Source: Globe and Mail
One of the classic articles of Management is the HBR article titled "Who's got the monkey?". Personally, I feel that this is a very good article. I read a mention about it in the Globe and Mail a few days earlier. Here is what the article says
"The Harvard Business Review article suggested that the process of change begins by calling back each employee who has given you a “monkey,” and returning it – along with a blunt message about future monkeys: “At no time while I am helping you with this or any other problem will your problem become my problem. The instant your problem becomes mine, you no longer have a problem.
When this meeting is over, the problem will leave this office exactly the way it came in – on your back. You may ask my help at any appointed time, and we will make a joint determination of what the next move will be, and which of us will make it. In those rare instances when the next move turns out to be mine, you and I will determine it together. I will not make any move alone.”
The article also ranked five degrees of initiative your subordinates might take on matters facing them, from the lowest (least effective) response to the highest:
- Wait until told what to do.
- Ask what to do.
- Recommend, then take the resulting action.
- But advise your manager at once.
- Act on your own, then routinely report.
As a manager, you might want to ban the two lowest responses (waiting, and asking). Not only are they not productive, they drain you and divert you from more effective supervisory activities.The three other paths prod your employees to learn and master the work they have been assigned. When handing out assignments, you should also specify which of the three degrees of initiative you expect the employee to take on a matter, and note that in your calendar."
You can read the HBR article here
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