You know that a key part of any executive’s or manager’s job is helping subordinates develop professionally—including honing their problem-solving and decision-making powers. Thus, you’re well aware of the dangers that come with taking on all your direct reports’ problems. But what about when you’re under immense time pressure and someone tries to hand you one or more monkeys—the memorable term for subordinates’ problems that William Oncken Jr. and Donald L. Wass introduced in their classic 1974 Harvard Business Review article, “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?”

Fortunately, experts and executives have continued developing techniques aimed at making delegation easier—and more effective at keeping the monkeys with their rightful owners.

1. Make yourself let go. For many executives, the path to more effective delegation begins with reexamining two basic assumptions about their roles. First, many managers “continue to assume that it’s faster and more efficient to take on employees’ problems than to teach them to handle their own,” says Patti Hathaway, author and business adviser with the company The Change Agent, based in Westerville, Ohio. Second, “they believe they know more than their direct reports do.”

These assumptions, Hathaway says, only increase managers’ desire to control problem-solving and decision-making rather than empower their employees. To counteract this, she encourages her clients to think as leaders, not as managers. Managers, she advises, “manage details [for example, by solving direct reports’ problems]. Leaders manage people by encouraging a sense of ownership and accountability among subordinates.”                 

2. Ask, don’t tell. Letting go of problems is only as effective as the manner in which you delegate them. To that end, skilled delegators know to ask questions rather than dictate orders.

“Asking ‘What do you think should be done?’ teaches people to come up with proposed solutions the next time they bring you a problem,” says Joyce Gioia, president of the Greensboro, North Carolina-based consulting firm The Herman Group. Additional open-ended questions—such as “What do you think led to this problem?” or “What are things we might consider if we implement the solution you’re proposing?”—can reveal the degree to which subordinates have thought through their respective problems.                                 

3. Match tasks to people. Managers can avoid taking on subordinates’ monkeys by matching delegated tasks and problems to individuals based on their assessment of each direct report’s capabilities and development needs.

Stephen R. Covey, cofounder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey in Salt Lake City, emphasizes the power of delegating based on subordinates’ deepest passions. “Find out what each of your direct reports does best and loves doing most,” he recommends, “then marry their unique talents and passion to the job’s needs. With passion, people don’t need supervision: They’ll generate creative solutions to problems on their own.”                 

4. Cultivate independent thinking. The more an employee thinks independently and feels a sense of ownership in her job, the fewer monkeys she tends to bring to her supervisor.

At Planterra, a Michigan-based interior landscape company, director of business development Shane Pliska uses a “monkey rating” system adapted from the approach Oncken and Wass described in their article. “We ask employees to rate their problems on a number scale,” Pliska says. “One means the manager solves the problem, two means the manager tells you how to solve it and you follow up, three means you propose a solution and ask for your manager’s approval and four means you take action and tell your manager about it afterward.”

When people come to their supervisor’s office, Pliska explains, the manager asks, “What number is it?” To cultivate a sense of ownership, Planterra managers encourage employees to make as many “four” decisions as possible.                 

5. Link people with resources. Linking direct reports with the resources they need to solve a problem will also aid in reducing the number of monkey-toting reports at your door. Think of resources in broad terms—as people, tools, information and developmental opportunities that can help employees resolve issues on their own. Serving as a resource connector can be as simple as saying, “You need to talk to Joe in marketing.”

Informational tools can also be valuable. For example, The Change Agent’s Hathaway advises clients to provide an intranet phone directory organized by department and function, not by name, for new employees who don’t know anyone yet but who need to know where to bring specific types of problems.                 

Lauren Keller Johnson is a Massachusetts-based business writer.

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