Agritourism Managers' Boot Camp Accelerator FREE Delegation Series. Video 4 of 5

You are fighting a daily battle with monkeys, and the monkeys are NOT your employees. ‘Monkeys’ in terms of delegating are the tasks and responsibilities you hand over to staff. The ‘battle’ is keeping the monkey where they belong. 

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This is a series for business owners with employees, staff, a team. Delegating is the joy and pleasure of off-loading tasks so you, the MVP, The Most Valuable Player, can work ON the business, instead of working IN the business.

Here’s the "Adventures in Delegating” series line-up:

1. Delegating: Do you own a business or a job?
2. What to Delegate and When
3. Hugh’s Monumental Delegating FAILS
4. Battling the Monkey
5. Delegating for the Long Haul: Your system for multiplying effort

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Have you ever…

Handed off a task to a staff member, then when they struggle, they come to you to ‘fix’ the problem?

Delegated and left the job site to do your own work, only to be called on the phone or radio a dozen times with a dozen little questions or decisions to make?

Delegated only to find yourself actually doing the job for your employee?! AND they are standing next to you watching you do it?! How did that happen? 

Monkeys. That’s how. Monkeys.

Why does your staff keep trying to put monkeys back on your back? 3 Reasons.

-You’ve trained them to be helpless without you. The classic way to do this is to yell and criticize your people after they complete tasks. If you seldom praise your people for jobs well done, they will think the only way to avoid being yelled at is to involve you in every decision. That way, “It’s just the way the boss wants it and I won’t get yelled at.”

-You are too good at everything. If you grab the job back from your people the second they have even the slightest difficulty, they know they can let you do all the work all the time! They think, “You know, if I just call Bill back here and say, ‘this mixer is giving me a fit’, he’ll come back and make the next 4 batches of donuts…”

-You won’t teach them anything. Are you the only one who can operate the grain dryer because "it’s too complicated for anyone else to possibly understand!" Well then, by golly, you’ll be the only one ever operating the grain dryer, so you might as well chain yourself to it!

How to avoid monkeys coming back.

Assign monkey correctly. Picture the job you just assigned to your staff person as a monkey. You had it to do, you handed it off, and the monkey jumped from your back to your staff person’s back. To ensure that the monkey stays where assigned you must:

Give clear and thorough instructions, including training if the job is NEW to the employee. 

Give a clear deadline when it should be done. (This is tricky, not the deadline in which YOU could have done it, but a realistic deadline in which a staff person without your full experience and motivation.)

Give pointers and answer questions, with questions. Inevitably, the employee will ask questions, ask for decisions to be made by you, or imply that you should come and do it for them. Reply patiently with questions such as, “What do you think I’d say to do? or What would likely be my answer to a guest in this situation? or If I weren’t here and you had to get it done, what would your plan be?”

Finally, once the job gets done - 

PRAISE the good work done without you. 

PRAISE decisions made without you. 

COACH through items or decisions that you might prefer made another way, or make a checklist for the next time, but don’t lay on a big critique. 

The goal is to not have to do the task again or be bothered during the next time the task is underway. Keep the monkey, the task, in the right place, with the right employee, and don’t let it back on your back.