At this point in my career, one of the great puzzles for me is whether managers should be busier than their direct reports. It is commonly accepted that becoming seniors happens outside work hours.
I remember speaking with a more experienced entrepreneur friend within the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) a few years ago. He told me the management monkey story and how it changed his life. He consciously worked to keep the monkey off his back. He has led hundreds of staff at different types of companies: blue-collar, white-collar, and mixed.
Recently, I reviewed this business advice and marveled at its impact. In 1999, William Oncken and Donald Wass wrote an essay that changed how managers would behave. It certainly had an impact on the West in over two decades. As I moved back from the West (US) to the East, living in Vietnam, I realized it’s not commonly discussed enough. That said, today’s world requires updated thinking on the same problem.
In the Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey essay, Oncken and Wass classified three kinds of management time: boss-imposed, system-imposed, and self-imposed.
As professionals, we understand that changing boss-imposed and system-imposed times is not always feasible. However, we hold the key to our self-imposed time. Our true power lies here, and we should focus our efforts. There are two types of time in the self-imposed category: discretionary time, which is the manager’s own time, and subordinate-imposed time, which means time taken by direct reports and other reports. Most managers spend much more time dealing with subordinates’ problems than they realize. The “monkey-on-the-back” metaphor was created to vividly convey the sense of urgency and the overhead of monkey feeding.
It seems obvious, but as I reflect on my behaviors this year, I still occasionally let my direct reports pass the monkeys on my back. “It’s not that simple,” one would say, and it’s true. Empowerment is part of our core values, and being helpful to our subordinates is an important skill.
However, as I talked to some of my team leaders, I observed that sometimes they got overbooked and frustrated. I have been worried about their well-being because I should advocate for working smarter and more sustainably.
So here’s the first part on this topic. I’ll find time to continue later.