Professional Manager - The Art of Delegating

The Art of Delegating – don’t take the monkey!

The Amateur Manager

Well, you've just seen two amateurs in action: Ms. A surrendering her freedom by giving me her monkeys, and me surrendering my discretionary time by accepting them. Once I accepted, I felt compelled to do something about them. Thus, as an amateur, I had planned to read Ms. A's fifty status reports during the weekend (the fateful weekend of my conversion to a 'pro'). I planned to read them and give Ms. A a considered response to each of them the following Monday morning. This would release her to do battle with her own job, I would be free of her monkeys, and (I promised myself) never again would I get into such a mess. But, as you know by now, my plans were changed during that weekend; I learned that carrying out my plans to do Ms. A's work would be counterproductive, and would only make matters worse than they already were.

The Professional Manager

Let's pick up the story again on the Monday morning following my miraculous conversion into a "pro." I had already sent George out of my office with his monkeys. Ms. A is next. She is upset, complaining that our entire market research effort is going down the tubes if I don't make some decisions. "These memos you've been getting from me contain dozens of money-making ideas on which I need clearance before I can go ahead. At least six are ready to go now. All I need is your O.K."


What Precisely Is a Monkey? Procrastination vs. Insubordination George, the Trouble Shooter Procrastination Again Planning the Solution Honest Day's Work for a Fair Day's Pay Seeing It Like It Really Is Whole New Ballgame The Open Door Giving Monkeys Back The Key to Managerial Competitiveness Ground Rules for Handling Monkeys Replacement Planning A Career Risk of a Lifetime Freedom and Protection Joining Hands in Partnership Running Out of Wrong Decisions The Other Subordinates How's it Coming? The Professional Manager Returning Monkeys to Their Owner Discretionary Time Development of proposals for specific courses of action 'Proposal for Action' The Third Week Mutual Benefits The Professional Manager Using the Job Description Setting a Standard of Performance The Next Step Corporate Management Improvement Program A Management philosopher The Professional Subordinate "Boss, what do I do now?" Batting the Monkeys Back A collection of unrelated activities The Irreplaceable Employee Job Analysis Major Reorganisation Management by Results The Boss's Job Using his self- imposed time to get control of his boss-imposed time Getting the Boss's Ideas Delivering the Boss's Ideas Discretionary Time When "pro" works for "amateur" Monkey Feeding Rules Rules 1 and 2 Rule 3 Instead, as a pro, what did I do? Rule 4 Rule 5 Rule 6		The Art of Delegating – don’t take the monkey! The Amateur Manager Well, you've just seen two amateurs in action: Ms. A surrendering her freedom by giving me her monkeys, and me surrendering my discretionary time by accepting them. Once I accepted, I felt compelled to do something about them. Thus, as an amateur, I had planned to read Ms. A's fifty status reports during the weekend (the fateful weekend of my conversion to a 'pro'). I planned to read them and give Ms. A a considered response to each of them the following Monday morning. This would release her to do battle with her own job, I would be free of her monkeys, and (I promised myself) never again would I get into such a mess. But, as you know by now, my plans were changed during that weekend; I learned that carrying out my plans to do Ms. A's work would be counterproductive, and would only make matters worse than they already were. The Professional Manager Let's pick up the story again on the Monday morning following my miraculous conversion into a "pro." I had already sent George out of my office with his monkeys. Ms. A is next. She is upset, complaining that our entire market research effort is going down the tubes if I don't make some decisions. "These memos you've been getting from me contain dozens of money-making ideas on which I need clearance before I can go ahead. At least six are ready to go now. All I need is your O.K."
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