We are a three shift manufacturing operation. Within our team based system are full time facilitators. Our facilitators are not remnants of management, nor do they provide direct leadership for team meetings. Rather, they are a support person to the managers and teams within a manufacturing process; coaching the meeting leader, providing feedback, doing some problem solving skill training, helping gather production charts and data, encouraging conflict to be appropriately dealt with, and so forth. They are officially a part of the Human Resources group. My question goes to those who have a similar support role: how many teams do your facilitators work with? (our teams meet one hour per week). I'm trying to establish a reasonable span for our facilitators. Our facilitators typically have 4-5 lines they work with, each line having three core teams - one on each shift, giving them between 12-15 core teams plus 3-4 all-shift teams. Any thoughts out there?

-- Steve Webster (swebster@sauder.com), November 13, 1998