In America’s bootstrap, entrepreneurial culture, the word “dependent” is reserved for children claimed on tax forms and for people who are perceived as weak, unproductive or clingy.
It’s hardly a word anyone would want applied to themselves, and certainly not a characteristic managers and supervisors seek to instill in their direct reports. So how is it, then, that so many organizations end up with a culture of dependency?
Those in leadership positions need look no further than in the mirror. Leaders set the tone for how their direct reports will act and how they will interact with them. The process of people management is an investment in others.
Practically speaking, supervisors or managers only have two resources they can invest in their direct reports: the time they spend with them, and, the influence potential they have on them. Since time is finite, a manager’s influence can be enhanced or eroded by the way they use their time.
Delegation can be used to develop competencies, gain bench strength, and effectively use the precious work time that’s available. Employees feel empowered, with the resources and authority necessary to carry out important tasks.
However, when supervisors or managers fail to encourage the personal initiative and responsibility of their direct reports and avoid using delegation, they lose control over their time, and therefore, lose much of their ability to influence their employees in a way that influences business results.
Managers and supervisors must cope with competing demands for their time:
“Leveraged time” is managing these demands effectively to deliver expected results. Often supervisors and managers take action on tasks that are not part of their three time demands and thus compete for the limited resource of managerial time.
This is called “non-leveraged time” — the time spent working on tasks, problems, or activities that their employees bring to them — work that the employees should be doing themselves. Non-leveraged time, which in the long run delivers very little benefit to the organization, the manager, or the employee, begins the moment a manager takes the initiative for action away from the employee.
Why in the world would a manager or supervisor do their direct reports’ work? There are a wide variety of reasons, but here’s a short list:
Lack of delegation undercuts individual initiative and leads to upward delegation — where the employee constantly refers decisions and tasks up to their leader.
This is referred to as the “leaping monkey” scenario, a concept coined by leadership great William Oncken Jr.: A direct report approaches you with an issue — a monkey on his back, if you will — and when you agree to take a look at it, the monkey leaps onto your back. These monkeys steal time and influence from you while stealing initiative and opportunities for growth from employees.
It’s vitally important to re-think how you use your time, and to begin seeding initiative into your organization’s culture. Make it known that employees must:
Effective delegation allows for increased cross-training — developing multiple skills for the employee and creating more flexibility for the manager. Delegating challenging work that will prepare employees for upward mobility is an excellent way to reward good performance.
Delegation can offer deviations from routine work responsibilities, giving employees both a change and a challenge. And delegating routine tasks by spreading them around to direct reports can give a manager significant leverage for carrying out more critical responsibilities.
No one consciously tries to create dependency at work. A dependent performance culture reduces productivity, stifles talent development, and thwarts employee morale and motivation. But as managers and supervisors become aware of how their behavior thwarts employee performance, they can implement simple changes in their daily work lives.
As leaders learn to delegate, they leverage their time more effectively to meet work demands. This facilitates greater productivity for everyone concerned and begins a cycle of self-empowerment and initiative that puts those pesky leaping monkeys in their place.
