness (which is what is expected of each person once they have been through a drill), to use it repetitively.The HSW Operational Leadership University drill approach allows supervisors the time to absorb the drill content and go through in-depth instruction on the tool provided for their use. The supervisor then does a brief accounting at the next drill session as to how the tool worked for them, learning and growing from the use of the tool and the experience of others. In supervision, as with many professions, there are a few tools/disciplines that should be used frequently, not scattering oneself from one situation to the next - one hundred times per day, resolving none. In short, we aim to educate supervisors and leaders to use 10 disciplines 10,000 times, rather than doing 10,000 things on occasion.

HSW Operational Leadership University is the plan of ACTION for personal and professional growth. Students will acquire the ability to inspire and motivate (themselves and others) with actionable steps.

FULL SERIES OUTLINE - OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP UNIVERSITY