The HBR Guides Collection (8 Books) (HBR Guide Series)

Delegate Eff ectively

92

manager’s. Subordinate-imposed time begins the mo-

ment a monkey successfully leaps from the back of a

subordinate to the back of his or her superior and does

not end until the monkey is returned to its proper owner

for care and feeding. In accepting the monkey, the man-

ager has voluntarily assumed a position subordinate to

his subordinate. That is, he has allowed Jones to make

him her subordinate by doing two things a subordinate

is generally expected to do for a boss—the manager has

accepted a responsibility from his subordinate, and the

manager has promised her a progress report.

The subordinate, to make sure the manager does not

miss this point, will later stick her head in the manag-

er’s office and cheerily query, “How’ ...