In the book of I. Adizes “Management styles” there is such a hero - Firefighter. This is a specialist who was promoted. But he still tries to do everything himself. “To do well, do it yourself” is his motto.
It seems to these managers that management includes solving all complex issues, which is why they are inundated with problems - the “balls” of the tasks of their employees. The manager becomes a narrow neck, which leads to a decrease in the productivity of the entire team.
The book is primarily for such managers who have grown from executives on how to set tasks for their employees, avoiding their own overload, but not to lose control.
A monkey in the context of a book is responsibility for the next move in solving a problem or task. Like a monkey, this responsibility falls on your shoulders and sits there until you solve the problem or transfer it to another. Or more broadly, the responsibility for solving a problem or task or achieving a smart goal, depending on your ability to delegate and the level of employee management. This is the ball from the phrase “On whose side is the ball”.
A good introductory review to get acquainted with the beginning of the book is here m.habr.com/en/post/80805 , it reveals the definition of a monkey given by the author. But the article does not contain a training manual that can be quickly re-read or hung on the wall. Our goal is just a training manual.
A very brief review of the book. I don't like the comparison with the monkey. In most cases, people who are not familiar with the material perceive the monkey as an employee, which causes rejection. And therefore, it is not effective. Therefore, I will call the monkey a task or a ball.
I recommend reading the original, the book is small, it's nice to read. But in order not to get out of my head (with the support of the participants of the gatherings of the Francis Bacon Club) a training manual was made for repetition.
Training manual
Pass the ball to the employee’s side. How to do this without losing quality - read the rules.
Rules for managing tasks - the dialogue on the task does not stop until it is done:
- The following steps should be described and specified.
- A task must have one responsible.
- Non-compliance insurance should be defined.
- The time, place and method of the next control point are assigned.
Item 1. Next Steps
The discussion of the problem statement does not end until the next steps are understood by you and the performer.
Scenario:
I. “I do not know what to do.”
U. “And I do not know what to do. It turns out that the company has two people who do not know what to do. A company can only afford to support one such person. ”
Try to make sure that the next step is not on your side.
The employee should think and bring recommendations for solving the problem. If he sends them, then the ball will be on your side (you must read and issue a resolution) and as a result you are again inundated with such tasks. If he will bring them to the discussion, then at the discussion a resolution will be worked out and the next new steps and the ball again to the side of the performer.
The ball is not on your side - this is a situation in which both you (there is time for proactive work) and the employee (he does not wait for you, and the responsibility for the task motivates him to solve it better) and the task (solved faster).
Point 2. We determine the responsibility for the task
If a person is not assigned to solve a problem, the risk is that the task will not be solved (witness effect).
Try to make sure that you and your employees are not responsible for solving problems, otherwise you will quickly be overloaded with tasks. This does not mean that all tasks must be solved by your employees, there are tasks that are too complicated and then this task is yours (but if you cannot solve it, shift it to your boss).
Rule: a superior manager delegates a task to a lower manager, and he delegates the task to an even lower manager, and so on until the subordinates of the next manager can successfully solve the problem independently.
The best way to develop a sense of responsibility in people is to give them responsibility.
The following are scenarios of typical cases when your employees shift responsibility to your shoulders and how to get out of these situations.
Scenario 1
I. “We have a problem” (The Contractor implicitly tries to outweigh the problem on your shoulders).
U. “We have no problem and never will.
I have no doubt that there is a problem, but it is not ours, but either mine or yours.
If this is your problem, then I will help you solve it on one condition: while I help you with your problem, your problem will not become my problem even for a second, because the second it becomes my problem, you will no longer have problems and I will have nothing to help a person who has no problem. ”
But that could be my problem if you prove it. And proof is your problem.
Scenario 2
I. “I have a problem” (expects that you will take the ball to your side, without trying to independently work out solutions).
U. “There are no problems, there are opportunities that you do not yet know how to use. I’m sure you thought about the options. Go on ”
(pause)
And: “Maybe I will think about what to do next?”
W. “Think.”
Scenario 3
And: “Here is the solution .... ”(Incomplete decision from the category - I thought a little here, and then think lazily, think for me).
W: “You are capable of the best.”
And: “I improved the solution (incomplete solution).”
W: “Is that the best you can do?”
And: "Here is a solution, taking into account all possible problems." (if you really thought and worked out the solution)
W: “Great.”
Point 3. Insurance against default
We do not disagree until the fulfillment of the task is insured (because you are responsible for the final result anyway. The manager “will hand over” is not the manager).
Employees can make mistakes and your responsibility is to prevent or reduce the damage from their mistakes. Insurance is protection against unacceptable errors.
There are two types of insurance policies:
- Offer first, then act.
- Act first, then offer.
1 policy - protection against unacceptable errors. Mistakes for which not the employee will be fired, but you.
2 policy - in case employees can independently correct the consequences. It gives more independence to employees and removes the extra ball from you.
Find out what happens if the task fails? The company will go bankrupt or lose the project or a major deal will break - then this is 1, because even you are unlikely to manage to fix the situation. If this is a valid shift of time or a slightly spoiled impression of your employees - then 2.
Case studies.
Example 1. An employee prepares a landing page for a promotion on which clients will land from an advertising email newsletter. The promotion is regular, no large traffic growth is planned. This is not the first time that an employee has done this, if he fails the task, then you can not do the newsletter this day on this landing page. If you can move the company by one day and if the planned volume of the additional turnover is small, then you can transfer responsibility to it.
Example 2. An employee prepares a landing page for the Black Friday promotion. TV commercials were prepared and paid for at a given time, so it’s very difficult to move the time. A significant increase in turnover is planned. If an employee fails the assignment and you don’t have a backup plan (take the landing page from last year), then definitely you need to “keep abreast of the pulse” and control the availability of a training plan, each step of this plan, risks, etc. This is a policy of the first type.
The responsibility for choosing the type of insurance is yours.
Rule: “Do not intervene as far as possible, intervene as necessary.”
In the process of solving the problem, a significant increase in risk may occur (for example, a shift in the payment deadline can turn into non-payment), in this case you must change the type of insurance from 2 to 1.
Employees may perceive tight control from above negatively, especially if they are used to autonomy. Variant of explanation to the employee: “I appreciate what you are doing, but this project cannot be put at risk. You will have other opportunities to improve your skills. ”
Rule: “When practicing the art of management, do not let the company go to the bottom of this.”
Item 4. Control
The conversation with the employee on the task does not stop until the date and place of the next control is determined.
In order for the control task not to hang on your shoulders, it is worth shifting to the employee’s shoulders. Along with this, control is important for management, to emphasize this, when discussing, schedule an appointment for the next control in the calendar.
If problems have arisen with the task, then an adjustment is needed: changing the next steps, changing the responsible person or changing the insurance.
If everything is in order, then - we praise the employee for the work.
We do not shift the control point, even if nothing has been done, otherwise it is an encouragement to do nothing.
Sometimes employees bring problems to disaster, without informing you, until the next point of control.
What to do? We tell the employee:
Solving new problems is the task of the employee,
But if the attempts to treat the problem did not work, attract me as a leader.
Moreover, the responsibility for the escalation of the problem lies with the employee.
It is possible to indicate the permissible time for an independent solution to the problem (it may be different depending on the task and potential damage).
Well, nobody canceled the stand-ups for quick intermediate control.
What to control, when to appoint a control point? The book does not specify, the author assumes that the reader is acquainted with how to conduct control.
An example is noted of controlling the relevance of the next steps in solving the problem. Sometimes employees continue to be convinced that they know what to do better than an agreed list. For tasks with type 1 insurance, the employee cannot independently change the following steps.
I will add that there is a wonderful Lean startup methodology. A useful article on the founding book of Eric Rice can be read here: habr.com/ru/company/makeright/blog/299560 . In a nutshell, think and take the next step with minimal effort, relying on thoughtful success metrics to make sure that the chosen course is correct.
This approach is also useful for managing employees: if you don’t know whether the employee will cope with the task, think about the minimum next step for the task he should take and the easiest way for you to verify the correctness of this step in order to understand “pulls” or “doesn't pulls”.
Delegation
This is not just responsibility for completing a task; in addition, it is the responsibility to set tasks for other people and control the result. Thus, employees perform more complex tasks, freeing you from the need to decompose tasks, distribute and set up subtasks and control them.
Your task is to increase the productivity of the unit. If people can carry out tasks themselves without distracting you, productivity will increase, therefore your task is to teach people how to delegate tasks to them.
The goal of employee training is to enable them to delegate authority.
Take off the ball - let the employees prove that they are able to solve problems on their own. But this does not mean that all tasks are initiated by employees.
The employee must prepare and independently show:
- What needs to be done to solve the problem or what next steps to take, an action plan or steps to create it.
- What the task gives to the business, why it is needed and why it is important.
- What departments of the company does this affect, how are their interests taken into account.
- If the interests of the client of the company are affected, then what does the task give to the client and why is it important to him.
- What resources and time will be required to solve the problem and what you need to do to find these resources.
- What powers will be required to him and why it is enough of it.
- How to control it in the process of solving the problem.
- What problems may arise and how it will act if they arise.
What you need to be able to delegate authority:
- Reduce your level of anxiety through the belief that the employee can independently cope with most of the problems if they arise. As long as there is concern, the employee must solve smaller tasks for the development of the task, under your control.
- The employee must figure out what to do.
- He himself must understand what he needs: resources, money, time, information, power and help (employee requirements). Who better than him is more aware of what is needed?
- You need to determine the acceptability of these requirements. How to determine it? By analogy with other tasks solved by you or other employees.
- The employee should be interested in the result of the project.
Time you have
Time for your work is limited. It is possible to divide the time into:
- The time imposed by the authorities
- The time imposed by the system
- Time you can control.
Moreover, the time that you can dispose of is divided into the time that your or other employees take from you, forcing you to solve problems that they cannot solve on your own, and the time that you can spend on proactive activities to develop your business and improve interaction.
The time imposed by the authorities
He who has gold sets the rules. If you do unsatisfactorily the work entrusted by your boss, he will tighten the nuts and you will have more work.
If you always agree with your boss, then one of you is superfluous.
If you do not agree with the boss, then try to convince him of the best, alternative solution, but if you didn’t succeed, follow his decision
Time imposed by the system
Bureaucracy and red tape for the replacement of the mouse, the issuance of accesses, inquiries from HR and other service functions take time. As a rule, you should not worsen relations with employees, they can let you go in a long circle, they are covered by regulations. Better to establish good relationships and then they will eat less time.
Own time
The time you can control. First of all, it gets clogged with the problems (balls) of your employees. What is left, if left, is the most valuable time for your development. This is the time you can spend on:
- Improving relations with the boss, allies and service departments to free up more time in the future.
- Training your subordinates for delegation, for the same purpose
- Your training
- Analysis, the creation of new initiatives and the launch and monitoring of new projects and changes for the development of the company, and this is what managers really value (if, of course, they successfully fulfill their main tasks).
And in the end, the opportunity to come home on time to spend time with the family, engage with children and just relax, otherwise it is a way to burnout.
Afterword
The fixation of the one on whose side the ball is well illustrated by the joke about the English lord.
London. English lord with his wife at breakfast.
“Lord John, there are rumors in the world that Lady Jane has a lover.”
“These are Lady Jane's problems.”
“Yes, but they say Lady Jane's husband vowed to kill this lover ...”
“These are her husband’s problems.”
“Yes, but rumors say this lover is you.”
- These are my problems. - And what about me?
“And these are your problems.”