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.

“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.

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
With the basic understanding that I now have about Time Span, I am curious how deep in the organization to take it? How do you explain Time Span to Stratum II or even Stratum I?

Response:
The principles of Time Span are absolutely applicable throughout the organization. How we talk about Time Span will depend on the purpose of the discussion. Let the purpose of the discussion be your guide.

Let’s start with Stratum I, because I sense that is where you are having difficulty. How would you explain Time Span to people in Stratum I roles? What would be the purpose?

The simple elegance of Time Span is that it comes from setting goals. It is the “by when?” of the goal (what? by when?). Is it important to set goals for those in Stratum I roles? Then, let that be my purpose.

When I talk about Time Span with people in Stratum I roles, I simply talk about their goals. “What do you need accomplish? By when?” It is a straightforward and important conversation.

Avoid the temptation to make Time Span more complicated.

How do we explain Time Span to those in Stratum II roles? Tomorrow.

Time Span is the cornerstone of the research conducted by Elliott Jaques and Kathryn Cason.

The sun is just streaming in over Sandia Peak here in Albuquerque, NM. Working with Charlie Hawkins’ Vistage groups on the research of Elliott Jaques and his findings on Time Span.

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
We have managed to find a niche in this recession where we think we can grow. We are ready to scale. Understanding the layers of the organization, we believe we have Stratum I and Stratum IV (capable) people, missing layers II and III. What is our next move? Do we grow the company up from the bottom or from the top down?

Response:
Let’s describe the trouble and let you pick your poison.

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.

Right now, your perceive that you are effectively delivering a product or service into your market. That market is responding and appears to have an appetite for more (even in this difficult economy).

From a role perspective, you have a layer of Stratum I pumping out Production and a layer of Stratum IV wise guys who think they have a tiger by the tail. I will concede that your Stratum IV (capable) people are looking down the road 2-5 years and that’s why they can see the tiger.

The trouble will be in growing. BTW, this trouble is normal, natural and unavoidable. And you still have to grow through it. Your excited Stratum IV hunters in heat will spearhead a sales effort and start raising your volume (product or service). This will outstrip your Stratum I abilities to control both pace and quality. You will suffer difficulties in scheduling to meet demand and quality control to meet specifications.

This volume will create the need to look ahead (three months plus) and monitor production’s pace and quality. Specific processes must be developed, documented and trained to insure we are working production on time and within spec. This is clearly a Stratum II role. In the beginning, one of your Stratum IV wise guys will step in and temporarily fill the gap. This term will be short-lived as boredom in the role sets in, necessitating the need to hire a proper Stratum II supervisor.

This same scenario will play itself out again as volume and market increases. The need to look out (twelve months plus), to invest in systems, procure capital equipment, re-arrange production resources for efficiency will draw one of your Stratum IV (capable) honchos into the mix. There will be temporary challenge creating these systems, but likely, the discipline to monitor and maintain those systems will require the hiring of a proper Stratum III (capable) manager.

Building this infrastructure will be dictated by the time between hope and reality (reality always wins). My counsel would be to clearly define your goals (milestones) and watch for follow-through indicators for your growing market. Do not hire on hope, hire on confirmation of indicators.

Keep in touch. -TF

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
Now that I know more about Time Span, I realize I have over promoted someone beyond their capability. What can I do to repair the damage? I need this person’s skills, but they are floundering in this new position.

Response:
You have already taken the first step. You have accepted responsibility for your dilemma. Often, we blame the floundering team member when it was our miscalculation.

Now, that you understand Time Span, your next move is to calibrate task assignments (goals) within the Time Span capability of the person. To understand the Time Span of the task assignment, you have to trace your way back to the goal. A goal is a “what, by when.” The “by when” of the goal is the Time Span of the task.

If you list out the Time Span of the former task assignments (where the team member was successful) along with the Time Span of the new task assignments (where the team member is having difficulty), you will likely see a pattern. This pattern will be helpful in determining what Time Span task assignments are appropriate.

Elliott observed the frustration in the Management Team Meeting and watched as it failed to achieve the teamwork intentions of Wilfred Brown.

And Elliott made a suggestion. It was a simple suggestion, but its impact profound.

From that day forward, the Management Team Meeting would carry a new name. In its place, it would be called the President’s Meeting. The members of the meeting would be the same, the frequency would be the same, but the accountability for its decisions would no longer rest with the team, but with the president.

In fact, the accountability of its decisions had never rested with the team. The accountability had always rested with the president. This small change only now, clearly described what had always been.

But now, what was different?

Naming the meeting according to reality brought a new enthusiasm to its purpose. The purpose was, now, to capture the input of the management team, to identify the challenges that exist, both in the external market and the internal organization, to identify the technical details and consider alternative solutions, so the president could make the best decision. There were no more illusions, no more contrived circumstances. The politics disappeared and the team moved forward with great clarity.

This lesson about who is accountable for the goal is a lesson that has value at every layer in the organization. More about that tomorrow. -TF

Still in Philly, working with another group today, more on Elliott Jaques.
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The Board of Directors had assigned a goal to the president, Wilfred Brown. It was Wilfred, alone who would be accountable. It was Wilfred, alone, who had the authority to make the necessary decisions, to commit resources, to set the reasonable Time Span of task assignments for his management team, to adjust the strategy, to shut down a project, to acquire a technology. It was a long term goal defined by the Board and the Board had entrusted its execution to a man named Wilfred Brown.

And what is more, Wilfred Brown was up to the challenge. He understood. He had the necessary capability to plan and execute, to achieve the goal.

Wilfred’s executive team was hand-picked, each chosen for their experience, their skill and their capability for the tasks they were assigned. But the tasks (goals) they were assigned, were of shorter Time Span than those (goals) created by the Board for Wilfred Brown.

And it was at these Management Team Meetings that Wilfred would present the problems he faced and the decisions to be made. His executive team could, each, see the impact in their own discipline, and each, in their own way, could make decisions appropriate to their assignments.

But in the largest sense, they failed to see what Wilfred Brown could see. Wilfred could explain and demonstrate, argue and persuade, but in the end, in some cases, he would veto the team’s conclusions on the largest decisions.

Greetings from Philadelphia. Talking to a group about Elliott Jaques.
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So, what was the point of this Management Team Meeting? The Management Team was asked to participate in the biggest decisions and solve the biggest problems. Yet, all too often, Wilfred Brown the Managing Director, would make his own decision.

What is the point of your Management Team Meetings? Is it important to set the context for the work of the company, to describe the market, identify the customers? Is it important to describe the ultimate goals of the organization, the long term vision?

Is it then important to capture the input of the management team, to identify the challenges that exist, both in the external market and the internal organization? Is it important to identify the technical details and consider alternative solutions?

And is it better to do this alone, in the solitude of the president’s office, or is it better to put together the heads of the management team?

You see, Wilfred Brown’s intention to include his management team was not only noble, it made common sense. More than that, it was necessary.

But what was the point, if Wilfred was going to veto some of the important decisions?

And Elliott watched. He made notes. He talked to the members of the management team, and he talked with Wilfred Brown.

You see, before the Management Team Meeting, Wilfred Brown sat in another meeting. This meeting was behind closed doors. It wasn’t secret, but the doors were closed. This meeting was a meeting of the Board of Directors. In this meeting, Wilfred Brown was given his marching orders. The Board made its decisions, decided direction and set its goal. These were not operational directives, but strategic milestones well into the future.

So, Wilfred Brown arrived at the Management Team Meeting, knowing the goal assigned to him by the Board of Directors. Wilfred had noble intentions of creating an atmosphere of teamwork. He held a deep belief in the importance of his management team participating in the largest problems and making the biggest decisions.

But, in the end, (of many meetings), the decisions, made by the executive team, would fall short of those directives determined by the Board. And it would not be the team sitting in that next Board meeting. It would be Wilfred who would be held accountable for the decisions made in the Management Team Meeting. Often enough to disturb the team, Wilfred, reluctantly had to step in.

So, what was the point of this Management Team Meeting?