“You all know you are team leaders, right? Let me draw a three layered cake. I will put your manager on the top layer, you, as a supervisor in the middle layer and your team in the first layer.”

Sitting around the room, we have assembled a group populated by both Stratum II supervisors and Stratum III managers. The purpose of the discussion is to talk about Time Span and their roles.

“What is the role of your team?” I asked, looking specifically at the supervisors in the room. The responses were descriptive of the technical services delivered by the company. “Those are the people in production,” the group replied. “They assemble our products and deliver our services.”

Satisfied with that starting point, the next question got tougher. “If the role of your team is production, what is your role as supervisor?” The eyes in the group began to dart. “If the role of your team is production, then your role as supervisor is to make sure production gets done.

“And what are the tools you use, as supervisors, to make sure production gets done?” I continued. We circled the room, compiling a list. Turns out, the tools of the supervisor are schedules, checklists and meetings.

How do you talk about Time Span to people in Stratum II roles? They clearly understand the relationship they have with their team and the relationship they have with their manager. I use that as the starting point.

A quick review of Stratum roles (in the discipline of management).
Stratum I – Production, assembling a product or delivering a service.
Stratum II – Making sure production gets done, supervisory role.
Stratum III – Creating, monitoring and improving systems.
Stratum IV – Integration, bringing an organizations different disciplines into a whole system.

Time Span is the cornerstone of the research conducted by Elliott Jaques and Kathryn Cason.