Delegation & Supervision (The Brian Tracy Success Library)

TWENTY

Avoid Reverse Delegation

WILLIAM ONCKEN, time management expert, wrote a famous Harvard Business Review article that has been reproduced and read millions of times all over the world for the wisdom it contains.

In “Management Time : Who’s Got the Monkey?” Oncken wrote that “whoever is responsible for the next step in any task owns the task. No one else can take action until that person does that part of the job.”

In other words, if your employee asks you if you can help him by phoning someone, getting some information, or performing any other task necessary to complete the delegated job, you are now responsible for the next step. The employee can go back to his office and wait for you to do “your job,” comfortable in the feeling that he ...