Delegation: The Art of Monkey Management ®
After spending time diving into our Delegation workshop- Delegation: The Art of Monkey Management® my eyes were reopened to the Power of effective delegation and how it can empower you, your team, and put hours back into your workday. Using the book by Kenneth Blanchard, The Minute Manager Meets the Monkey as inspiration, we are able to use the metaphor, monkey = the next move in the task/project to demonstrate The Art of Monkey Management.
To be an effective delegator you must:
- Name the Monkey.
Name the next move, make it tangible and decide who’s monkey it is.
- Assign the Monkey.
Give the next move direction and ownership. Could be yourself or could be a team member. You must decide the assignment and let it go.
- Insure the Monkey.
Don’t walk away from the next moved delivery without insuring the next move. Give clear and concise instructions and allow for questions for understanding as needed.
- Feed the Monkey.
Through one-on-one meetings and intentional check-ins this step will allow you to keep the relationship and the next move in good health. Opportunities to catch people doing it right, provide reinforcing guidance, identify problems before crisis, and enable you to LET GO!
When we follow these steps to manage monkeys and perform the steps intentionally, we find ourselves as managers getting back to OUR purposeful work, managing OUR monkeys,