management time: who's got the monkey ?

Management Time; Who’s Got The Monkey? — of 6

Management Time; Who’s Got The Monkey?Management Time; Who’s Got The Monkey?Management Time; Who’s Got The Monkey?Management Time; Who’s Got The Monkey?

An analogy that underscores the value of assigning, delegating and controlling.

by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. WassPublished in the Harvard Business Review, January 1990

In an organization, the manager’s bosses, peers,and subordinates—in return for their activesupport—impose some requirements, just as heimposes upon them some of his own where theyare drawing upon his support. These demands onhim constitute so much of the manager’s time thatsuccessful leadership hinges on his ability tocontrol this “monkey-on-the-back” inputeffectively.

Why is it that managers are typically runningout of time while their subordinates are typicallyrunning out of work? In this article, we shallexplore the meaning of management time as itrelates to the interaction between the manager andhis boss, his own peers, and his subordinates.

Specifically, we shall deal with three differentkinds of management time:

• Boss-imposed time—to accomplish thoseactivities which the boss requires and which themanager cannot disregard without direct andswift penalty.

• System-imposed time—to accommodate thoserequests to the manager for active support fromhis peers. This assistance must also beprovided lest there be penalties, though notalways direct or swift.

• Self-imposed time—to do those things whichthe manager originates or agrees to do himself.A certain portion of this kind of time, however,will be taken by his subordinates and is called“subordinate-imposed time.” The remainingportion will be his own and is call“discretionary time.” Self-imposed time is notsubject to penalty since neither the boss nor thesystem can discipline the manager for not doing

what they did not know he had intended to doin the first place.

The management of time necessitates that themanager get control over the timing and contentof what he does. Since what the boss and thesystem impose on him are backed up by penalty,he cannot tamper with those requirements. Thushis self-imposed time becomes his major area ofconcern.

The manager’s strategy is therefore to increasethe “discretionary” component of his self-imposedtime by minimizing or doing away with the“subordinate” component. He will then use theadded increment to get better control over hisboss-imposed and system-imposed activities.Most managers spend much more subordinate-imposed time than they even faintly realize.Hence we shall use a monkey-on-the-backanalogy to examine how subordinate-imposedtime comes into being and what the manager cando about it.

Where is the monkey?Where is the monkey?Where is the monkey?Where is the monkey?

Let us imagine that a manager is walking downthe hall and that he notices one of hissubordinates, Mr. A., coming up the hallway.When the are abreast of one another, Mr. A greetsthe manager with, “Good morning. By the way,we’ve got a problem. You see...” As Mr. Acontinues, the manager recognizes in this problemthe same two characteristics common to all theproblems his subordinates gratuitously bring to hisattention. Namely, the manager knows (a) enoughto get involved, but (b) not enough to make theon-the-spot decision expected of him. Eventually,the manager says, “So glad you brought this up.


I’m in a rush right now. Meanwhile, let me thinkabout it and I’ll let you know.” Then he and Mr.A part company.

Let us analyze what has just happened. Beforethe two of them met, on whose back was the“monkey”? The subordinate’s. After they partedon whose back was it? The manager’s.Subordinate-imposed time begins the moment amonkey successfully executes a leap from theback of a subordinate to the back of his superiorand does not end until the monkey is returned toits proper owner for care and feeding.

In accepting the monkey, the manager hasvoluntarily assumed a position subordinate to hissubordinate. That is, he has allowed Mr. A tomake him his subordinate by doing two things asubordinate is generally expected to do for hisboss—the manager has accepted a responsibilityfrom his subordinate, and the manager haspromised him a progress report.

The subordinate, to make sure the managerdoes not miss this point, will later stick his headin the manager’s office and cheerily query,“How’s it coming?” (This is called supervision.”)

Or let us imagine again, in concluding aworking conference with another subordinate, Mr.B, the managers parting words are, “Fine. Sendme a memo on that.”

Let us analyze this one. The monkey is nowon the subordinate’s back because the next moveis his, but it is poised for a leap. Watch thatmonkey. Mr. B dutifully writes the requestedmemo and drops it in his outbasket. Shortlythereafter, the manager plucks it from his inbasketand reads it. Whose move is it now? Themanager’s. If he does not make that move soon,he will get a follow-up memo from thesubordinate (this is another form of supervision).The longer the manager delays, the morefrustrated the subordinate will become (he’ll be“spinning his wheels”) and the more guilty the

manager will feel (his backlog of subordinate-imposed time will be mounting).

Or suppose once again that at a meeting with athird subordinate, Mr. C, the manager agrees toprovide all the necessary backing for a publicrelations proposal he has just asked Mr. C todevelop. The manager’s parting words to him are,“Just let me know how I can help.”

Now let us analyze this. Here the monkey isinitially on the subordinate’s back. But for howlong? Mr. C realizes that he cannot let themanager “know” until his proposal has themanager’s approval. And from experience, healso realizes that his proposal will likely be sittingin the manager’s briefcase for weeks waiting forhim to eventually get to it. Who’s really got themonkey? Who will be checking up on whom?Wheelspinning and bottlenecking are on their wayagain.

A fourth subordinate, Mr. D, has just beentransferred from another part of the company inorder to launch and eventually manage a newlycreated business venture. The manager has toldhim that they should get together soon to hammerout a set of objectives for his new job, and that “Iwill draw up an initial draft for discussion withyou.”

Let us analyze this one, too. The subordinatehas the new job (by formal assignment) and thefull responsibility (by formal delegation), but themanager has the next move. Until he makes it, hewill have the monkey and the subordinate will beimmobilized.

Why does it all happen? Because in eachinstance the manager and the subordinate assumeat the outset, wittingly or unwittingly, that thematter under consideration is a joint problem.The monkey in each case begins its career astrideboth their backs. All it has to do now is move thewrong leg, and—presto—the subordinate deftlydisappears. The manager is thus left with another


acquisition to his menagerie. Of course, monkeyscan be trained not to move the wrong leg. But itis easier to prevent them from straddling backs inthe first place.

Who is working forWho is working forWho is working forWho is working for

whom?whom?whom?whom?

To make what follows more credible, let ussuppose that these same four subordinates are sothoughtful and considerate of the manager’s timethat they are at pains to allow no more than threemonkeys to leap from each of their backs to his inany one day. In a five-day week, the manager willhave packed up 60 screaming monkeys—far toomany to do anything about individually. So hespends the subordinate-imposed time juggling his“priorities.”

Late Friday afternoon, the manager is in hisoffice with the door closed for privacy in order tocontemplate the situation, while his subordinatesare waiting outside to get a last chance before theweekend to remind him that he will have to “fishor cut bait.” Imagine what they are saying to eachother about the manager as they wait: “What abottleneck. He just can’t make up his mind. Howanyone ever got that high up in our companywithout being able to make a decision we’ll neverknow.”

Worst of all, the reason the manager cannotmake any of these “next moves” is that his time isalmost entirely eaten up in meeting his own boss-imposed and system-imposed requirements. Toget control of these, he needs discretionary timethat is in turn denied him when he is preoccupiedwith all these monkeys. The manager is caught ina vicious circle.

But time is a-wasting (an understatement).The manager calls his secretary on the intercomand instructs her to tell his subordinates that hewill be unavailable to see them until Mondaymorning. At 7:00 p.m., he drives home, intendingwith firm resolve to return to the office tomorrow

to get caught up over the weekend. He returnsbright and early the next day only to see, on thenearest green of the golf course across from hisoffice window, a foursome. Guess who?

That does it. He now knows who is reallyworking for whom. Moreover, he now sees that ifhe actually accomplishes during this weekendwhat he came to accomplish, his subordinatesmorale will go up so sharply that they will eachraise the limit on the number of monkeys they willlet jump from their backs to his. In short, he nowsees, with the clarity of a revelation on amountaintop , that the more he gets caught up, themore he will fall behind.

He leaves the office with the speed of a manrunning away from a plague. His plan? To getcaught up on something else he hasn’t had timefor in years: a weekend with his family. ( This isone of the many varieties of discretionary time.)

Sunday night he enjoys ten hours of sweet,untroubled slumber, because he has clear-cutplans for Monday. He is going to get rid of hissubordinate-imposed time. In exchange he willget an equal amount of discretionary time, part ofwhich he will spend with his subordinates to seethat they learn the difficult but rewardingmanagerial art called, “The Care and Feeding ofMonkeys.”

The manager will also have plenty ofdiscretionary time left over for getting control ofthe timing and content not only of his boss-imposed time but of his system-imposed time aswell. All of this may take months, but comparedwith the way things have been the rewards will beenormous. His ultimate objective is to manage hismanagement time.

Getting rid of monkeysGetting rid of monkeysGetting rid of monkeysGetting rid of monkeys

The manager returns to the office Mondaymorning just late enough to permit his foursubordinates to collect in his outer office waitingto see him about their monkeys. He calls them in,


one by one. The purpose of each interview is totake a monkey, place it on the desk between them,and figure out together how the next move mightconceivably be the subordinate’s. For certainmonkeys, this will take some doing. Thesubordinate’s next move may be so elusive thatthe manager may decide—just for now—merelyto let the monkey sleep on the subordinate’s backovernight and have him return with it at anappointed time the next morning to continue thejoint quest for a more substantive move by thesubordinate. (Monkeys sleep just as soundlyovernight on subordinates’ backs as onsuperiors’.)

As each subordinate leaves the office, themanager is rewarded by the sight of a monkeyleaving his office on the subordinate’s back. Forthe next 24 hours, the subordinate will not bewaiting for the manager; instead, the manager willbe waiting for the subordinate.

Later, as if to remind himself that there is nolaw against his engaging in a constructive exercisein the interim, the manager strolls by thesubordinate’s office, sticks his head in the door,and cheerily asks, “How’s it coming?” (The timeconsumed in doing this is discretionary for themanager and boss-imposed for the subordinate.)

When the subordinate (the monkey on hisback) and the manager meet at the appointed hourthe next day, the manager explains the groundrules in words to this effect:

“At no time while I am helping you with thisor any other problem will our problem become myproblem. The instant your problem becomesmine, you will no longer have a problem. I cannothelp a man who hasn’t got a problem.

“When this meeting is over, the problem willleave this office exactly the way it came in—onyour back. You may ask my help at any appointedtime, and we will make a joint determination ofwhat the next move will be and which of us will

make it. “In those rare instances where the nextmove turns out to be mine, you and I willdetermine it together. I will not make any movealone.”

The manager follows this same line of thoughtwith each subordinate until at about 11:00 am herealizes that he has no need to shut his door. Hismonkeys are gone. They will return—but byappointment only. His appointment calendar willassure this.

Transferring theTransferring theTransferring theTransferring the

initiativeinitiativeinitiativeinitiative

What we have been driving at in this monkey-on-the-back analogy is to transfer initiative frommanager to subordinate and keep it there. Wehave tried to highlight a truism as obvious as it issubtle. Namely, before a manager can developinitiative in his subordinates, he must see to it thatthey have the initiative. Once he takes it back,they will no longer have it and he can kiss hisdiscretionary time good-bye. It will all revert tosubordinate-imposed time.

Nor can both manager and subordinateeffectively have the same initiative at the sametime. The opener, “Boss, we’ve got a problem,”implies this duality and represents, as notedearlier, a monkey astride two backs, which is avery bad way to start a monkey on its career. Letus, therefore, take a few moments to examinewhat we prefer to call “The Anatomy ofManagerial Initiative.”

There are five degrees of initiative that themanager can exercise in relation to the boss and tothe system:

(1) wait until told (lowest initiative)

(2) ask what to do

(3) recommend, then take resulting action

(4) act, but advise at once


(5) act on own, then routinely report (highestinitiative)

Clearly, the manager should be professionalenough not to indulge himself in initiatives 1 and2 in relation either to the boss or to the system. Amanager who uses initiative 1 has no control overeither the timing or content of his boss-imposed orsystem-imposed time. He thereby forfeits anyright to complain about what he is told to do orwhen he is told to do it. The manager who usesinitiative 2 has control over the timing but notover the content. Initiatives 3, 4, and 5 leave themanager in control of both, with the greatestcontrol being at level 5.

The manager’s job, in relation to hissubordinates’ initiatives, is twofold; first, tooutlaw the use of initiative 1 and 2, thus giving hissubordinates no choice but to learn and master“Completed Staff Work”; then, to see that foreach problem leaving his office there is an agreed-upon level of initiative assigned to it, in additionto the agreed-upon time and place of the nextmanager-subordinate conference. The lattershould be duly noted on the manager’sappointment calendar.

Care & feeding ofCare & feeding ofCare & feeding ofCare & feeding of

monkeysmonkeysmonkeysmonkeys

In order to further clarify our analogybetween the monkey—on

• the back and the well-known processes ofassigning and controlling, we shall refer brieflyto the manager’s appointment schedule, whichcalls for five hard and fast rules governing the“Care and Feeding of Monkeys” (violations ofthese rules will cost discretionary time):

Rule 1Monkeys should be fed or shot. Otherwise,

they will starve to death and the manager will

waste valuable time on postmortems or attemptedresurrections.

Rule 2The monkey population should be kept below

the maximum number the manager has time tofeed. His subordinates will find time to work asmany monkeys as he finds time to feed, but nomore. It shouldn’t take more than 5 to 15 minutesto feed a properly prepared monkey.

Rule 3Monkeys should be fed by appointment only.

The manager should not have to be hunting downstarving monkeys and feeding them on a catch-as-catch can basis.

Rule 4Monkeys should be fed face to face or by

telephone, but never by mail. (If by mail, the nextmove will be the manager’s—remember?)Documentation may add to the feeding process,but it cannot take the place of feeding.

Rule 5Every monkey should have an assigned “next

feeding time” and “degree of initiative.” Thesemay be revised at any time by mutual consent, butnever allowed to become vague or indefinite.Otherwise, the monkey will either starve to deathor wind up on the manager’s back.

Concluding noteConcluding noteConcluding noteConcluding note

“Get control over the timing and content ofwhat you do” is appropriate advice for managingmanagement time. The first order of business isfor the manager to enlarge his discretionary timeby eliminating subordinate-imposed time. Thesecond is for him to use a portion of his new-found discretionary time to see to it that each ofhis subordinates possesses the initiative without


which he cannot exercise initiative, and then tosee to it that this initiative is in fact taken. Thethird is for him to use another portion of hisincreased discretionary time to get and keepcontrol of the timing and content of both boss-imposed and system-imposed time.

The result of all this is that the manager willincrease his leverage, which will in turn enablehim to multiply, without theoretical limit, thevalue of each hour that he spends in managingmanagement time.

For more information

contact:

AGI CONSULTING GROUP, LLC70 METTATUXET ROADNARRAGANSETT, RI 02882-2724401 885 3660 / 800 500 2442FAX 401 783 [email protected]

management time: who's got the monkey ?

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