Span of control

Span of control is the number of direct reports a single manager has. It is one of the simplest measures of whether a structure can work. Too wide and the manager cannot give anyone attention, decisions queue and problems surface late. Too narrow and the company carries layers of management it cannot afford.

In British Columbia small businesses the usual problem is the owner's span: every employee reports to them, directly or in practice, because no middle seat exists. The owner becomes the bottleneck, and the company's growth is capped at the number of people one person can supervise. Introducing a manager seat with a sensible span is often the single structural change that lets an owner step back.

In practice there is no universal right number. Managers of experienced, self directed people doing similar work can carry more. Managers of new staff, complex or varied work, or people spread across sites need fewer. We look at each manager's real load, the quality of their one to ones and how long decisions wait, rather than applying a rule. Span of control is reviewed as part of org design and whenever a company is about to add a layer of management. Ali Sedighi's team treats the owner's span as the first number to fix when the goal is a business that runs without them.