You’re racing down the hall. Your reportee stops you and says, “We’ve got a problem.”
You listen to him 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.
For example, in such a scenario, clarify that he needs to come back with - recommendation , take action and report 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.
- Tip from an article by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass published in Harvard Business Review
#work #career #tip #productivity #job
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I write regularly on topics linked to marketing/consumer and habits/productivity.
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