Books like The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
When business books are given out at work, I dread the task ahead of me. Obviously the senior leadership of every company wants everyone on the same page and that's fine. But I still hate having to read something that takes me away from my own collection of books. I always explain to the other books that a business book is allowed to jump the queue because reading such a book allows me to keep a job which allows me to provide shelter for the books. I hope they understand.This short volume was given to me years ago but I managed to delay reading it while at the organization because the leader who gave it to me was eliminated from his position. As Donovan once sang, "the organization ain't really organized". So the book ended up in my collection because I READ EVERYTHING (at some point) THAT IS GIVEN TO ME. Now I have finished it. I should get a steaming hot baked potato slathered with butter and chives for doing so.What is this book about? How to delegate monkeys (aka problems) to others. I can do that. Listen, nod vigorously and then ask each employee what they would do. Assign the monkey, check on the monkey's status, define a completion schedule, and follow through with any postmortems. Bam. Done!This book could have been written in a few pages, but then there wouldn't have been a book. In essence, Blanchard lays it out quite nicely. Many managers find themselves overwhelmed with work that really isn't their work. But if you are new to managing people and projects, it can be frustrating. He makes it so the reader can understand the process and keep to the standard. Not bad. The more you get rid of your people's monkeys, the more time you have for your people.And the more time you have for a steaming hot baked potato slathered with butter and chives.Book Season = Year Round (set your monkey free)