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.

Confrontation

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“Why are you avoiding this conversation with Curtis?” I asked.

“I know I should talk to him, but I just don’t like confrontation. His production is below par. I don’t think he is doing his best. But if I talk to him, he might get upset and his production might get slower,” Lauren explained.

“How do you define confrontation?”

“Curtis screws up and I call him on it.”

“And?”

“And he will try to defend himself with excuses. I will have to argue with his excuses. I will have to force my reasons against his excuses. I just want to avoid it,” she protested.

“What if you changed your definition of confrontation to a search for the truth. Instead of excuses, let’s find out what the real problem is and see if Curtis can fix it?” I suggested.

Sometimes, the way we understand a single word can change the way we see what we do. Many people avoid confrontation because it brings uncomfortable images. If we can see confrontation as a search for the truth, we can have the conversation with a more productive purpose.

Calibrating the Complexity of a Goal

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I heard back from Michelle Malay Carter last week about a post we highlighted last week on Time Span. In her response, she posed this dilemma.

“We find that managers, even when they believe the concept is credible, struggle to articulate tasks in Time Span.”

I find the biggest difficulty in understanding Time Span is over-thinking it. Most managers make it way too difficult.

Time Span is simple. It is the Time part of every goal. A goal is a “What, By When?” That’s it. Time Span is the “By When” part. Michelle was correct. Most managers focus on the “What” part of the goal. The “By When” part is often an afterthought. But it is the “By When” that we need to pay attention to. It establishes accountability and calibrates the complexity of the goal.

When you think of the Time Span of any task assignment, just think about the goal, the “What, By When?” and you will have it.

Manager’s Double Accountability

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I listened with interest at your last Time Span workshop. How come we never heard of Elliott Jaques before? He makes so much management sense, yet he seems to have been a best kept secret.

Response:
Elliott is seldom included in the management literature, yet everything we know about organizations and organizational structure rests on the shoulders of his research. But if you look hard, you will find outposts, practitioners who continue his legacy.

Michelle Malay Carter writes often about Elliott and the principles contained in his research. Here is an excerpt from Mission Minded Management.

“Managers have double accountability. They, as employees themselves must bring their best to bear and give their managers their best advice, but in addition, they are accountable for the output of their team.” Read more.

Judgment About Behavior

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“Why does Taylor think he is getting a raise?” I asked. Dana had talked to Taylor about coming in late everyday, but her Positive Sandwich sent a mixed message.

“I didn’t want to upset him by coming down too hard. I need him to change his behavior, but I don’t want him to be angry at me,” Dana replied.

“Why do you think he would be angry?”

“No one likes to be criticized.”

“How can you deliver the message, the direct message, without criticizing?” I challenged.

“I don’t know,” Dana relented. “Everyone is late sometimes, but this is beginning to have an impact on the rest of the team.”

“So, there is some criticism that needs to be stated. Remember, there are only two people in this conversation. How can that criticism be put on the table without you being the critic?” I pressed.

Dana’s face relaxed. “I can describe the behavior and ask Taylor to describe the impact of the behavior.”

“And what if Taylor’s analysis of the impact is weak?”

“Then I will have to ask him a better question,” Dana nodded.

Most managers feel they have to be the critic and often criticism (a judgment about behavior, a judgment about effectiveness) needs to be stated.

Effective managers get to the same place by asking questions.

Cross Purposes in the Accountability Conversation

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Dana was almost trembling when I showed up. The color was gone from her face. “I don’t think I did that right,” she finally spoke.

“Step me through it,” I asked.

“I had to talk to Taylor. He has been coming late, dawdling on the work he is supposed to get done, really snippy with everybody around him, like he has a chip on his shoulder.”

“So, what happened?”

Dana shook her head from side to side. “Well, I tried to be positive first, then the negative part, then finished it off with another positive. But I don’t think I got my point across. He thinks he is going to get a raise.”

The Accountability Conversation often sends mixed signals. Managers enter this conversation with cross purposes. From the team member, Managers are looking for

  • A positive change in behavior
  • A positive attitude through the change

One of these usually fails.

Critical Factors

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
When you talked about Time Span in the workshop I attended, you described a person’s maximum capability and how it was important to match their capability with the Time Span of their task assignments. I have a person on my team that, I believe, is not working to their maximum. How can I motivate them to push harder?

Response:
It’s a fair question, but you may be looking for the answer in the wrong place. I am not certain that we, as managers, can motivate anyone to do anything. Elliott Jaques, in his research (Requisite Organization), describes several elements necessary for a person to reach that maximum.

One element, Elliott describes, is interest. Your team member may, indeed, possess the capability, the necessary skills to perform to your expectations, but if they lack the interest, you may be disappointed, as a manager.

What is it that we are interested in? What is it that we have passion for? It is those things in which we place a high value. And yes, we can place high value on the work that we do. If work that we value matches the work that we are doing, then magic happens. It captures our interest, our passion, and we will apply our maximum capability to the task at hand.

As a manager, you cannot motivate a team member, but you can ask questions to find out what work is valued to see how it matches the work they are doing. If it does, watch the magic.

Critical Elements for Success – Elliott Jaques, Requisite Organization
1. Capability (measured in Time Span)
2. Skill (technical knowledge and practiced performance)
3. Interest (work that is valued)
4. Reasonable behaviors required by the role

My Time Span?

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question
Identifying Time Span seems to be difficult. How do you make that assessment? How do I know my Time Span?

Response
Everyone has this curiosity. “What’s my Time Span?”

I usually avoid the question, skirt the conversation, redirect, distract, change the subject. But let’s take a stab.

I always start with purpose. What would be the purpose for you to know your own Time Span (capability)? Here is a quick list.

  • Am I working to my potential, as a person?
  • Am I paying attention to tasks appropriate for my role?
  • Am I allowing myself to get trapped in events and circumstances that play against my effectiveness?
  • Am I approaching problems and decisions with an eye to long term impact vs. short term comfort?
  • When I look to solve a problem, is the quality of the solution improved by thinking further into the future?

These are important questions. How can Time Span help us more clearly understand the answers to these questions? First, answer the questions.

Blood Relative

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question
Based on your Time Span workshop, I can now clearly see that one of our Vice-Presidents is not capable in his role. Actually, I knew it all along, everyone knew it all along, but no one would talk about it. Blood relative to the CEO. He has the title, he has the responsibility, he is failing. His behavior is getting more defensive as time passes. What is my next move? I cannot demote the guy, sacred cow.

Response
Family members in the business are always interesting. It’s like Dilbert in real life.

But, just because he is a family member does not make him a bad person. Yet, since you attended the workshop on Time Span, his underperformance is now clearly visible. The workshop gave you a language to describe it and a way to measure it.

Time Span helps you understand the situation, it can also help you resolve the situation. Your goal is to help this young Vice President become a productive, contributing member of the management team.

This is simply a matter of calibration. It is a matter of matching his Time Span task assignments with his capability. It starts with a thorough review of his job description, specifically identifying the Time Span associated with his goals. You know where he is effective and ineffective, and you should see a Time Span pattern emerge like a watershed. Where he is capable, move in more task assignments. Where he is not effective, move out task assignments.

This will redefine expectations around his role, where he is successful. That should stop his defensiveness. From there, create a professional development plan, based on Time Span task assignments that pull him to the limits of his capability. If he is, indeed, heir apparent in some succession plan, you can help him grow toward that.

And don’t worry about his title or the size of his office. Everyone knows he is blood relative to the CEO.

Real Time and the Future

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question
I have a team member who has always been the “go to” person on his team for as long as I can remember. Anytime anyone needs help, they call on him. He is an expert on how our machines run. He is always cheery, enthusiastic. So I promoted him to supervisor. That means, now, he is in charge of scheduling, making sure each day’s production is complete, checking raw materials for the next day. It doesn’t seem like a lot of responsibility, but I think the promotion was a mistake.

Response
It doesn’t seem like a lot to you, because those responsibilities are well within your Time Span capability. You have a team member with a high interest in machines and how they run. He can probably listen from across the room and tell if something is wrong with a machine.

In his new role, listening to a machine doesn’t go far. You are asking him to use a new set of tools – schedules and checklists. Machines work in real time. Schedules work into the future. He may not be interested in the work of a supervisor and you may be asking him to play a Time Span role beyond his capability.

There is one simple way to find out. Ask him.

Explaining Time Span and Roles

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“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.