"Quite strict" brings up all sorts of images. It's never necessary to be a tyrant, but office rules are there for a reason, and you need to enforce them consistently. Consistency with flexibility is the key to being a good supervisor. Your employees should know what to expect of you, but not be afraid to go to you with suggestions or ideas for doing things better.

If you are inflexible or tyranical, employees will not be satisfied and your turnover will be very high. Autocratic management almost never works well, as people are individuals, and everyone wants to be acknowledged and feel like they are contributing something to the organization.

One of the first lessons I learned as a young manager in my 20's with total responsibility for 15 employees was this: Every one of my employees already wanted to do exactly what I asked of them. They didn't have to be impressed with me, I was the boss, they were already impressed because I could hire or fire, approve vacations and raises, etc.

Once I learned that I didn't have to build a reputation as a strict boss, things got a lot easier. I told my employees what I wanted done, and they did their best to do it. If things weren't getting done the way I had expected, we would have a talk. My first assumption became that I had not made my instructions clear. I came to understand that once they understood what I wanted, they would do everything they could to accomplish the task. These were their JOBS, and they wanted to keep them.

Of course this was not universally true and a few people had to be let go, but by and large, my early efforts to intimidate and build my stern reputation were not needed.