So, how can you nudge people to level-up?

“A monkey on my back” is a metaphor for a task to do or a problem to solve. The monkey management model (by William Oncken) is used to remind managers not to take over their employees’ monkeys.

A typical dangerous situation looks like this:

You (the manager) are in a hurry. An employee, Marie, stops you: “What should I do about this problem?” You don’t have time for this, so you say: “I’ll look into it and get back to you.”

OK, we’ll stop right there. See how easy that was? And veeeery dangerous. Now you have one more thing to do and Marie can’t do anything until you get back to her. Not only that – maybe you don’t know all that much about this problem, so you have to check the facts and options, which takes even more time. Maybe Marie knows everything, but you just told her, basically, that she is not allowed to do anything until you get back to her. So, in a second, because you were in a hurry, you damaged both your calendar and Marie’s self-confidence. It’s a lose-lose-situation, let’s not do that, OK?

According to monkey-management-principles, there are only two possible answers to Marie’s question:

1. “Just go ahead and solve it Marie, you know what to do. Tell me what you decided, I’m interested to hear.”

This is what you say if you know her and trust her judgement in this situation.
2. “Please drop by my desk and tell me what you believe the best options are.” 

This is what you say if you don’t know Marie very well, or if the problem is very difficult.

Can you see how brilliant this is? None of the answers give you extra work to do. None of the answers insult Marie’s competence. The monkey stays with Marie, where it belongs.

Going back to the initiative ladder, you can see how the first answer nudges Marie to level-up now. The second answer prepares Marie to level-up soon. Her suggestions will give you an idea of how good she is at solving things herself – if she’s ready to level-up – or what she needs to get ready. Both answers help you explore Marie’s potential. Maybe she has a better idea on how to solve it than you do! Naaahh…

People tend to remain in the ask and suggest longer than necessary because there is little risk there. There is usually time to save by nudging employees to level up sooner than they are totally comfortable with.

Let monkeys stay with their owners – they will learn more, you will learn more about them; they will get more done, you will get more done; they will improve their problem-solving and exploring, and you will have time for your own exploring. Exploring leadership.

REF: Oncken Jr (1987): Managing Management Time