It never fails that in almost every coaching engagement the client will ask that infamous question “how can I better manage my time?” Interestingly enough my answer has been the same since 1996 when I learned the real secret in one of the best grad school classes that I can remember. That answer is “quit doing work that you should not be doing.”
I obviously was not the only one significantly impacted by William Onken’s seminal work “Managing Management Time” and his introduction of managing monkeys. While the concept of not doing work you should not be doing is relatively simple, what I have learned is that most managers–suffering from a shortage of time but not a shortage of work to consume it–have no idea what they are doing, as they get too wrapped up in simply doing. When we look at managers and their work, we often find three things that seem to pop up over and over again that end up being time stealers or fodder that gets in our way of being successful. Those three things are spelled out below, but before going there I feel it necessary to remind anyone reading this article that while these three things lack complexity, they don’t lack in difficulty. So know that you will only get out of it what you put into it. Good luck!
- As Onken suggested, determine “who’s got the monkey” or as I prefer to suggest, “be the question not the answer.” Employees tend to be really good at delegating work to their managers with ease. All it takes is the right question and off the manager goes with a task assigned by the employee. Before you know it the manager is reporting to his or her employee on the status of the answer being sought. While I don’t for a second believe that all, or even most, realize that is what they are doing, it does happen. To make things even worse most managers are pretty good at doing their employees’ work since many of them did it before becoming a manager. Because of that, managers get comfortable in their tasks and all too often allow the more important managerial functions to fall behind (coaching etc.). While Onken’s monkeys make for great coaching conversations, I prefer my suggestion only because it requires little to no explanation and is easy to do with just a little practice.
- Delegate & Communicate – I often encounter managers that complain that their employees are high maintenance and always coming back with more questions and requesting more information. I find that when I do 360 interviews around many of these managers I discover that the managers assume the employees are high maintenance or simply stalling when in reality the employees don’t have what they need to do what the manager is asking. Managers have to think like relay runners. The current runner (the manager) cannot let go of the baton (task) until she knows the other runner (employee) has a firm grasp (surety). Then and only then can the second runner (employee) take off with the baton. Successful and complete delegation only occurs with a complete handoff.
- Prioritizing involves Delegating – While it goes without saying that anytime a manager delegates something he should ensure that the employee understands the priority (that goes with communicating); what is sometimes missed is delegating based on prioritization. Managers often times have a difficult time delegating because they haven’t taken the time to prioritize what they have on their plate; without prioritization, everything becomes a priority that only they can handle. The first step in accepting a “monkey” (task) is to determine its priority. Using a simple matrix (see below), managers can quickly plot out the relative priority of the task and make an educated decision on who should complete it.
- While not every high priority task is to be held by the manager, by prioritizing the work that needs to be done, the manager is better able to balance both his work and the work he hands off. The amount of low priority/low impact work that a manager keeps on his or her plate should be proportionately lower than that which is owned by the employees, so that the manager is able to respond to new tasks, fires or “boss imposed monkeys.”
Priority Matrix (as of this moment)
Remember that prioritization is a dynamically occurring process. A “3”, today can become a “1” tomorrow. The benefit of the chart is to provide yourself some structure that allows you to not get overwhelmed or to find a way out of feeling overwhelmed.
While the three topics discussed above are relatively simple to understand they are not always easy to do. The key to these three or any other “time management” system is full commitment and execution. Best of luck!
