From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
Can you expand on the “Time Span” “compensation banding” approach? I am not familiar with this concept and do not fully understand what is meant by either term.

Response:
Time Span is a recurring theme in this blog and in our leadership program (Working Leadership Online). Time Span is the cornerstone of the management research conducted by Elliott Jaques from the early 1950’s until his death in 2003. This research is documented in 26 books written during his lifetime and remains the most coherent and potent foundation for organizational design on the planet.

If you can see a goal, as a “what, by when,” then you can understand Time Span. Time Span is the time element in any goal statement. All behavior is goal-directed behavior, so Time Span touches everything we do. Most importantly, for managers, Time Span helps us understand the complexity of any goal. The longer the Time Span of the goal, the higher its complexity. The shorter the Time Span of the goal, less complexity.

We can also understand the complexity of any role in the organization by examination of their longest Time Span tasks (goals). The Time Span of the longest tasks in a role are a direct indicator of the complexity of the role. By calibrating the Time Span of the tasks in the roles inside your organization, you will be able to accurately identify and rank those roles according to complexity.

Pay banding looks at the those Time Spans and recognizes fair compensation. The longer the Time Span of the tasks (goals) in a role, the higher the compensation. Pay banding is a straightforward correlation of fair compensation for increasingly longer Time Span roles. Once you have determined fair compensation based on Time Span, discussions related to the value of roles can be put to rest and we can get back to work.

An in-depth explanation, along with defined pay bands can be found in Social Power and the CEO, on pages 55-56. If you have more questions, Ask Tom.