Higher Education is not immune to the challenges faced by other types of organizations. Some, including myself, may even proffer that we face all of the same challenges, plus others that are entirely unique given the history and culture of how colleges and universities have evolved in this country over the past 300 years. One challenge for managers in Higher Education, and especially Student Affairs, is deciding where to spend our time.

Management Time

One concept from the business world that translates extremely well to our roles as managers in student affairs comes from a classic article from the Harvard Business Review. “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” by William Oncken Jr. and Donald L. Wass, debuted in Harvard Business Review in 1974 and was reprinted in the November-December 1999 issue with new commentary by Stephen R. Covey. In their article, the authors outline how managers can make sure that they are not taking on the work that their staff should be doing.

In this article, the authors begin by outlining their view of how a manager’s time is organized. They break down this time as follows:

• Manager-imposed time (things you are told to do by your boss)
• System-imposed time (things needed by your peers or co-workers for active support)
• Self Imposed Time (time that you decide how to structure based on your priority and work style)

As a manager, your self-imposed time is extremely valuable. However, if you do not accomplish the things that are part of your self-imposed time, there is often little penalty as there would be in manager-imposed or system-imposed time. This time is when we, as managers, can look to spread our wings into areas that are not normally part of our job responsibilities (i.e. a committee you volunteer for outside of the Division, or doing some professional development reading). This is also when your subordinates (those you supervise) can come to you for help.

Generally, you will have some dedicated time to meet one-on-one with your supervisees (you are meeting regularly with your supervisees right?) but how often and for how long is largely dictated by you as part of your self-imposed time. This time can also get taken up by “subordinate imposed time” This is time taken up by tasks generated by a problem (or question, request for input, or other request) presented to you by your supervisees. Oncken describes these problems as monkeys. The monkeys are brought by the supervisee and when the supervisor takes on those problems as their own, such as telling the supervisees “Let me get back to you on that”, the proverbial monkey leaps from the back of the supervisee to that of the supervisor. The supervisor is now responsible for the care and feeding of that monkey. In other words, figuring out the problem (or getting the information needed, or doing the task to solve the problem) is now the supervisor’s responsibility. The supervisee can now check in with the supervisor regularly and say “How’s X going? Or did you decide what we should do about Y ? Did you find out what Z is?” That’s called supervision and is not how the relationship between supervisor and supervisee is supposed to work.

Examples of Monkeys in Student Affairs

This is a more common occurrence than we probably realize in student affairs. In my time as a manager, I’ve taken responsibility for the care and feeding of many, many monkeys which were not my own.

Here is an example of how a Student Affairs Manager might take on a monkey.

Hall Director Smith comes to you in your role as Director of Housing and Residence Life. HD Smith sees you in the Dining Hall and starts a conversation “Hey boss, I want to talk to you about the idea I had for that big event that I’ve been working on”. Being a supportive supervisor you start to chat with HD Smith about the event. She has it all figured out, except for a venue. She doesn’t have the authorization to reserve some spaces on campus that may be most appropriate for the event. You offer “Let me take a look at what is available and I’ll get back to you”. Guess what? You now have HD Smith’s monkey on your back. You go back to your office to write up an email briefing your VPSA on a student crisis this past weekend and you also have not started work on your budget report due in two weeks. HD Smith’s venue needs are way down on your priorities list, but they are now your responsibility. Two days later HD Smith is in your office suite and sticks her head into your office and says “Any luck finding a place to hold my program?” She’s checking to see if you did what she delegated to you. That’s called supervision. You are now being supervised on the care and feeding of this monkey by HD Smith. You’ve already got (at least) one boss and now your subordinate has become another. This is not an effective practice for you or your institution as it does not keep you focused on mission-critical priorities.

Avoiding Unwanted Monkeys

Rewind back to the moment that HD Smith brought up the program and her space needs. How could you have empowered her to take care of her monkey?

First, find out what she has done already.

You: “Where did you want to hold your program?”

HD Smith: “I’m not sure. I don’t know what’s available”

Next, give her a task on how to move the project forward independently.

You: “OK why don’t you ask the other HDs if they have any ideas on where to hold the program? Go check those out and see if any would work for your program. Once you have a couple that may work bring back your top two choices on Monday after lunch. We can check on them and hopefully book one then.”

At this point, you’ve given clear directions to HD Smith about what she needs to do and when to report back to you. When she returns on Monday, the monkey will be in your office but under the care of HD Smith. You can then help HD Smith at the time you designated with the task you assigned her to do. While she is in your office you can help with the care and feeding of her monkey but at the end of the meeting, she leaves with the monkey. Later, you can follow up with her on the progress she is making with her program planning because in this scenario you are in the supervisor role and that’s what supervisors do.

Inevitably, you will have monkeys to feed and care for. Your boss will pass you off monkeys for you to adopt, you will birth your own, or you will find some abandoned ones that need your care. These will be your monkeys, you want these monkeys, they need you. The monkeys of subordinates don’t need you. They have caretakers. Those caretakers need to keep their monkeys, without these monkeys they will never learn, grow, and develop as professionals. The bonus is that you also will be role modeling appropriate care and feeding of monkeys, a skill far too few SA Managers possess.

For more on this topic read the source article:

Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?

William Oncken and Jr.Donald L. Wass, Harvard Business Review, November–December 1999

This post originally appeared on the SA Managers blog.