Timespans of Discretion

Understanding Eliott Jaques' Time Spans of Discretion

Eliott Jaques' concept of Time Spans of Discretion is a powerful framework that helps individuals and organizations understand the time frames within which different levels of work and decision-making occur. This framework is particularly useful for plotting and considering efforts, goals, and impacts related to individual and collective actualization.

Levels of Time Spans

Jaques identified several levels of time spans or periods, each corresponding to different levels of responsibility and complexity:

• Stratum I: Immediate tasks and short-term goals, characterized by overcoming obstacles and applying practical judgments, typically within a day to three months

• Stratum II: Short-term projects and objectives, characterized by accumulating diagnostic data and study, usually spanning a few months to a year.

• Stratum III: Medium-term initiatives, where creating alternative pathways is necessary, often taking one to two years.

• Stratum IV: Long-term strategies and plans, requiring parallel processing of efforts and exploring multiple paths converging to an outcome, generally covering two to five years.

• Stratum V: Very long-term visions and missions, anticipating downstream consequences, covering five to ten years.

• Stratum VI: Major transformations or sagas, overseeing complex systems, usually taking between 10 and 20 years.

• Stratum VII: Making impacts across one or more generations, constructing complex systems, between 20 and 50 years.

• Stratum VIII: Multi-generational impact that bridges across human lifespans, overseeing systems-of-systems, extending beyond 50 years.

Applying the Framework to Actualization

By using the Time Spans of Discretion framework, you can better align their efforts with your goals and understand the potential impacts of your actions over different time frames.

Here’s a sample of how you can apply this framework to your journey of actualization:

• Identify Your Goals: Align goals from any of your life domains with different time spans. What do you personally want to achieve in each stratum? How far out are you setting goals? How might you challenge yourself to set goals one stratum up from your top?

• Allocate Efforts: Consider the work required to achieve your goals. Assign your efforts and resources according to the identified time spans. Are you considering the complexity of the work to complete them? Who else might you need to enlist to do the work?

• Evaluate Impacts: Consider the potential impacts of your goals, efforts, and actions within each time span. What longer-term impacts will your nearer-term efforts create? What are the potential consequences, good and bad, of that effort?

• Assess Your Environment: Look around and sense what time spans the people around you are considering in their decision-making. How different are they from yours? Where there is a power dynamic or hierarchy, do you think with a longer time span than people with higher authority than you? How do differences create tension or conflict?

• Adjust and Adapt: Things don’t always go as we expect. Regularly review and adjust your plans based on your progress and changing circumstances. Sense when new forces arise that may shift This ensures that your path to actualization remains dynamic and responsive.

Conclusion

Eliott Jaques' Time Spans of Discretion provides a structured approach to understanding and managing the temporal aspects of your efforts and goals. By applying this framework, you can gain clarity and perspective on your journey towards actualization, ensuring that your actions today contribute meaningfully to your future aspirations.