When employees drop by your office or stop you in the hallway to discuss problems, ask them to schedule a meeting. Most managers, says Covey, recognize that employees are underutilized; still, many can’t let go of the monkeys, perhaps because they subconsciously fear that giving employees power will increase their own vulnerability. While the article is more than four decades old, the challenge remains prevalent in today’s workplace environment. Practice what you preach, and hope that the people around you are inspired by your perseverance and quality of work. And those performers, equipment, and animals all have agreed that they will pay attention to these messages.

That’s not my Monkey | Dunelm

Not my circus not my monkeys is also a book written by Lance Gibbs about what he learned after transforming the employee experience at his own company. However, both Covey and the original authors fail to adequately address the deep psychological underpinnings that drive this ineffectual managerial behavior in the first place. When the appointed time to discuss the problem arrives, spend 15 minutes discussing each problem, then decide what to do. This is so like the frustration of depressed people who devote their energy to thinking and talking over problems over which they have no control.

You can watch the show, and certainly decide whether you stay in that tent, but you cannot control what happens there.

Not My Circus Not My Monkeys - Old Polish Proverb - Polish Not My Circus Not My Monkeys - Old Polish Proverb - Polish

And I realized that those two sentences reflect the central problem whenever we try to control what is not ours to control. Covey makes an important point: I couldn’t agree more that many leaders’ need for control and ineffective delegation methodologies create leaping monkeys.Responsibilities within in the first two categories are mandatory; disregarding them will result in penalties.

Not my circus not my monkeys explained - Healthybodyathome Not my circus not my monkeys explained - Healthybodyathome

The key to monkey management is to avoid accumulating monkeys in the first place—and quickly discard the ones you do find on your back. The first step may be to consider self-knowledge, truthfulness, and other building blocks on the road to personal growth.

Learn to say this is not my circus, these are not my monkeys in your daily life if others won’t take your good advice, or if you can’t do anything about the situation. As if the mess someone else has found himself in, is not your mess to worry about, and the people taking part in that mess are not the ones you can control. When you’re not in control, or not higher up in the social hierarchy, then there’s not much you can do to control those around you except setting the right example and hoping that others follow your lead.