“…if subordinates are afraid of failing in front of their boss, they’ll keep coming back for help rather than truly taking initiative.” – Steven R. Covey
As a resource for new managers, an absolute classic all managers should read is the Harvard Business Review article, Who’s Got the Monkey. In the article, the authors point out a key misstep managers often make, attempting to “help” direct reports find solutions to their problems by accepting responsibility for the solution. This inevitably causes the manager to take up his/her time with finding a solution when the burden of responsibility should remain with the direct report. If, like most managers, you have multiple direct reports, taking on just one problem from each of them will add up to a considerable amount of time away from what you should be focusing on as a manager.
So what’s the solution? According to the authors, a manager’s greatest tool is the ability to be clear about whose responsibility it is to solve a problem. By ensuring a direct report is clear that they are ultimately responsible for: (1) defining the problem, and (2) showing initiative to solve it, the manager can build greater capacity in the team since he/she is no longer the lone “problem solver.”
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Tags: Beyond the Jargon, Calibra, delegation, initiative, Paul Dillenburg, time management
