First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers

• Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
• Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
• Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
• Direct activities of workers who perform duties such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
• Provide workers with assistance in performing duties as necessary to meet deadlines.
• Confer with other supervisors to coordinate work activities with those of other departments or units.
• Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
• Direct or assist workers engaged in the maintenance or repair of equipment, such as power tools or motorized equipment.
• Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
• Perform administrative duties, such as authorizing leaves or processing time sheets.
• Inventory supplies of tools, equipment, or materials to ensure that sufficient supplies are available and items are in usable condition.
• Answer inquiries from current or prospective customers regarding methods, materials, or price ranges.
• Review contracts or work assignments to determine service, machine, or workforce requirements for jobs.
• Perform personnel-related activities, such as hiring workers, evaluating staff performance, or taking disciplinary actions when performance problems occur.
• Investigate work-related complaints to verify problems and to determine responses.
• Maintain required records, such as personnel information or project records.
• Order the performance of corrective work when problems occur and recommend procedural changes to avoid such problems.
• Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
• Prepare service estimates based on labor, material, and machine costs and maintain budgets for individual projects.
• Train workers in tasks such as transplanting or pruning trees or shrubs, finishing cement, using equipment, or caring for turf.
• Negotiate with customers regarding fees for landscaping, lawn service, or groundskeeping work.
• Prepare or maintain required records, such as work activity or personnel reports.
• Identify diseases or pests affecting landscaping and order appropriate treatments.
• Recommend changes in working conditions or equipment use to increase crew efficiency.
• Confer with managers or landscape architects to develop plans or schedules for landscaping maintenance or improvement.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers.

• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers.