Managers Part XVII - Who Does This Monkey Belong To?

In the last installment of "Managers" we looked at Assigning vs. Delegating and the concept of "monkeys". In order to effectively manage your management time you have to effectively juggle your boss-imposed time, the system-imposed time and your self-imposed time, all of which are components of your management time. We have looked at boss-imposed and system-imposed time in previous posts, but it's that subordinate-imposed time, which has no theoretical basis, and technically shouldn't exist, which is the biggest item that eats into your self-imposed time. The key to minimizing that which shouldn't be is for everyone to know precisely what their job entails and what it does not. Once everyone has a clear understanding of who is responsible for what, it will then always be clear who is responsible for a given action or decision. Before we get into some examples, a little bit of what minimizing subordinate-imposed time is not. It's not a manager neglecting to train a subordinate, ignoring legitimate demands on her time, or palming off the manager's tasks onto subordinates simply out of laziness. It's not letting a subordinate fail when timely intervention might have saved the day. What it is, is setting clear boundaries and then defending them, all the while keeping in mind where you and your subordinate are on the Five Levels of Freedom.

When I was a unit manager or assistant manager in several retail stores I oversaw various department managers who were responsible for operations in their departments. For each department there was a director who operated out of the central office who gave direction, set prices and determined what products were sold, but the managers in each store had a lot of freedom as regards to scheduling, ordering, signage, displays, production, hiring and overall day-to-day operations. With regard to most of their job duties they were a Level 4 - independent action, reporting to the store director or home office director after the fact or Level 5 - reporting only routinely. Some parts of the job were Level 3 - check upstairs before acting. I routinely prohibited my managers from acting at Level 2 - ask before acting, or Level 1 - wait until told. In one store where I was an Assistant Store Manager I had a Bakery Manager who consistently would show up in my office whenever a crisis hit, asking me what to do. The man seemed to be incapable of making a decision. If someone quit, he wanted to know how to write his schedule; if a piece of equipment broke down he wanted me to tell him whether or not he should fix it; he wanted me to tell him what to order for a sale or how to build his displays. This manager wanted me to do his job for him and at the same time increase my subordinate-imposed time. Writing schedules, keeping the equipment working, order and building displays was his job, not mine. Fortunately for me, I was a professional manager I didn't get sucked into this time wasting activity. The monkey belonged to him, but he wanted that simian to skip on over to my back.

In a different store with a different Bakery Manager there was a completely different mindset.  This second Bakery Manager, who unlike the first Bakery Manager who had 20 years of experience, was new to the Bakery business. Fortunately for him and for me, he had been schooled from Day One on what his job description was. He received training from bakers and other experts in the physical mechanics of running a bakery and received training from me in how to be a manager. He understood from the beginning what his job description listed as his responsibilities as well as the concept of the 5 Levels and that I wanted him at least a Level 3, preferably a 4 or 5. He never, ever came to me with a problem where he didn't have at least a proposed solution. I consider him one of my success stories as a manager.

Less obvious examples of monkeys jumping onto your back from their proper home include subordinates sending you emails asking for your input on matters that they should have figured out for themselves; subordinates leaving for vacation and leaving critical tasks undone for you to complete; or subordinates telling customers or vendors to call you regarding an item that they should have handled.

A manager can't, however, get to this point overnight. You have to train your people so that they have the ability to do their job, you have to communicate with them so that there is no question what their job is, and most importantly you have to delegate, give them Level 4 or 5 authority to do their jobs. You'll never eliminate, nor should you want to, eliminate all interaction with your subordinates, and they should be comfortable coming to you with intractable problems. There will always be things that don't neatly fit within the written job description, and there will always be situations that need your touch. But don't get sucked in to doing your subordinates job for them.