Managing People: Task and Project Managment - Who's Back is the Monkey Really On?

In this installment of the Managing People series, I'm going to discuss the management of daily work. For most managers (include me), this is a huge struggle. With so much to do each day, it would be easy enough to stay busy with your own to-do items. But being a manager, you also have to deal with the daily problems of your employees. If you're not careful, you could spend all of your time assisting them, which wouldn't leave any time for your own work. This process must be managed.

The title of this article refers back to an article originally published in 1974 in the Harvard Business Review entitled, "Who's Got the Monkey?" The authors, William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass, investigate the reason that managers always feel they are running out of time while their subordinates are always running out of work. They determine that the problem has to do with jumping monkeys. That's right. They describe tasks that shift from the backs of employees to managers as "monkeys".

You see, it's very easy for employees to avoid taking responsibility for their work. They don't even know they're doing it most of the time! If you're a manager, you probably experience this regularly. Employees ask for your advice. They request your review on something. They run into a problem and pass it to you for help. What happens to the "monkey"? It moves from their back to yours. A task they were previously responsible for ends up on your plate. As a manger, you can't accept the monkey.

I personally experience this quite a bit. When a writer gets stuck on an article, they will come to me for assistance. When I first started managing, I would stop what I was doing and offer my full attention to their issue. If they needed resources for research, I found them. If they needed help outlining, I'd do it. Eventually I realized something: it would actually be faster to just write the article myself given all I was doing. I wasn't managing the writers. They were managing me! The monkey I assigned to them had bounced from their shoulders to mine. And I allowed it to happen.

It's the manager's responsibility to put the monkey back where he belongs. When an employee or team member attempts to shift it to your shoulders, follow these steps:

Identify the issue

If an employee is having a problem completing a task you've assigned, it's important that you understand what that problem is.

Address the issue quickly, briefly, and by appointment

Do not allow your employees to determine your schedule. Establish a convenient time to meet for 15 minutes or so.

Address the issue in person

Attempt to meet face-to-face or via phone. IM and email are not appropriate ways to communicate in this circumstance.

Determine the next action (and who is responsible for it)

Together, you and the employee should determine the next step to resolve the situation and get the task completed.

Do not do the work for them

Only in very rare instances should the next action be yours. As a manager, you should be guiding the process, not completing it. Make recommendations, assign tasks, but do not let the monkey make a home on your back.

Schedule follow-up

Once you and your employee have determined the next step in the process, decide on an appropriate time to revisit the task. Schedule a meeting to ensure there is a concrete deadline.

This strategy will help you get (and keep) control over your time and your daily tasks. Of course, you always want to make time for your employees, but you can't let them run your day. How would you get your own work done? Managing people means supporting them. You don't have to drop what you're doing the second they have a problem. And you don't have to take their problems on as your own. You have to manage the monkey!

Be sure to join us tomorrow for the next installment in the Managing People series - Developing Your Team: Your Success is My Success is Our Success.