Time Management.
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H BR C L A S S I C The burdens of subordinates always seem to end up on the manager’s back. Here’s how to get rid of them.
Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass
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Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article: 1 Article Summary The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work 2 Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? 8 Further Reading A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
Reprint 99609
Purchased by Menekse Polatcan Serbest (menekse@humanistkitap.com) on September 10, 2012
HBR CLASSIC
Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?
The Idea in Brief
You’re racing down the hall. An employee stops you and says, “We’ve got a problem.” You assume you should get involved but can’t make an on-the-spot decision. You say, “Let me think about it.” You’ve just allowed a “monkey” to leap from your subordinate’s back to yours. You’re now working for your subordinate. Take on enough monkeys, and you won’t have time to handle your real job: fulfilling your own boss’s mandates and helping peers generate business results. How to avoid accumulating monkeys? Develop your subordinates’ initiative, say Oncken and Wass. For example, when an employee tries to hand you a problem, clarify whether he should: recommend and implement a solution, take action then brief you immediately, or act and report the outcome at a regular update. When you encourage employees to handle their own monkeys, they acquire new skills—and you liberate time to do your own job.
The Idea in Practice
How to return monkeys to their proper owners? Oncken, Wass, and Steven Covey (in an afterword to this classic article) offer these suggestions: MAKE APPOINTMENTS TO DEAL WITH MONKEYS Avoid discussing any monkey on an ad hoc basis—for example, when you pass a subordinate in the hallway. You won’t convey the proper
H BR C L A S S I C The burdens of subordinates always seem to end up on the manager’s back. Here’s how to get rid of them.
Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass
•
Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article: 1 Article Summary The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work 2 Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? 8 Further Reading A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
Reprint 99609
Purchased by Menekse Polatcan Serbest (menekse@humanistkitap.com) on September 10, 2012
HBR CLASSIC
Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?
The Idea in Brief
You’re racing down the hall. An employee stops you and says, “We’ve got a problem.” You assume you should get involved but can’t make an on-the-spot decision. You say, “Let me think about it.” You’ve just allowed a “monkey” to leap from your subordinate’s back to yours. You’re now working for your subordinate. Take on enough monkeys, and you won’t have time to handle your real job: fulfilling your own boss’s mandates and helping peers generate business results. How to avoid accumulating monkeys? Develop your subordinates’ initiative, say Oncken and Wass. For example, when an employee tries to hand you a problem, clarify whether he should: recommend and implement a solution, take action then brief you immediately, or act and report the outcome at a regular update. When you encourage employees to handle their own monkeys, they acquire new skills—and you liberate time to do your own job.
The Idea in Practice
How to return monkeys to their proper owners? Oncken, Wass, and Steven Covey (in an afterword to this classic article) offer these suggestions: MAKE APPOINTMENTS TO DEAL WITH MONKEYS Avoid discussing any monkey on an ad hoc basis—for example, when you pass a subordinate in the hallway. You won’t convey the proper