Are you dealing with your problems?

I’ve just finished reading a short but valuable book dealing with a problem we’ve all experienced at some stage of our careers “trying to handle problems that really belong to our subordinates”

You must read:

The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey

By:

Ken Blanchard, William Oncken Jr, Hal Burrows

ISBN: 978-0-00-711698-0

The results of the problem described in the first paragraph is a reduction in your productivity and an increasing aptitude of your subordinates not to deal with the problems they should. They get used to throwing difficult things in your direction. You procrastinate and your personal performance suffers.

By the way “A monkey” is the next move in solving a problem.

Oncken’s rules of monkey management are:

1. Descriptions - the next moves are specified
2. Owners - the monkey is assigned to a person
3. Insurance policies - the risk is covered
4. Monkey feeding and check up appointments - the time and place for follow-up is specified

EMS recommends you read the book, apply it and prepare for improved performance. 

This entry was posted on 29/08/2010 at 04:59 pm and is filed under Tips and Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.