Category Archives: Timespan

Managing With Precision

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“What could I have done differently?” Joyce asked. “I thought Phillip was the right choice. I know now, that I was wrong, but how do you make the decision on whether or not to promote someone?”

“Why did you think he was a candidate for promotion?” I asked.

“Well, he has been with us for a little over a year. He knows the ropes. He was a team leader, had the respect of his team,” Joyce replied.

“And what do you think his Time Span was?”

“Well, based on what we have been talking about, his current capability seems to be about four weeks or a little more, but not a lot more.”

“So, how could you find out how much more?”

“Well, he was successful at four weeks. I could have given him a task that took six weeks to complete, or eight weeks.”

“Exactly,” I pointed out. “The best way to determine performance is to test it. The problem with testing, is that, until we talked about Time Span, you had no way to determine the complexity of the task. With Time Span, you can now measure with more precision. Your job, as his Manager, becomes more precise.” -TF

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

Bone Headed Promotion

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“So, Phillip can handle tasks with a one month Time Span, but falls short on tasks with longer Time Spans,” Joyce confirmed.

“So, what does that tell you about his role? You told me that you promoted him to Warehouse Manager. Based on Time Span, is that appropriate for Phillip?” I asked.

Joyce knew the answer, so her hesitation was from reluctance. “No. Now it begins to make sense. What we expect from a Manager, even the Warehouse Manager requires a Time Span of twelve months. Phillip is not even close.”

“So, if you had determined his Time Span before the promotion, you might have done something differently?” I prompted.

“Absolutely. When I look at Time Span, it becomes so obvious that his promotion was a bone-headed decision.”

“And who was responsible for that bone-headed decision?”

“That would be me,” Joyce replied.

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

Performance Becomes Predictable

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“So, he does well on tasks that require a one month look-ahead, but he fails on tasks that require a three month look-ahead,” explained Joyce. We were discussing Phillip, her warehouse manager. Joyce was disappointed in his failure to complete longer term projects.

“So, if you ask your Manager to look at this same data, what would she say?” I asked.

“Oh, I have already discussed Phillip with her and we are on the same page.”

“So, making this assessment of a person’s Time Span is pretty evident.”

Joyce nodded, “When you put it like that, it sticks out like a sore thumb.”

“Knowing this about Phillip, how does that help you as his Manager?”

“If I look at all of his tasks in terms of Time Span, I can predict which ones he will do well, which ones he will struggle with, and which ones he will fail at.” A calm look came over Joyce’s face. “The pattern of his performance becomes predictable. I can almost plan around that. It’s beginning to make sense.”

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We have completed testing for the online version of our Leadership program, scheduled for September 2007. If you have an interest in this program, please reply to this email so we can make our plans. -TF

Measuring Tasks

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“Then, how are we going to measure that capability?” I repeated. Joyce and I were discussing Phillip. Though he had been made manager, he was having difficulty with some of his responsibilities.

“So, you are suggesting that we look at all the tasks on Phillip’s plate and assign a Time Span to them?” Joyce asked.

I nodded.

She began to brainstorm out loud, “If I look at his Key Result Areas, as Warehouse Manager, Phillip is responsible for:

  • Personnel
  • Receiving
  • Picking
  • Shipping
  • Warehouse Layout and Work Flow
  • Security
  • Equipment
  • And Safety.”

“And which of those has the longest Time Span Tasks?” I asked.

Joyce pulled out a sheet of paper to make some notes. “Receiving, picking and shipping are fairly short term things. The look ahead is probably no more than a couple of weeks.

“Warehouse Layout and Work Flow, though, really has a much longer Time Span. We have a lot of seasonality to our product lines and we have to make decisions about inventory bin placement four or five months in advance. Some of it is a feedback loop to sales and purchasing about inventory turns, raw materials in stock, finished goods in stock. There is a lot to control, but it’s easy if you think out far enough into the future and plan.

“That’s where Phillip messes up. He just doesn’t plan out far enough, so it’s always chaos.”

“So, if we were to measure Phillip’s capability in Layout and Work Flow, he does not live up to four months?” I confirmed.

It was Joyce’s turn to nod.

“So, let’s look at his other tasks, assign some Time Spans and see if we come up with a pattern of his capability.” -TF

Not a Matter of Skill

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Joyce had her thinking cap on. Her dissatisfaction with Phillip was not from a lack of performance, but from a lack of capability.

“I want you to begin to think about capability in terms of Time Span,” I prompted.

“You’re right,” she replied. “Phillip seems to stay away from, or procrastinate on all the projects that take time to plan out and work on. And then, it’s like he jams on the accelerator. He even told me that he works better under pressure, that last minute deadlines focus him better. I am beginning to think that he waits until the last minutes because that is the only time frame he thinks about.”

“Give me an example,” I asked.

“Remember, I found him hidden away in the warehouse, rearranging all the shelves himself. It’s really a bigger project than that. We are trying to move the high turning items to bins up front and slower moving items to bins in the back. But it’s going to take some time to review, which items need to be moved, how to retag them, how to planagram the whole thing. We started talking about this three months ago with a deadline coming due next week. So, only now, Phillip gets stuck in the warehouse doing things himself. And the result is likely to be more of a mess than a help.”

“Is it a matter of skill, planning skills?” I ventured.

“No, I don’t think so. It is a matter of capability,” Joyce said with some certainty.

“Then how are we going to measure that capability?” -TF

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But, I Already Know

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“If you had to describe the reason for Phillip’s termination, what would it be?” I asked.

Joyce shifted with the uncomfortable question. I had asked her to make a judgment about a team member’s underperformance. And I was looking for objective and measurable evidence.

“I think I would have to go back to his job description and start there,” she replied.

“And if you went back to the job description, what would you find?”

Joyce got up from her chair and paced to the side of the room. “First of all, I would have to find the job description, but I already know it is just a bunch of gobbledygook.”

“So, if I really put you to the test, as a manager, you are holding Phillip to a performance standard that you describe as gobbledygook?”

“Yes, but, I can still tell that he is not doing his job. He doesn’t have the capability. I know that, even without the job description.”

“So, how are we going to capture what you already know in measurable terms to help us? To help us know what to do with Phillip?” -TF

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The Real Reason

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“So, let’s look at your description of Phillip,” I prompted. “You said he is probably in over his head. What exactly does that mean?”

Joyce’s brow furrowed. “You know. He is having trouble cutting it. Can’t deliver. Doesn’t know whether to scream or eat a banana.”

I smiled. Nodded. “I know. I know exactly what you mean. But how do we characterize this behavior so we can improve the situation?”

Joyce looked a little sheepish. “I don’t mean to poke fun. But I really don’t know how else to put it.”

“So, let’s say you fire Phillip and your boss comes to you and wants to know the reason. Are you going to say the Phillip was terminated because he didn’t know whether to scream or eat a banana?”

“Of course not. I would have to think of something more tactful,” Joyce replied.

“Instead of something more tactful, I want you to think of something closer to the truth, something you can be objective about and measure.”

“I don’t know,” said Joyce, backpedaling.

“Yes, but if you did know, what would the reason be?” -TF

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Middle Aged Crazy

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
In a recent Post, you described the push-back behavior of Byron, a manager. In a comment on that post, you described Byron as a Stratum III “newbie.” What did you mean?

Response:

As a person grows and matures through their life, people move from one Stratum to the next, each according to their own life schedule. Each Stratum is connected to its own way of thinking, connected to its own skills. As a person grows into their next Stratum, they leave a level of high competence and grow into the next level at low competence.

Example, a great team leader (Stratum I) becomes a newbie supervisor (Stratum II). It takes a while to develop the competencies at this new level.

A great supervisor (Stratum II) becomes a newbie manager (Stratum III). It take a while to develop the competencies at this new level.

Elliott Jaques chronicled this phenomenon, this crossing of Stratum in mid-life as the Mid-Life Crisis. We all saw the movie “Middle Aged Crazy” without knowing we had Elliott to thank for the scientific explanation. -TF

It’s Not I.Q.

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

In an earlier post, you mention capability as one of four requisite traits for success. When you say capability, do you mean intelligence?

Response:

If you go back and re-read the post, you will see that I was referring to capability as measured by Time Span. This is most certainly not intelligence.

So, what is intelligence?

Intelligence, whatever that may be, has historically been measured using an I.Q. test. There are three problems with I.Q. tests as a measure of capability.

1. There is no statistically significant correlation between scores on an I.Q. test and success. One does not follow the other. If correlations did exist, all members of the Mensa society would predictably be our most successful leaders, which they are not.

2. I.Q. tests have mostly been administered to populations of children ranging into their teenage years. When was the last time you took an I.Q. test. I bet it was when you were in elementary or junior high school.

3. I.Q. tests are inherently designed to be completed in the present. Each problem has an answer which is to be calculated in the present. I.Q. tests are not designed to account for goal directed behavior with a future time frame.

Which brings us back to capability. When I use capability, I refer to the research conducted by Elliott Jaques related to Time Span. Capability has to do with the competence of an individual to complete goal directed behavior within a prescribed Time Span.

How long should it take to complete a three month project? A person either has the capability to do it or not? -TF

What More Important Project?

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I could see that Byron was looking for some lame excuse to push back from the idea that, as the Manager Once Removed, his job is to create the Talent Pool from which the Hiring Manager makes the selection.

“Let me get this straight,” he started. “The open position is for a high level supervisor with a Time Span of nine months. Ron is the Hiring Manager, one Stratum above (with a Time Span of 14 months). I am the Manager Once Removed, two Strata above the open position. And I am supposed to create the Talent Pool that Ron picks from.”

“You have it. That is your role,” I replied.

Byron was shaking his head. “But, I don’t have time for all this. I have some very important projects that I have to work on. This is just a supervisor position.”

It was my turn to nod. “Yes, it is a supervisor position. And if Ron makes the wrong hire, how much of your time will you have to spend coaching Ron on how to deal with this bad hire? You can spend the time now to help make a proper hire, or you can spend the time later dealing with the mistake.

“Which course of action contributes to productivity? Which course of action builds a better infrastructure? What more important project do you have to work on, than building this infrastructure in your department?” -TF