Spans and Layers Intro Pack: Slide-by-Slide

This article provides a slide-by-slide explanation of the Spans and Layers Intro Pack. The steps to access and configure the pack are explained in the Spans & Layers Intro Pack.

The ‘Intro’ pack does not include any pre-set ‘Paging’. However, you can Specify which properties are used for Paging to ‘slice and dice’ the visualizations and rapidly compare organizational subgroups (e.g., functional departments, geographic locations, and business units).
 

Slide 1: Spans and Layers Overview

This slide shows rolled-up totals for the key Spans and Layers measures. The data shown for each position are based on the full reporting line under the position. For example, the data shown for the position at level 1 summarises the key measures for the whole organization. The measures shown on the card are:

• Aggregate Headcount: the number of positions
• Managerial Status: The number of People Managers and Non-Managers
• Managerial level: the number of Executive positions, Managers of Managers, Managers of Individual Contributors, and Individual Contributors
• Org Layers: the number and percentage of positions at each organizational Layer
• Span of Control Group: the number and percentage of positions in each span of control group
• Average Span of Control: the mean average span of control based on every people manager

Typical questions addressed:

• How is the workforce split between people managers and non-managers?
• Do we have the right number of people managers for the overall workforce size?
• How many layers does the organization extend to?
• What is the average Span of Control?
• How many people managers have only one direct report?

Tips:

• Place the cursor over a position to see the card detail
• Use the ‘Expand To’ option to specify the number of organizational layers shown on the canvas
• Double-click a position to Focus the view on a reporting line. To clear the focus, select ‘X’ from the ‘Selected’ icon on the bottom bar
• The Span of Control Groups reported in the pack can be customized. From the menu, select ‘Pack’, ‘Configuration’, ‘Span of Control Categories’.

Slide 2: Spans and Layers Summary

This slide provides a dashboard of key measures:

• Zone 1: the number of positions (headcount) at each organizational layer
• Zone 2: the number of positions in each span of control group at each organizational layer
• Zone 3: the average span of control at each organizational layer
• Zone 4: the span of control (horizontal axis) and the number of people managers with this span (vertical axis)

Typical questions addressed:

• Zone 1: What is the overall shape of the organization? Does the organization extend to excessive layers? How many employees are positioned at extended layers?
• Zone 2: At which layers do we find micro teams and one-to-one reporting relationships?
• Zone 3: Does average span differ for managers at different layers of the organization?
• Zone 4: How many people managers have very small spans of control, or excessive numbers of direct reports?

Slide 3: Organization shape

This slide shows the number of positions (headcount) at each organizational layer.
Typical questions addressed:

• What is the overall shape of the organization?
• Does the organization extend to excessive layers?
• How many employees are positioned at extended layers?

Tip: You can rapidly See which positions are included in aggregate totals. For example, “who are the seven people managers at Layer 2?”
 

Slide 4: Layer by Managerial Status

This slide shows the number of People Managers and Non-Managers at each organizational layer.

Typical questions addressed:

• Do we have the right number of people managers for the overall workforce size? (Shown in the color legend)
• Do we have opportunity to consolidate layers of management to reduce cost?

Tip: You can rapidly See which positions are included in aggregate totals. For example, “who are the seven non-managers at Layer 3?”
 

Slide 5: Layers by Managerial Level

This slide shows the percentage of positions in each Managerial Level at each layer of the organization.
Typical questions addressed:

• Do we have excessive oversight through the management of managers?
• Do we have the right mix of people managers and individual contributors across organization layers?

Tip: You can rapidly See which positions are included in aggregate totals. For example, “who are the 18% of non-managers at Layer 3?”
 

Slide 6: Managerial Status by Layer

This slide shows the number of positions in each Managerial Level at each layer of the organization.

• Column totals (at the top) show the total number of positions at each Managerial Level
• Row totals (on the right) show the total number of positions at each organization layer
• Cell totals (shows the number of positions in the Managerial Level at the organizational layer)

Typical questions addressed:

• Do we have excessive oversight through the management of managers?
• Do we have the right mix of people managers and individual contributors across organization layers?

Slide 7: Span of Control Landscape

This slide shows the organization structure. Every position is color coded by span of control group: the number of direct reports each position has.
Typical questions addressed:

• Where in the organization structure is there evidence of excessive managerial cost through people managers with narrow spans of control?
• Where in the organization structure is there potential risk of managers being over capacity through excessive management spans?

Tips:

• If there are many positions across multiple layers, distinguishing individual positions can be challenging. Filter with the colour legend to focus on positions in an individual span of control group (e.g., ‘where are the three managers with only one direct report?’)
• Place the cursor over a position to see rolled-up totals for the selected position’s reporting line.
• Use the ‘Expand To’ option to specify the number of organizational layers shown on the canvas
• Double-click a position to Focus the view on a reporting line. To clear the focus, select ‘X’ from the ‘Selected’ icon on the bottom bar
• The Span of Control Groups reported in the pack can be customized. From the menu, select ‘Pack’, ‘Configuration’, ‘Span of Control Categories’.

Slide 8: Span Distribution

This slide shows the distribution of people managers according so span of control (horizontal axis). For example, in the illustration above, there are three people managers with just one direct report and one people manager with 15 direct reports.

Typical questions addressed:

• Are managerial spans in line with the organization’s targets and design principles?
• What is the overall distribution of people managers by span of control?
• What is the highest span of control across the organization?

Tip: You can rapidly See which positions are included in aggregate totals. For example, “who is the manager with 15 direct reports?”
 

Slide 9: Average Span by Layer

This slide shows the average span of control at each layer of the organization.
Typical questions addressed:

• Are there average span differences for managers at different layers of the organization?
• Are average managerial spans at different layers of the organization in line with expectations?
• Are there layers of the organization at which people managers have – on average – narrow managerial spans?
• Are there layers of the organization at which people managers have – on average – excessive managerial spans?

Slide 10: Span Groups by Layer and Managerial level

This slide shows …

• Zone 1 (left): the number of positions in each span of control group at each layer of the organization
• Zone 2 (right): the number of positions in each span of control group and each managerial level

Typical questions addressed:

• Zone 1 (left): Are there high numbers of individual contributors at higher organizational layers?
• Zone 2 (right): Is there evidence of excessive oversight, for example managers-of-managers with narrow spans of control?

Tip: You can rapidly See which positions are included in aggregate totals. For example, “who are the seven individual contributors at layer 3?" (Zone 1)
 

Slide 11: Span details

This slide lists every position as a row in the worksheet. The rows are grouped by span of control category.
Tips:

• With ‘Expand to’ set to ‘1 Level’ the data for each span of control group is shown (the number of positions in the group and the average span across the group).
• Expand the span of control groups using the arrow to the left of the label in the first column to see:
  • the positions in the group
  • the span of control for each position
  • the layer in the structure at which the position is located.