Running Out of Wrong Decisions

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

After George and I have "pinged and ponged" his evolving decision back and forth day after day with my only comment being, "Wrong again," he gets a little impatient. Nevertheless the one thing that keeps us both enthusiastically in this game is our certain knowledge that there can be only a finite number of wrong decisions. On the nineteenth day the inevitable happens we run out of them! So when he shows up with his most recent version, I glance at what he shows me, and I have to smile. He looks hopefully into my eyes and says, "Fred, do you mean that this is finally right?" I say, "I don't know about that, George. That's your strength. But according to my strength, I can't see a thing wrong with it."

Enter the Gorilla

So then I say to him, "George, how soon can you get this thing off the ground?" He says, "I believe that I can complete phase 1 in about eight weeks at which time we ought to have a progress review. That should take all day: the morning to review what I will have done and the afternoon to review my plans for Phase II, because I don't believe that I should proceed with Phase II until you have reviewed it." And I say, "George, you've got the job." And I leaf my appointment calendar ahead, not just a few days, not just a few weeks, but eight whole weeks. And I put a note there to myself: "Nine a.m. -- be here. George's monkey has just become a gorilla!"


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! Running Out of Wrong Decisions After George and I have "pinged and ponged" his evolving decision back and forth day after day with my only comment being, "Wrong again," he gets a little impatient. Nevertheless the one thing that keeps us both enthusiastically in this game is our certain knowledge that there can be only a finite number of wrong decisions. On the nineteenth day the inevitable happens we run out of them! So when he shows up with his most recent version, I glance at what he shows me, and I have to smile. He looks hopefully into my eyes and says, "Fred, do you mean that this is finally right?" I say, "I don't know about that, George. That's your strength. But according to my strength, I can't see a thing wrong with it." Enter the Gorilla So then I say to him, "George, how soon can you get this thing off the ground?" He says, "I believe that I can complete phase 1 in about eight weeks at which time we ought to have a progress review. That should take all day: the morning to review what I will have done and the afternoon to review my plans for Phase II, because I don't believe that I should proceed with Phase II until you have reviewed it." And I say, "George, you've got the job." And I leaf my appointment calendar ahead, not just a few days, not just a few weeks, but eight whole weeks. And I put a note there to myself: "Nine a.m. -- be here. George's monkey has just become a gorilla!"
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