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The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey

From Heather Schultz:

Included below is the book summary for “The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey,” along with some quotes and guidelines from the book.

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey

By Kenneth Blanchard, William Oncken, Jr., and Hal Burrows

If you’ve ever wondered why you seem to spending more and more time at the office, it’s time to read this book. This is a great book for those just starting out in managing (and those that need a refresher) as it points out one of the best ways to gain more control over your working hours. The old “monkey on your back” imagery works well to describe all those problems that someone else transferred to you. This book shows you how to recognize the “monkeys” you need to tackle and the ones that should stay on someone else’s back. 

Rules for Monkey Management:

The dialogue between a boss and one of his or her people must not end until all monkeys have:

Rule 1: Descriptions –the next moves are specified

Rule 2: Owners – the monkey is assigned to a person

Rule 3: Insurance Policies – the risk is covered

• Level 1 – Recommend, and then act (monkeys that require your approval before action taken)
• Level 2 – Act, then Advise (monkeys your people can handle on their own)

Rule 4: Monkey Feeding and Checkup Appointments – the time and place for follow up is specified

Delegation:

1. I cannot delegate until my anxieties allow it.

2. I can delegate only if I am reasonably sure people know what is to be done.

3. It would be foolish to delegate to someone without reasonable assurance that he or she can get sufficient resources – time, information, money, people, assistance and authority – to do the work.

4. I cannot turn control of any project over to anyone until I am confident that the cost and timing and quantity and quality of the project will be acceptable.

5. Other things being equal, the more commitment people show, the more comfortable I will be in delegating to them.

Quotes:

Things not worth doing are not worth doing well

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you

All monkeys must be handled at the lowest organizational level consistent with their welfare

The only way to develop responsibility in people is to give them responsibility

Practice hands-off management as much as possible and hands-on management as much as necessary

Never let the company go down the drain simply for the sake of practicing good management

If you always agree with the boss, one of you is not necessary

It is better to strike a straight blow with a crooked stick than spend my whole life trying to straighten the darn thing out.