Taking monkeys or delegating Tutorial

Struggling to delegate effectively? Discover the common pitfalls and internal barriers that lead managers to take on tasks better left to their team. In "Taking Monkeys or Delegating," we explore the significance of overcoming these obstacles to create a collaborative work environment. Uncover how to transform your approach to delegation and make it a 'piece of cake'! Don't miss out on this powerful insight into teamwork.

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This video will explain how you sometimes take on your employees' tasks

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and what are the real reasons that make delegations so difficult.

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If you overcome these obstacles,

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delegation will become a piece of cake for you.

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What are the obstacles to delegation?

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Have you ever heard the expression

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take in a monkey?

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It comes from a 1974 article in the Harvard Business Review.

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Its authors Onan and Vvas tell the story of

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a manager who meets his employee in the corridors.

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The employee tries to explain their problem to him.

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The manager knows enough to feel concerned,

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but not enough to solve it on the spot.

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He tells the employee

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that he is in a hurry,

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that he will think about it and get back to him as soon as possible.

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The employee had a monkey on his shoulder

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when he passed the manager.

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When they separated,

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the monkey had jumped on the manager's shoulder.

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The manager voluntarily took a monkey by

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accepting a subordinate position from his employee.

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He accepted the responsibility and promised his employee

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that he would report back to him.

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Now

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chances are that the employee is likely to stick

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his head through the office door and naively ask,

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So where do we stand on the matter?

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From this article came the expression Take in a monkey.

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To take a monkey is to accept a delegation from upside down.

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It's the perimeter of your subordinate of your employee,

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and it's you,

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the manager,

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who is taking it on your shoulder.

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What was the last monkey you took on?

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What is the monkey that you urgently need to give back

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so that it can be fed and cared for by its master and not by you?

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I will now mention the exceptions in which it

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might be legitimate for you to take a monkey

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in case of understaffing and when faced with an employee in distress.

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However,

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it can only be occasional,

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as delegation must always be the other way round.

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The reasons you end up with a monkey on your shoulders are

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most of the time the same reasons that prevent you from delegating.

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What are your personal barriers to delegation and why do you accept monkeys?

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A tool borrowed from transactional analysis and developed by Taibi Kalla

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details the five obstacles to delegation.

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1,

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be perfect.

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2,

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be strong.

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3,

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hurry up.

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4,

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please others.

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5,

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try hard.

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Which one of these 5 internal drivers will get you up and running?

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Do you want to be perfect,

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strong,

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fast,

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to please others,

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or show that you are up to the task?

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What is the driver that most stimulates you in your work?

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The be perfect seeks perfectionism in all circumstances.

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It can redo a task or reread a document several times

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and go into too much detail with a lot of anxiety about doing the job badly.

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They will slow down their impulses of delegation

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because they believe that it will not be done as well done by the employees.

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In fact,

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in the early stages of delegation,

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your employee will not do as well as you,

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and perhaps there will be mistakes.

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Learn to correct some

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and let others go,

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because making mistakes and learning from them is part of learning.

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Your employee will also have their own criteria

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for what constitutes a well done job,

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and you will have to let go of your perfectionism

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little by little to focus on what is essential.

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2.

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The be strong wants to show its strengths and hide its weaknesses.

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It rarely complains or asks for help,

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sometimes taking on too much.

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They do not like to admit their limits,

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so it is difficult for them to delegate because they think that

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they don't need anyone and that asking for help demeans them.

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They will feel appreciated to take on monkeys and

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be needed even though they may complain about it.

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They will be happy to keep certain tasks to show that they are strong,

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that they know how to do it.

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They will sometimes seek to keep power by keeping strategic information and files.

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The be strong could benefit from showing their vulnerability.

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I don't know,

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I'm tired.

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I need help.

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I can't handle it all.

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Can you do that for me?

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Number 3,

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the hurry up feels that in order to get there you have to be fast.

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They may seem restless,

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overwhelmed,

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or even overworked.

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They run the risk of making mistakes in the rush and always run out of time,

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even though they may sometimes linger.

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They will have difficulty delegating and will take monkeys because

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it seems quicker to do things on their own.

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They will say,

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it takes me longer to explain it than to do it.

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They will refuse to invest time in the short term by setting up the delegation.

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They will feel that they lack time when they

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could gain much more time in the long term.

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The keys to delegation for the hurry up,

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breathing,

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giving yourself more realistic deadlines,

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running less and daring to lose time,

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delegating in the short term,

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only to gain more time later.

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Number 4,

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the please others very sensitive are ready to forget themselves for others.

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They tend to become a savior dependent on the recognition of

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others who they can blame when they're all burnt out.

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They will have difficulty delegating and will take

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monkeys to please others and feel useful.

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They will not allow themselves to say no

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in order to avoid disappointing and hurting

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and to receive recognition.

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They will pretend that they do not want to overburden their poor employees

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and will prefer to support them

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by taking it upon themselves.

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The key to delegation for to please others is first of all to stop taking the work of

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others and to stop delegating only what others like

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while keeping the most boring things to themselves.

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If you feel being to please others above all,

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you should learn to no longer need to be a manager everyone likes.

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The manager must accept to be disliked by employees,

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otherwise he will never dare to delegate.

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Number 5,

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the try hard has learnt that someone who works hard to the point of exhaustion

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eventually succeeds.

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They work hard,

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not necessarily in an orderly and successful manner.

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They will take monkeys and will refuse to delegate

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because of their notion of effort and personal investment.

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They are proud to say to themselves,

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I come home late from work.

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I take it upon myself because I have so much work to do.

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That's what gives them value

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in their opinion.

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The key to delegation for tryhards is to understand that their value is not measured

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by how tough their work is.

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If they find out that certain tasks can also be done with pleasure,

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whether these tasks are done by themselves or by others,

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they will be less reluctant to consider delegation,

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no matter what my coaches say,

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the real reasons that prevent them from delegating are often one of these.

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Do you need to be perfect,

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to be strong,

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to please,

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to try hard and be fast?

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