“As clearly as you can, describe what is happening, what do you observe?” I asked. “What is the problem?”

Joann paused before she responded. “The problem is that the manager is not supporting the team when it runs up against a difficult problem or decision. That’s when the team member ends up in my office.”

“Okay, that’s the symptom. That’s the problem. What is causing the problem?” I prompted.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “It could be a personality conflict, a breakdown in communication, or it could be that the manager just doesn’t know how to solve the problem or make the decision.”

“Which do you think it is? We cannot resolve this situation, until we know what is causing this chain of events. We might try fixing the wrong thing,” I observed.

Joann was shaking her head. “I don’t want to think about this, but I don’t believe the manager is capable of helping. Given a difficult problem to solve, the manager solves problems the same way as everyone on the team. Given a difficult decision to make, the manager makes decisions the same way as everyone on the team. They all flounder together.”

“How did this person make manager?”

Joann shifted uncomfortably. “I made the promotion.”

“I am in a bit of a bind,” Ruben explained. “One of my team members, Andre, is just not being effective. But I can’t explain why. And every time I speak to him about it, my words get twisted.”

“How so,” I asked.

“He is doing the job, just not very well. We talk together about what I expect, and he is doing everything I say. But when I really ask myself, is he is being effective, I have to say –no.”

“But Andre is doing exactly what the job requires?” I press.

“Yes, he is doing exactly what the job requires. It’s like, he meets the minimum standard, but he is still doing a lousy job.”

“My goal is to reduce inventory,” Bruce explained.

“What is the Time Span of your goal?” I asked. “You have to reduce inventory. By how much and by when?”

“Good question. All the managers just got this email from our corporate office. We need to take a hard look and get our inventories down.”

“So, tell me, if you had to reduce your inventory 30 percent by the end of next week, would that be different than if you had to reduce inventory by the end of May?”

Bruce chuckled. “Of course. If we had to reduce inventory by next week, I would put the brakes on hard. Slash pricing and blow this stuff out of here, just some hard nosed, tactical stuff.”

“And what would be your decisions if the Time Span was end of May?”

“You know, that’s really the most difficult part,” Taylor explained. “I have to make decisions today that might not come into play for another year. I have to make decisions. I have to make commitments. Sometimes, I even have to gamble.”

“What makes it so difficult?” I asked.

“It’s the uncertainty of what might happen. It’s the uncertainty of the future. I mean, our projects are complex, you know, detail complex. But the real complexity comes from the uncertainty.”

“Your goal is to make it all happen according to your schedule?” I continued. “Sounds easy. Can’t you just make up a schedule and tell everyone they have to follow it?”

Taylor chuckled and shook his head. “I wish. No, my schedule has to meet the Contractor’s schedule and it has to mesh with all the sub-trades on the job. And most importantly, my schedule has to be tight enough to match the budget and man-hours in our original estimate. There are a thousand things that have to go right. By the way, we have 30 other projects that will happen during this same twenty two months.”

“So, let’s talk about the decisions that go along with your goal. Every role has decisions that must be made. That’s the work that must be done. Your effectiveness in managing this schedule depends on the decisions that you make. When I look at the Time Span of your Goals, I also look at the Time Span of your decisions, the Time Span of Discretion.” -TF

“Tell me, what is your longest Time Span goal?” I asked.

Taylor sat across the conference table. He was in charge of project scheduling. At any given time, his company has 30-35 projects in play. Some of the projects only last 4-5 weeks. Others last 12-15 months. Yet, every project is important. No details can be dropped, no matter how small.

“What do you mean?” Taylor asked. “I mean, I work with a Project Management software. I spend time meeting with all the Project Managers, looking at their contracts, their change orders, the deadlines in their project segments.”

“What is your longest project?”

“The longest one, is the Phoenix project. We got the contract last week. I have already been looking at it for a couple of months though, ever since it came through our estimating department. It’s a big project and we had to see if we could even mobilize to do it. Twenty two months it will take.”

“And what is the Goal, what is your Goal?” I asked.

“At the end of the project, all of the materials showed at the job site, all the crews showed up to do the production. The equipment required, whether we own it, or rented it, was on-site. All the trades that we had to coordinate with, everything happened according to my schedule. That’s my goal.”

The other day I checked to see how many posts I had tagged related to Time Span. The number was 153. Time Span, as a concept, comes from the most basic thing we do, as a company, the most fundamental thing we do, as managers. Time Span comes from Goal Setting.

What is a goal? Take all the ornaments off. A goal is a “what by when.” Often, we focus on the “what” and rarely pay much attention to the “by when.” But it is the “by when” of every goal that determines the Time Span.

Time Span is the length of time a person works into the future, without direction, using their own discretionary judgment to achieve a specific goal.

Three weeks ago, fifteen of you, began work in our online platform (www.workingleadership.com). The first Subject Area was Goal Setting and Time Span. The discussion now shifts its attention from the Goal to Discretionary Judgment.

In the pursuit of any goal, we have to make decisions. We make those decisions using our discretionary judgment. The Time Span of the Goal (the “by when”) has a direct relationship to the Time Span of Discretion.

An important discussion, for managers, surrounds the decisions that must be made to achieve a specific goal.

What is your most important goal? What are the decisions you have to make to achieve that goal?

Join the Conversation
You can join the conversation at any time. We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions. Follow this link – www.workingleadership.com.

“My team is now down to three people,” Marissa explained. ” I hope that was my last reduction in force. I don’t know how we are going to get everything done.”

“How are you going to get everything done?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I guess we will just have to work harder.”

“Work harder, not smarter, that’s the ticket,” I replied.

Marissa smiled and nodded. “You are right, our work volume is down. But when you lose people, there are some things you still have to do.”

“Do you? How are you going to get everything done?”

“I guess there are some things we are NOT going to do.”

“The first step to higher productivity is to eliminate things that are not necessary. How are you going to make that decision?”

As of right now, the Big 3 bailout bill is stalled. It appeared for a moment yesterday that it might make it. World markets are reacting to this delay.

As we work our way through this recession, will some fundamentals about the auto industry be significantly different in another 18 months? Here is the biggest question. Will there be some fundamental changes in your industry, in your market during the next 18 months?

Your biggest challenge is not to get small and hunker down. Your biggest challenge will be to understand how your company will be significantly different. The decisions you make, will be different.

The world is looking at itself. It is looking at its largest industries and asking this question. Is the way these companies are organized to do business, something that should be preserved or something that should be rejected, to make way for something new?

How will you make those decisions for yourself? How is your company organized to do business? What should be preserved? What should be rejected to make way for something new?

Working Leadership Online is not another old, tired leadership program. Working Leadership Online is about you, leading in this new world. It starts in January with our first project assignment on February 2, 2009. To find out more, visit www.workingleadership.com.