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.

Out of Town, Out of Touch

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I am a Regional Manager, responsible for seven locations across the Midwest. I feel I have the ability to manage effectively without talking to my team on a daily basis. But, at times, I feel as if I am not in touch with their issues, challenges or daily routines. In fact, some are not even “available” for lunch or dinner when I am in town. Have I lost touch? Can you recommend a book to read, symposium to attend to improve my management skills? What has been your experience in managing people in multiple locations?

Response:

Thank you for your question. Reading a book will not solve your problem. Staying in touch with your location managers is tough when face-to-face meetings are not frequent. It’s tough, but not impossible.

First, create a master schedule of all the touches for the next six months. This includes face-to-face meetings, conference calls, 1-1 coaching calls, birthday cards and handwritten notes that are snail-mailed.

Ask your location managers what interaction is the most helpful, how you can provide the best support for them. Each person is different and may require a different frequency and kind of touch.

Tomorrow, I will talk about that in-town dinner your managers are not “available” for, but in the meantime, let’s open this up for posted comments. As a manager, how do you stay in touch with out of town direct reports, to support their issues, challenges and daily routines? -TF

It’s a Simple Question

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“So, how did it go?” I asked. Phyllis had her conversation with Ben late yesterday about the cycle count mess.

“It was a little strange,” Phyllis started. “At first he was headed toward being defensive, but my question was not what he expected. He thought I was going to ask him how it happened, but I didn’t. Instead, I asked him how he was going to fix it.”

“And?” My brow furrowed in anticipation.

“And he just sat there. So, I waited. You said I would have to outlast the silence, and I did,” smiled Phyllis.

“And?”

“And, then, it all came gushing out, all the problems, difficulties and excuses,” Phyllis was still smiling. “So, I just asked him again, how was he going to fix the problem?

“It was great,” she continued. “This afternoon, he is supposed to have a one page written timeline to get inventory back under control. Now, I know it will be an awful plan, and that I will have to work with him, but the accountability will still be in his court.”

Phyllis continued to beam as she made her way down the hall, waving a quick salute. -TF

On the Hook or Off the Hook?

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Phyllis was not stunned, but the approach with Ben surprised her.

“You want me to ask his advice on how to deal with the mess that he created?” she asked, wanting to make sure she heard correctly.

“Absolutely,” I replied. “You know you will be very involved in the cleanup, but Ben needs to know this is his responsibility. Most managers would immediately jump in and take over the cycle counts themselves until everything was straight.”

“That’s exactly what I was about to do,” said Phyllis.

“And if you take over the cycle counts, what message does that send to Ben?”

Phyllis had to think for a moment, but she was smart. The consequences slowly washed over her face. “If I jump in, the message to Ben is that I will straighten out any problem he has. If I jump in, it lets him off the hook for these cycle counts.”

Phyllis was quiet for another moment.

“Okay,” she said. “Now, I am ready to talk to him.”

Ask Ben

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I could tell Phyllis was tense. The color in her face was grim, her posture perfect.

“Hey, Phyllis, what’s up?” I asked. She took a deep breath. I sat down across the table from her. She stared straight ahead.

“I have to talk to Ben. I know what I need to communicate, but I don’t know what to say. I just found all the inventory reports for the cycle counts in a desk drawer in his cubicle. They’re all blank. It looks like we haven’t had a count for two months. Ben has been telling us that everything was fine and in line with our book inventory.

“Our controller called me in this morning. Something is off on our cost of raw materials and a couple of spot checks showed the inventory isn’t even close. It’s a mess.” Phyllis slumped a little now that she had explained it to me.

“It sounds to me like you know what to say.” I replied.

“Yes, but Ben has a tendency to go off on people. He gets defensive really easy. I am going to need his help, not his anger to get to the bottom of this. The first couple of sentences will be the most difficult and I don’t want to set him off.”

“So, why don’t you ask Ben?”

“What?” Phyllis looked almost startled.

“Sure, ask Ben. Call him into your office. It sounds like this.

Ben, I just found out we have a problem with our cycle counts on our inventory. This is your responsibility, so I thought it would be best if you would tell me how we might go about figuring out what happened.

“Now, Phyllis, you and I both know things will come unraveled at that point, but the responsibility will be in his court to help fix it.” -TF

Get the List

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Audrey had been silent for almost thirty seconds, eyes deep in thought. “So, identifying the Time Span for a project is pretty easy, because it has a deadline. Does Time Span apply to other jobs that are not quite so defined?”

“Of course. We always have some timeline in mind for any task. Elliott Jaques called it the Timeline of Intention. Time Span can be used to define not only specific tasks, but also to define specific roles inside the company.

“Let’s take payroll, for example. Every week, the payroll clerk prepares the timesheets, calculates the additional elements of each paycheck, like 401(k) and such. You might say that payroll has a one week Time Span. In reality, payroll is a bit more complicated because of its reporting at the end of every three months.

“Payroll clerks know that every payroll transaction has an impact on that quarterly report and if something gets screwed up on a payroll run, it is going to be screwed up when it comes time to prepare that quarterly report.

“Even though payroll may be run once a week or once every two weeks, the payroll clerk is always focused on the quarterly report. The Time Span for payroll is three months.

“Here, take a look at this. It’s a list I put together. I collected a number of roles in a typical company and identified the Time Span for each position. You might find this helpful.” -TF

If you would like to see the list I showed to Audrey, just drop me an email and I will send you a copy. It’s a couple of pages, quick read.

Really Big Job

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“So, Time Spans can be anywhere between a few minutes and a month?” Audrey asked. We had been talking about how to identify the complexity of a task by how long it takes to complete.

“What if you had a task that takes longer than a month to complete?” I responded.

“What could take longer than a month?” Audrey’s curiosity was touched.

“Look at some of the outside projects that your Project Managers run. How long does it take for one of your longer projects?”

Audrey pulled a memo out of her in-basket. “Well, we just got this project last week and it won’t be completed until next June. And actually, with some of the delays we anticipate, this project will probably take eighteen months.”

“Can you give that assignment to one of your junior Project Managers?” I asked.

“No way. This will be a complicated project. We have no idea what material shortages or cost escalations will occur. To make this profitable, we have to have someone who is comfortable working way into the future.”

“Big job?”

“Big job.”

“How big is big? Use Time Span to describe it,” I directed.

Audrey stopped. “The Sun Tower Project has an eighteen month Time Span.” She stopped again. “So, when we pick a Project Manager, we want to pick someone who has run a job for eighteen months before. Only two of our Project Managers have that kind of experience.” -TF

Precisely How Big?

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“Identifying the Time Span of the first task is easy,” Audrey continued. We were talking about the Time Spans of different tasks to figure out how big, big is. “The first task is just moving some junk out of the way in the loading bay, so forty five minutes.

“But, the second task, where we have to anticipate all the different things that move through the loading bay, that will take longer to think about. Plus we have cargo containers that get loaded in the bay, so we have to stack things in different places when that happens. If I had to create a policy for how we move things through the loading bay, I would have to think about all those things.”

“And if we set perimeters around the loading bay using safety tape to mark zones for received materials versus outgoing materials, would that also be part of the thinking?” I asked.

“You’re right, this would be a big job,” Audrey concluded.

“Okay, how big of a job? Use Time Span to describe it.”

“We are going to have to talk to the Shipping Manager and get his input. We will also have to get with our Freight Coordinator to find out what kind of vehicles and containers we load. The Purchasing Manager can tell us about incoming materials. The Safety Director can help us understand the physical perimeters and safety zones, how high we can stack stuff. Then we will have to write the policy, present it through a couple of meetings to get more input and revisions. This will probably take a month. I will say the Time Span of this project to be about a month.”

“So, when you think about how big a job is, we can use Time Span to more precisely describe its complexity?”

“Yes,” replied Audrey. “And it will also help me pick the right person for the assignment.” -TF

How Big is Big?

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“Tell me more about Time Span. I think I understand, but I’m not sure,” Audrey was curious.

“Do you ever wonder about how to judge the complexity of a job, ever wonder how to describe its mental difficulty?” I asked.

“Well, yeah. Sometimes when I delegate something, I don’t know who to choose. Or I don’t know if the person can complete the task without a lot of my help.”

“Exactly,” I said. “We use different words, like, it’s going to be a big job. Or it’s going to be a tough assignment. Well, just exactly how big is a big job, and just exactly how tough is a tough assignment. Would you like to have a measuring stick that describes precisely how big, big is?”

Audrey leaned forward. Her eyes grew wide. “Yes,” she replied.

“The answer is Time Span. Think about the complexity of task related to how long it takes to complete it.”

“Give me an example,” she said.

“Okay, tell me the time span for this task? Please move all the junk away from the loading bay so we can get this stack of product loaded on a truck that arrives here in :45 minutes.”

“That’s easy,” she said, “Forty-five minutes.”

“Okay, tell me the Time Span for this task? Please arrange the loading bay and create a policy for material flow to accommodate all the different products that we load on all the different vehicles and shipping containers?

“It looks like a similar task, but it requires a totally different Time Span. What do you say?” -TF

The Measuring Stick

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

Tell me more about Time Span. You have mentioned this several times since I’ve been reading your blog, but I do not think I have a clear understanding of what you mean. Give me some details behind the thinking.

Response:

Time Span is the central theme behind an extensive body of research conducted over a period of 50 years by Elliott Jaques. Time Span, as a concept, can be used to understand and measure several elements related to the complexity of a task, complexity of a role and the capability of a person. It has implications for the company org chart, reporting protocols and hiring criteria.

Time Span is defined as “the length of time that a person can work, into the future, without direction, using their own discretionary judgment.”

The Time Span of a delegated task would be the length of elapsed time between the task handoff meeting and the completion of the task. Time Span is used to precisely measure the complexity of any task. The complexity of a task is created by the uncertainty of its elements and its outcome.

The shorter the Time Span, the more certain are its elements and its outcome. The longer the Time Span, the less certain are its elements and its outcome. Time Span becomes the measuring stick.

Now, I am absolutely certain that I have created many more questions. -TF

Time Span and Responsibility

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

My boss feels I am very good at my work, but that I don’t take responsibility. I tried to ask him what he means by that. He said that I have to be told every time what I must do. So, I tried to do things on my own initiative, but then he questions me “who told you to do this?” Most of the time when I ask about something I think I should do, he says “no” and asks me to do something else. How do I impress my boss that I am a person who takes responsibility or is at least willing to take responsibility?

Response:

Your attitude and willingness are in the right place, so let’s make one small change. I want you to ask your boss to meet with you to plan out your work for an entire day. I want you to create a checklist on paper and then work the checklist. The problem is not responsibility. You appear to be a responsible person.

The problem is time span. You appear to work on a single task at a time and then return to your boss for more direction. I want you to lengthen the time span by creating a checklist with a sequence of tasks for the entire day.

At the end of the day, you will be able to show him the checklist and what items you have completed. That will be evidence that you are, indeed, a responsible person.

The key is time span.