I learned a while back from a classic Harvard Business Review article that our time as a manager can be categorized in the following ways:
What you have little control over
- boss-imposed time- responding to what your boss wants
- system-imposed time- responding to what your peers need
What you have control over:
- self-imposed time
- subordinate-imposed time
If you ever wonder why you as a manager hardly have a chance to have lunch or take a bathroom break in the course of the day, perhaps you need to assess whether your subordinates are leaving you with too many of their problems. This is referred to as subordinate-imposed time.
The scenario is such that the subordinate approaches you with a problem that you don't know enough about to make an immediate decision so you take it on to work and plan to get back to them -- you have now subordinated yourself to them and taken the proverbial monkey onto your back. Now it's your problem. If this is how you operate, pretty soon you'll have a whole tribe of monkeys wreaking havoc on your time.
Don't let your subordinates leave their monkeys with you. You can give advice about their issues, but they leave your office with them and a course of action.
You need to ensure that your subordinates take initiative -- they shouldn't wait until they're told or ask what they should do without providing recommendations. They need to make recommendations and then act or act and then keep you posted.
With this time back, you can provide the oversight and guidance for them to move forward and find solutions.
For the full article that has benefitted many a manager:
https://www.cusys.edu/eld-catalog/docs/cop/WhosGotMonkeyHBR.pdf
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