“Why now?” I asked. “Why this sudden interest in Performance Management?”

Patricia had pulled a file with the job descriptions for her team. But my question stopped her. “I just feel like things are coming back. I look at 2010 and see some upside coming our way. I can’t go back to the way things were before,” she stated flatly. “Some things have to change around here.”

“What changes do you have to make? What do you have to do?” I asked.

“Some real work,” she replied. “I have to sit down and really think about what I want my team to accomplish. These job descriptions describe, but they don’t talk about goals. I feel like I need to start over, from scratch.”

“Starting over, really looking at the productivity you need from each role in the company is a big job. Are you sure you are up for that.”

Patricia nodded slowly. “It’s a matter of necessity.”

Next Monday, we kick off our next series in Working Leadership Online, Time Span and Effectiveness. This subject area looks at the roles we create for our team members and how we go about making managerial judgments on effectiveness. If you are new to the concepts of Time Span, you will never see your team the same way again. It will help you make your decisions about who will play what role by asking three critical questions.

We are offering ten scholarships to this program. For those who are interested, please respond to Ask Tom.