From the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
When I hear about the concept of Time Span, I am reminded about the Peter Principle. Any connection?
Response:
This is an easy one. The book The Peter Principle is an amusing description of Time Span Capability and what happens to someone when we have mis-match in a role. I have written more about that at the following link.
Let me know if you have more questions.
“Did you know that you can measure that mental horsepower by measuring the Time Span embedded in each of the goals?” I repeated. “You see, each of us has an innate ability to handle a measured amount of uncertainty in the world. For some, that Time Span is short. It is impossible for that person to think out beyond a week, or a month. Impossible to plan and execute goals, business or personal, beyond that measured capability. It makes that person uncomfortable to consider what life might be like in a year or two years.”
Jonas was listening.
“There are just a handful of critical factors that determine success in any role on your team. Measuring a person’s Time Span Capability is an intuitive judgment. Every manager keeps this running assessment going about each team member. This is a judgment you have been making about each person from the minute they joined your team.”
“But isn’t that subjective?” Jonas interjected.
“It might feel subjective, but when you realize that this intuitive judgment can be measured, using Time Span as the metric, this judgment becomes scientific.”
Jonas tilted his head, puzzled.
“Jonas, the temperature in this room, does it feel warm or cold to you?”
“Warm, I guess,” he replied.
“For me, it feels chilly. Those observations are subjective. But if we look at the thermostat on the wall, here, can we both agree that the temperature is 73 degrees?”
The light came on for Jonas. “Warm for me, chilly for you, but 73 degrees is an objective observation. Measuring capability, and agreeing on the Time Span,” Jonas was thinking out loud. “That measurement is an objective observation.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Jonas replied. “My team member has been a valuable supervisor, but this leap to manager is a big leap. The responsibilities are bigger.”
“How big?” I asked.
“Really big. I need someone with more than a Post-It Note mentality.”
“How can you measure that?” I pressed.
“I’m not really sure,” Jonas paused, searching his bag of mental metrics.
“What are the goals attached to this managerial role you are thinking about?”
“Oh, there are goals. We have a complete role description for this position.”
“Good. I would expect that. But when you look at the goals, you know, the what, by when, how long are the by-whens of each of the goals, longer or shorter than the goals in his current role, as a supervisor?”
“Longer,” Jonas snapped, instinctively. “I guess that’s what makes them more complicated. The goals in this new role, as a manager, take longer to complete. More things can go wrong. The manager has to think ahead, create contingency plans, recognize when things are going off track, take corrective action. It takes more mental horsepower.”
“Did you know that you can measure that mental horsepower by measuring the Time Span embedded in each of the goals?”
“Tell me, why do you think it is important to match the person’s Time Span capability with the Time Span required in the task?” I asked. This was like an impromptu quiz, with a point.
Jonas looked left. “Because if the person doesn’t have the capability to complete the task, it won’t get done. Obvious, I think.”
“And how does that person feel about that task, their role in the company?”
“I suppose they would feel frustrated, a bit overwhelmed,” Jonas replied.
“And so what happens then?”
“Well, usually, that person gets put on the bubble. And if they stay on the bubble, long enough, they’re history.”
“Theoretically, that sounds good,” I pushed, “but that’s not what I see. Can this person make it on the basis of their performance?”
Jonas shook his head, “Nope.”
“So, how does this person survive? How does this person stay on your payroll?”
Jonas smiled. “You’re right. I call it Teflon. Nothing sticks. And try to hold the person accountable, you hear every excuse.”
“So, why is it important to match the person’s Time Span capability with the Time Span required in the task?”
“So, how can you tell?” Jonas asked. “How do you measure Time Span capability in a person?”
“How can you tell anything about a person?” I replied.
“I can tell you the most about people I know,” he nodded.
“Let’s start there. With the people you know the most. In fact, let’s make a list of those people who see you, as their manager. That should be a list of four or five people.”
“Okay, I have the list, now what?”
“Take that list and rank them according to Time Span. Longest Time Span at the top of the list and shortest Time Span at the bottom of the list. Here are some questions I ask myself.
With that list in hand, how does it look?”
Jonas was working while I was talking. “Got it,” he finished.
“And now, as you look at that list, your team ranked in Time Span order, how confident do you feel about the accuracy of your ranking?”
Jonas nodded, “I think I did a pretty good job.”
“If I were to tell you that you did a highly accurate assessment of your team members, why would I have such a high level of confidence in your ability to make this assessment? Do you consider yourself an expert on Time Span?”
“Well, no, but I know these people. I have known each of them for several years.”
“Exactly, you see, you have not been doing this exercise for the past few minutes. You have been doing this exercise for years. Every manager always maintains a running intuitive judgment about the Time Span capability of their team. You just never though about it this way before. And now, you have a very simple tool to work with.”
“Why is it important to get your team involved in problem solving?” I asked.
Carl had been promoted to manager six months ago, after two years with the company as a supervisor. Stress cracks had begun to show.
“Well, some decisions, I have to make. Between me and my boss, I am still accountable for the productivity of my team,” he replied.
“I understand. But why is it important to get your team involved in problem solving?” I repeated.
“Well, I would get them involved if I thought it would help, but I have to tell you, sometimes the things they come up with are way off base,” Carl continued to resist.
“So?”
“So, it wastes a lot of time. And you know how busy we are around here. Time is precious.”
“Short-term time is precious,” I agreed. “And team problem solving eats time for breakfast. In the short term, it might appear that little is accomplished. So, think about this. What is the long term impact of team problem solving?”
“Volume is lower, but you are further behind, shipping late, back-ordering and allowing stock outs. You have a veteran crew and the same manager. The biggest difference is that you are working without two supervisors. Is that about it?” I verified.
“You got it,” Edgar nodded.
“So, what were the two supervisors doing that seems to make all the difference?”
“You know, supervising. Helping a technician who didn’t quite know what to do. Fixing a broken machine. Covering for someone on vacation. That’s why we figured we could do without them. I mean, we still have a machinist who can fix machines when they go down.”
“So, who schedules the technicians to work the production shifts?”
“We just put everyone on a regular rotation to work their hours during the week to cover one full shift and a swing shift. That way, no one has to really schedule the technicians.”
“So, you always have the right technicians scheduled to do the right production work?”
Edgar stopped. His eyes fluttered, but still no response.
“And who makes sure you have the right raw materials before each production run? Who checks to make sure an order is pulled from finished goods instead of making a production run to cover? Who is making sure machines are maintained on a PM schedule so they get pulled down only when they are idle?”
Edgar was still silent. “No one is doing any of that, anymore,” he finally replied.
“Edgar, there is a very specific role, this first line management stuff. It is between a production role and a systems role. To make sure production gets done, on time, to spec, working our strategic constraint. Many companies don’t see it, or don’t define it effectively. And that’s why, the harder you work, the behinder you get.”
“How long has this been going on,” I asked.
“It’s funny,” Edgar replied. “Our production volume isn’t as high as in 2007, but we are further behind. My manager just can’t seem to get ahead of the eight-ball.”
“Besides your lower production volume, what else is different?”
“Since the recession, we have had to cut back on staff, but we have the same number of production people per units produced, so that shouldn’t make a difference.”
“What else is missing?”
“Well, we had to let go of two supervisors, but that’s only two people out of a production team of 50. And besides, our production people know the work, they don’t need that much supervision.”
“We’ve grown,” explained Edgar. “We have developed systems to make sure our product is consistently made. But we keep running into delivery problems, running behind, backorders, line shutdowns. There always seems to be a problem making sure things get done.”
“Which one person has that responsibility?” I asked.
“Well, that should be the manager,” Edgar replied. “But I wonder sometimes. Have you ever seen someone in the weeds?”
“What do you mean?”
“In the weeds. Like in a restaurant, where the waiter has too many tables. He can go as fast as he wants, but never catches up and every customer stays upset.”
“So, describe your manager’s role? What do you expect from him?”
Edgar paused, “He’s the manager, he’s in charge of everything that goes on out there. It’s quite a big job. We have several assembly lines, lots of machines, each a little different. We have raw material and finished goods inventories.”
“Where does the breakdown occur?” I pressed.
“There are two kinds of problems I see my manager facing. Sometimes he seems to fix the same problem over and over, one band-aid after the another. Other times, he can tweak our system to fix the problem once and prevent it from happening again. I call it a system fix.”
“And?”
“Sometimes, there is too much going on and he can’t study a problem long enough to make a system fix, so he is back to band-aids. And that’s when we get behind.”
“If I have been making these judgments about capability all along, using my intuition,” Brent wondered, “then why is delegation is so difficult? I mean, picking the right person for an assignment? Why am I disappointed so often?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?” I replied.
Brent’s eyes went to the corner of the ceiling before settling back to the conversation. “I think,” he started, “I think that sometimes I don’t think things through. I mean, I know when a task should be completed. And I know the Time Span capability of my team members. I guess I don’t think about matching those up. In fact, it’s only now, after doing that ranking exercise, that I understand, my team members are truly different.”
“Really?” I smiled.
“No, for some reason, I always thought everyone on my team should be able to see the task, see the problem, see the solution and just handle it. Now I see, clearly, some people on my team just don’t get it.”
“But you knew that all along.”
“Yes, I did. But instead of making a decision based on capability, I just picked somebody, anybody and then complained about them when they failed.”
“And, so, the reason for the failure?”
“I picked the wrong person. As the manager, I am accountable for the failure. To be more effective, I have to make better matches between Time Span requirements and Time Span capability.”