Author Archives: Tom Foster

About Tom Foster

Tom Foster spends most of his time talking with managers and business owners. The conversations are about business lives and personal lives, goals, objectives and measuring performance. In short, transforming groups of people into teams working together. Sometimes we make great strides understanding this management stuff, other times it’s measured in very short inches. But in all of this conversation, there are things that we learn. This blog is that part of the conversation I can share. Often, the names are changed to protect the guilty, but this is real life inside of real companies.

Complexity and Time Span

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From the Ask Tom mailbox:

Question:
You said that Time Span could be used to measure complexity. Not sure I understand the connection?

Response:
There are two kinds of complexity in the world. Time Span can be used to measure one of them.

The first kind of complexity is detail, detailed complexity. This is the world of engineering. Computers are useful in managing detailed complexity. Lots of moving parts.

But there is another kind of complexity, more difficult to deal with. It is the uncertainty in the future. And the further something is, out in the future, the more uncertain it is.

If you have a project that must be completed by tomorrow, the level of uncertainty is small. You will only be using materials on hand, working with people you already know, with guidelines that are already nailed down, because the project must be completed by tomorrow.

If you have a project that will take 24 months to complete, all kinds of things can change between now and the project due date. The material you intended to use may no longer be available when you need it. The people you work with now may be different than the people you work with next year. And the guidelines you have in your hand now, will most definitely change between now and 24 months from now.

The complexity of a one day task assignment versus a 24 month task assignment can be calibrated by simply measuring the Time Span of the due date.

What to Keep, What to Delegate?

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
Knowing that Time Span is part of who we are but also develops with maturity, is there anything a manager can do to help a team member develop his/her highest potential Time Span?

Response:
If you remove the words Time Span from your question, we have an age-old managerial quest, how to develop team members to their fullest potential?

Conceptually, Time Span gives us a way of measuring complexity related to a task assignment. In what ways can a manager help (influence, cajole, coach) a team member to develop their Applied Capability to more effectively complete task assignments?

Here’s my general advice. If you want to develop a person (or a team), give them a real problem to solve. Exercises, ropes courses, contrived case studies fit nicely in MBA programs, but there is nothing like a real problem to stimulate real growth.

Beginning managers know they need to delegate, so they pick off pieces of usually meaningless, make-work stuff and pass it off, keeping the tough stuff, the meaningful stuff for themselves. In the beginning of a manager’s career, deciding what to keep and what to delegate is a difficult decision.

Time Span is the measuring stick to help a manager make that decision. Inspecting the “by when” of a task assignment gives us insight into the complexity of that task. Developing a team member is a process of assigning increasingly complex Time Span task assignments. Paying attention to the Time Span of tasks gives a manager a way of organizing the developmental process. It makes coaching more scientific.

Nature or Nurture?

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
When you talk about Time Span, you say you use Time Span as a measure of capability. Is Time Span something we are born with? Can it be changed? In other words, is it nature, or nurture?

Response:
Is it nature or nurture? Yes.

There are really two related issues. One issue is Maximum Capability, the other is Applied Capability.

Maximum Capability is what it is. Nature. Cannot be changed. Full potential. The problem with Maximum Capability is that it is difficult, nigh impossible to identify. We can’t see it.

What we can see, is Applied Capability. Why can we see it? There is evidence, work product, observation of behaviors, completion of tasks and judgments of effectiveness. We can see Applied Capability. And yes, there is almost always a difference between Applied Capability and Maximum Capability. We rarely work at our full potential.

Can we, as managers, have an impact on Applied Capability? To influence a person to work to their full potential, to their Maximum Capability? Yes.

There are several reasons that a person may work below their Maximum Capability. They may not have a required skill. As their manager, we might send that person to training. What happens to Applied Capability when a person now possesses the skill? It goes up.

This team member, having completed the training, may decide to go back to school. What happens to Applied Capability when a person engages in educational activity? It likely goes up.

As the manager, you place the team member in a role, with work on which they place a high value, work for which they have interest, passion. What happens to Applied Capability?

This interest in Maximum Capability is often a fruitless quest. We can’t see it, so what’s the point? But, we, as managers can have a dramatic impact on Applied Capability. That’s where I spend my time.

A Peer Group Can Help

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
In the hiring process, if I am in a Stratum V role, engaged in hiring a Stratum IV VP, that makes me the hiring manager. Since I am at the top of the food chain in our company, who is the Manager Once Removed? Do I hire a consultant or a head hunter to help me.

Response:
Heavens no. With all due respect to the consulting community, most come to the table with limited insight into your company. They don’t know you, your limitations, your blind spots, your soft spots, your focus.

This is a shameless plug for peer groups, my favorite is an organization called Vistage. Self-described, a peer group consists of a group (of peers) with similar roles, who meet on a regular basis to kick the can around. It is those other people who sit around the table, who can be valuable in your hiring process for Executive Managers. Your peers, in their own organization, have similar accountabilities, likely, similar capability to you, and yet, do not wear your blinders. This outside objectivity may provide the critical insight, to bring value to the decision you are about to make in the hiring process.

Make no mistake, this is still your decision. You are the one who has to live with it.

Happy or Miserable

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
When you talk about the role of the Manager Once Removed in the hiring process, you are right, it sounds like a lot of work. I am afraid I will get push-back from my management team, when I try to tell them they will have to be more involved in the hiring process.

Response:
I am not afraid you will get push-back. I know you will get push-back.

Most MORs tell me they are too busy to work with their Hiring Managers on mundane things like role descriptions, that is beneath them to do first pass on resumes. They tell me they are too busy with management issues and motivation issues.

My response is, “What more important thing do you have than to build the infrastructure of your team?”

The reason most MORs are so busy with their management issues is that they did a poor job of this in the first place, or rather, they allowed a poor hiring decision to be made by the Hiring Manager. MORs who do a good job of this will have wonderful lives as managers. MORs who do a poor job of this will be miserable for a very long time.

Holding the Manager Once Removed Accountable

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
When you talk about the role of the Manager Once Removed, in the hiring process, am I clear that the MOR conducts all of the candidate screening, initial interviews and then hands over a slate of candidates to the Hiring Manager?

Manager Once Removed (MOR)
——————————————-
Hiring Manager
——————————————-
Open Position

Response:
No. That would be an abdication of one of the primary responsibilities of the MOR to the Hiring Manager. Don’t think of these steps in the hiring process as sterile vacuum compartments to be handed off from the MOR to the Hiring Manager. If the Hiring Manager does a poor job of hiring, I hold the MOR accountable. Once the MOR understands this, real conversations begin.

The conversation starts with the observation (by either the Hiring Manager or the MOR) that we may need to add a team member. This may result from a termination, vacancy or a new position created by work volume or other circumstance. Together, they will hash out whether another person is really needed, whether there is budget and any other details surrounding the decision. They will work together to define the role description, Key Result Areas, critical role requirements and other elements related to team fit and company culture. This is a rich managerial conversation, aligned with the mandate for the Manager Once Removed to bring value to the Hiring Manager’s decision.

With this foundation, they will continue to work together, creating written interview questions and a decision matrix to compare candidates. While the hiring decision rests with the Hiring Manager, I hold the MOR accountable if a poor decision is made.

I know this sounds like work. Well, it is. This is managerial work.

No Gang Tackling

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We have been using a Team approach to hiring,” Byron floated. “What do you think of having Team interviews?”

“How do you find that helpful?” I asked.

“Sometimes a single interview might miss something important. If there is another Hiring Team member in the room, they might catch it,” Byron replied.

“I am all for Interview Teams. But I don’t want to gang up on candidates. Here is the way I like to use Teams.

“Let’s say we put three people on the Interview Team. We have a meeting to decide on what areas we intend to cover during the interview. Some areas will overlap and that’s fine. These will be separate interviews and I would like to know if the candidate tells the same story to similar questions.

“And some of the areas will be different, depending on the Interview Team member. They have different areas of expertise and follow different lines of questions.

“But the most significant reason to work with an Interview Team is to put together the list of 50-60 questions that create the base line for the interview.”

Byron looked a little surprised. We had talked about this number of questions before, but I couldn’t tell if he was a believer. “Fifty or sixty prepared questions?”

“Yes, and that’s only the beginning.”

Tasks and Sub-tasks, Calibrating Time Span

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
Are there roles with KRAs (Key Result Areas) in multiple strata?

Response:
Of course. Every role has Time Span task assignments all over the place. When we define that a role requires a specific Stratum capability, (this is a Stratum III role), we have identified that the longest Time Span task is between 12 and 24 months.

But Stratum III roles will contain Stratum II (3-12 months) and even Stratum I (1 day-3 months) task assignments.

If I am a Manager at a CPA firm, Stratum III capability required, I still have to complete a time sheet each day (Stratum I task). I will do my best to minimize the time required, use available technology, but at the end of the day, it’s my time sheet.

I may also be accountable for scheduling staff on specific projects (Stratum II capability required). For this task, I will do my best to minimize the time required, use available technology AND identify the sub-tasks that can be delegated to team members. Indeed, I may have a supervisor (Stratum II role) that I can delegate the entire task to, yet at the end of the day, I am accountable for scheduling staff.

We calibrate the Stratum capability required in a role by identifying the longest Time Span task assignment.

Production in a Professional Services Firm

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
When you talk about the various roles in the organization, you say that Stratum I roles are typically involved in production. And you also said that in some business models, production roles were calibrated differently? We have a CPA firm.

Response:
Regardless of the business model, regardless of the job title or description of the role, the calibration comes from inspecting the Time Span of the task assignments within the role. In a typical CPA firm, you could see these roles.

  • Clerical (word processing, spreadsheet, document assembly)
  • Preparer (bookkeeping, tax return)
  • In-charge (reviews preparation, coordinates task assignments in the client account)
  • Manager (reviews the in-charge’s review, determines which task assignments apply to a client account)
  • Partner (reviews the manager’s review, creates and maintains client relationship)

Each of these roles participates in production, yet the Time Span of their tasks is very different.

Preparer – production activities include the direct output from accounting tasks, return preparation. This would typically require Stratum II capability. While the observable mechanical activity for a monthly compilation (financial statement) appears to take less than one month, the impact of the work carries through to the annual financial statement. Stratum II (3 months – 12 months).

In-Charge – reviews the preparer’s work, stage one review, looking for mathematical errors, misapplied calculations, omissions. The In-Charge operates as a supervisor, making sure all work is completed, accurately in a timely manner. This work likely requires high Stratum II capability. Note – the In-Charge role is not a managerial role. The In-Charge is NOT the Preparer’s manager. The relationship between the In-Charge and the Preparer is a Cross-Functional relationship, Prescriber. Stratum II (3 months – 12 months).

Manager – reviews the In-Charge’s work, stage two review, looking for all required components. There is some final stage proofing on reconciliations to ensure accuracy, but the Manager’s review is looking for correct application of accounting methods (depreciation, accruals, reserves). This role is a managerial role, requiring Stratum III capability. The manager is likely the manager of both the Preparer and the In-Charge. Stratum III (1 year – 2 years).

Partner – reviews the Manager’s work, stage three review, looking for conceptual assumptions that fit within a multi-year treatment of the client’s business including loss-carryforwards, statutory interpretations, accelerations. This role requires Stratum IV capability (2 years – 5 years). There may also be direct production work related to bankruptcy, merger, acquisitions.

Regardless of the business model, regardless of the job title or description of the role, the calibration comes from inspecting the Time Span of the task assignments within the role.

Last Hiring Talent Program in 2011

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We are gathering the next group (and last group in 2011) for our online program Hiring Talent, which kicks off September 19, 2011. As the economy (slowly) recovers, your next hires are critical. This is not a time to be casual about the hiring process. Mistakes are too expensive and margins are too thin.

Purpose of this program – to train managers and HR specialists in the discipline of conducting more effective interviews in the context of a managed recruiting process.

How long is the program? This program will take eight weeks.

How do people participate in the program? This is an online program conducted by Tom Foster. Participants will be responsible for online assignments and participate in online facilitated discussion groups with other participants. This online platform is highly interactive. Participants will interact with Tom Foster and other participants as they work through this program.

Next program starts September 19, 2011. Pre-register Now.

Who should participate? This program is designed for Stratum III and Stratum IV managers and HR managers who play active roles in the recruiting process for their organizations.

What is the cost? The program investment is $699 per participant.

When is the program scheduled? Pre-registration is now open. The program is scheduled to kick-off September 19, 2011.

How much time is required to participate in this program? Participants should reserve approximately 2 hours per week. This program is designed so participants can complete their assignments on their own schedule anytime during each week’s assignment period.

Pre-register Now.

September 19, 2011

  • Orientation

Week One – Role Descriptions – It’s All About the Work

  • What we are up against
  • Specific challenges in the process
  • Problems in the process
  • Defining the overall process
  • Introduction to the Role Description
  • Organizing the Role Description
  • Defining Tasks
  • Defining Goals
  • Identifying Time Span

Week Two

  • Publish and critique role descriptions

Week Three – Interviewing for Future Behavior

  • Creating effective interview questions
  • General characteristics of effective questions
  • How to develop effective questions
  • How to interview for attitudes and non-behavioral elements
  • How to interview for Time Span
  • Assignment – Create a battery of interview questions for the specific role description

Week Four

  • Publish and critique battery of interview questions

Week Five – Conducting the Interview

  • Organizing the interview process
  • Taking Notes during the process
  • Telephone Screening
  • Conducting the telephone interview
  • Conducting the face-to-face interview
  • Working with an interview team
  • Compiling the interview data into a Decision Matrix
  • Background Checks, Reference Checks
  • Behavioral Assessments
  • Drug Testing
  • Assignment – Conduct a face-to-face interview

Week Six

  • Publish and critique results of interview process

Week Seven – Using Profile Assessments

  • Using Profile Assessments

Week Eight

  • Publish and critique results from Profile Assessments

Registration
Pre-registration is now open for this program. No payment is due at this time.

Note –
This program concludes prior to the Thanksgiving holiday (USA) and will be the last Hiring Talent Program offered in 2011.