Some of us can’t bear to watch people struggle. We cringe when we watch nature shows and the sickly elephant cannot stand on its own. It requires the help of its herd mates who struggle desperately to get the elephant to its feet. But the elephant is dying and just can’t make it one more time.
We have all seen that nature show on television. Or one just like it. We have seen our fellow employees struggle through a project, and while the end result may not be their fatality, it could eventually mean their losing their job. If we are the more compassionate sort, we want to help them out. We add their burden to ours and then wonder why we feel so overwhelmed.
In fact, we are serving as the monkey burro. Or to quote the famous Band song, The Weight, “Take the Load off Annie, and put the load right on me.” We take the burden off of our fellow workers and put it right on us, the manager, or associate. The staffer suffers because he fails to learn new skills sets. He has not learned to resolve the problem. the manager suffers because it is one more load he has to handle.
In the Harvard Business Publishing, there is a preview of an article, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? The article is authored by William Oncken, Jr. , Donald L. Wass, and Stephen R. Covey. Covey proclaims this article is a wake up call or managers with too many monkeys. The article says that training and empowering your staffers is far more relevant than it was 25 years ago. It is essential to do so.
It would seem, having read the article, that an employer requires two qualities in his personnel. In managers, they must have the ability to train properly and to delegate responsibilities to their staffers. You must have staffers that are able and willing to adopt new skills or to hone those they already possess. In this economy, let’s face it, you can’t have your employees wasting time. Sometimes background checks or personal reference checks may demonstrate the necessary qualities in staffers and management alike. Sometimes it becomes a case of trial and error. Too many trials, however, result in too many errors. Again, in this economic downturn, no employer can have his people wasting time.
Check them out before you hire.
