Jonas leaned forward, his face brightened. His concern about Rudy and wondering about Rudy’s capability turned to curiosity. “You’re right. Off the top of my head, here are a couple of things.”

I held up my hand. “Wait a minute, Jonas. We are not going to work off the top of our head on this. Our testing needs to be scientific, so we can make a valid judgment about Rudy’s effectiveness working at longer Time Span tasks.

“First we need to make a list of 2-3 things that we might challenge Rudy with. On that list, with each of the challenges, we need to determine the Time Span associated with the task. We have made a judgment that Rudy is effective at nine-months, so these challenges need to have Time Spans longer than nine-months.

“If we can identify a longer Time Span task and Rudy is effective at that task, we will have some confirmation for our decision. If we can test Rudy over 2-3 of these challenges, and he is successful, then he will actually earn the promotion. And we will some confidence that our decision is sound. Only then, do we make the promotion.” –TF

Jonas was quiet for a moment, thinking about Rudy and his performance as a nine-month Time Span supervisor.

I broke his concentration. “So, tell me about this gut feeling you have about Rudy. You are concerned about having him shift gears and become responsible for the system?”

“I don’t know,” Jonas replied. “It’s just a feeling, maybe I am afraid that if I promote Rudy to this position and it doesn’t work out, Rudy might get upset and quit. He’s a proud man. And I don’t want to lose him. After all, he is our best supervisor.”

“So, what could you do to find out, to challenge Rudy’s capabilities without putting him into the position where he might fail?” I asked.

Jonas smiled and shook his head. “You’re right. There are certainly some things we could do to test Rudy, before actually giving him the position.”

“So, let’s make a list of some things we can challenge him with, to confirm his capability.” -TF

“Yes, and Rudy is really very good at it,” Jonas observed. “Our last supervisor that controlled our inventory ramp-up at year end always sent his crew into overtime pay to catch up when he got behind. Rudy recalculates the ramp-up schedule when we hit those little sales spikes, so he recovers over a period of 2-3 weeks instead of 2-3 days. It’s our off season so these spikes rarely put our inventory levels in danger.”

“So, we have identified that Rudy’s longest Time Span task is nine months, and you believe that he is successful at that Time Span?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. It’s not just me, you can talk to almost anyone, his manager, his MOR (Manager Once Removed), in fact, you can talk to Rudy, and just by listening to him describe what he does, you can tell he has things firmly under control.”

“Jonas, this may sound like casual observations about Rudy, but here is what we have established about his current role. The longest Time Span task in his role is nine months and his effectiveness in that role has been judged as positive by multiple people (multiple data points). This is not casual conversation, this is calculated measurement of Rudy’s performance.” –TF

It’s good to be back home after a week on the road. Just returned from San Diego at the Vistage/TEC International Chair Conference. I got to spend two solid days sharing with them, my favorite subject, the research of Elliott Jaques.
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Jonas and I were talking about his realization that he truly had no one responsible for the system in which his company worked. He was hesitant to assign that responsibility to Rudy.

“He’s the best supervisor we have, I just have this gut feeling that he’s not quite up to the challenge,” Jonas remarked.

“Let’s talk about Rudy and his current responsibilities in terms of Time Span,” I suggested. “Rudy is one of your top supervisors?”

“Yep,” Jonas confirmed.

“I know he responsible for daily scheduling and weekly production output. Tell me, what is his longest Time Span task, beyond the daily and weekly stuff?”

Jonas smiled. “That’s where Rudy really shines. You see, once we get out of our busy season, we go into a mode where we look nine months down the road, right before we go right back into next year’s busy season. Our sales volume isn’t volatile, but it has a predictable cycle.

“Based on the forecasts for next year that come out of our planning meetings, Rudy takes those numbers and charts out a nine-month production schedule so when we go into season, we have our par-level inventory on hand.

“But it’s more than just creating that schedule. Sometimes during the year, we have a spike in sales that will relieve some of our on-hand finished goods. Rudy is always on top of things, identifies the depletion and re-charts the ramp up to busy season. For the past two years, over that nine-month period, Rudy has come with 100 units of our par-level when it’s time to go into busy season.”

“So, the longest Time Span task that Rudy has is nine months?” -TF

Greetings from San Diego, CA.
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“So, let’s get back to Rudy,” I redirected. “Why haven’t you put Rudy in charge of the system before?”

“No, no, I told you, I will put Rudy in charge of the system,” Jonas backpedaled.

“That wasn’t my question. Why isn’t Rudy already running the system?”

Jonas cocked his head in thought. He was mulling over something that he had, indeed, already thought about. “You are right. I never asked Rudy to run the system, because I didn’t think he had it in him. Don’t get me wrong, Rudy is probably the best supervisor we have. But I don’t know if he is ready for more responsibility.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know, really. It’s just a gut feeling.”

“So, let’s see if we can measure that gut feeling of yours. By the way, I know Rudy, and I think you are right. I don’t think he is up to the responsibility of piecing together your system. But let’s see if we can measure that level of responsibility, using Time Span, to see if Rudy stacks up.” -TF

Greetings from San Diego, CA.
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“No one is in charge of the system,” I stated flatly. “If you had to pick someone to be in charge of the system, who would it be?”

Jonas mentally ticked through his supervisors. “Well, I guess it would be Rudy.”

“Then why haven’t you put Rudy in charge of the system, before?”

“Well, I’ll be honest with you. I just didn’t think I needed a single person accountable for the system,” Jonas observed. “I thought everyone would figure it out.”

“Jonas, you have a headcount today around 80 employees. For your company to grow, to fix these issues, what has to change? What has to change for you to move your company to the next level?”

“I have to make someone accountable for the system.”

Greetings from Boston, MA.
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Jonas was perplexed. “Maybe I do have the wrong heads working on the problem,” he admitted. “But, if I have to get involved, what do I need them for?”

“That’s an excellent starting point,” I replied. Jonas looked puzzled.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“What do you need them for?” I repeated his question.

“Well, they’re, they’re supervisors. They make sure the work gets done,” Jonas concluded.

“And are they getting all the work done in each of their areas?”

“Yes, but it’s just not coordinated. There isn’t a system.”

“So, who is in charge of the system?” I queried.

“Well, no one, really. They are just supposed to get together and figure it out, but they don’t communicate. It’s really a communication problem.”

“So, who is in charge of the system?” I asked again.

Jonas stopped. Then slowly spoke. “Well, no one, really.”

Greetings from Boston, MA. Making a quick trip up the East Coast, then out to San Diego. Eight workshops this week on my favorite subject. Elliott Jaques and his research on Time Span.
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“How big was your company five years ago, and how big is it now?” I asked. “And what have been the growing pains getting here?”

“It’s people,” Jonas replied, “always people.” Jonas runs a small company with 80 people, up from 40 five years ago.

“How so? People is a pretty generic response.”

“Well, when we were small, it was a struggle just to get the work done. Now, we have plenty of horsepower, we have even documented our processes, but things are more complicated. Sometimes we hit a home run. Other times, we simply drop the ball. I think it boils down to communication problems. People don’t seem to talk to each other when they need to. Our supervisors seem to worry about their own little area and just assume the other departments will pick up the pieces. Well, they don’t!”

“How much is this costing you?” I probed.

“I can’t really put a number on it. The margin gets lost in rework, delays and idle time. You know, when we have people scheduled to work, but no work stacked in the queue. Or we have too much work scheduled for Thursday and Friday, so we end up with overtime on Saturday.”

“How have you tried to fix it?”

“I don’t know, I get all my supervisors together and they say they have it under control, but the next day, there is some big snafu.”

“Do you think, maybe, you have the wrong heads working on the problem?” -TF

“So, what do you make of this mess I seem to have made with Phillip?” Joyce asked.

I took a deep breath. “Based on what you have told me, Phillip’s current capability is greater than one month. That Time Span holds up to the task of a Team Leader. Phillip’s next step would be a transition to a Supervisor. But don’t think this is simple. You don’t sprinkle fairy dust and think Phillip is a Supervisor.

“Up to now, Phillip has been doing the work along with his team members. Being a Supervisor is a different role with a different skill set. Phillip will need training and coaching. Even beginning Supervisor tasks generally carry Time Spans of three months.”

“How much of a difference could that be for Phillip?” Joyce asked. “How different could the skill set be for Phillip to begin to be a Supervisor?”

“Let’s take a look at the Tools of the Trade for Phillip,” I began. “Up to now, the tools for Phillip in the warehouse have been real tools, forklifts, picking baskets, picking tickets, staging tables, shipping boxes, cartons, packing tape.”

Joyce nodded.

“The role for a Warehouse Supervisor is no longer doing the work, but now, making sure the work gets done. It’s a completely different role and requires a completely different skill set.”

Joyce continued to nod. She was ready for more. –TF

Our next Leadership program in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.

Our next Leadership program Online begins in September. Watch for details. –TF