Resist upward (reverse) delegation

Don’t let the task you delegated jump back onto your desk the first time it gets hard.

Why it works

When a stuck report brings you a problem and you say "leave it with me," the responsibility silently transfers back up — the "monkey" jumps to your shoulder. This feels helpful but reverses the delegation, overloads you, and robs the person of the struggle that builds capability. Keeping the next move with them preserves both their growth and your bandwidth.

How to do it

1. When someone brings a problem, ask "what do you recommend?" before offering a solution.
2. Keep the next action assigned to them — leave the meeting with their to-do, not yours.
3. Offer guidance and unblocking, but don’t accept ownership of the task back.

Evidence

Reverse delegation is a well-described management failure mode; coaching-style responses to requests build self-efficacy, which predicts persistence and performance. (mechanistic)

The "monkey" framing is a practitioner model; the underlying self-efficacy mechanism is what’s empirically supported.

Sources

• Oncken & Wass (1974), "Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?", Harvard Business Review
• Bandura, self-efficacy (mastery experiences build confidence)

Common mistake

Solving the problem yourself because it’s faster right now — which trains the team to bring you problems instead of solutions, guaranteeing more interruptions later.