New Manager

Use when — you’re a week in, still doing your old job — with meetings on top.

Your output is no longer your work — it’s the team’s. Every instinct that made you great (jump in, fix it fast, be the one who knows) now quietly works against you, because every problem you grab is a rep your team doesn’t get.

✓Done when — You’ve written the three things only you can do — decide, unblock, grow people — and handed one old task over today.

Andy Grove, “High Output Management” — your output = your team’s output.

Use when — you “talk all the time anyway” and are about to skip them.

The 1:1 is your early-warning system. It’s their meeting, not your status update — run it right and problems reach you while they’re still small.

1. 30 minutes, weekly, recurring. Never cancel — only move.
2. Their agenda first; you bring 70% listening.
3. Always ask: “What was the most frustrating part of your week?”
4. End with one concrete promise — and keep it.

✓Done when — Recurring 1:1s with every report, titled with their name — and your first promises logged.

Andy Grove, “High Output Management”; Camille Fournier, “The Manager’s Path”.

Use when — your evenings are spent solving problems your team carried into your office.

Each report’s problem is a monkey. Say “leave it with me” and the monkey jumps to your back — multiply by the team, and you work for them now. Care for the person; leave the monkey where it can grow them.

✓Done when — A full day with zero new monkeys accepted.

Oncken & Wass, “Who’s Got the Monkey?”, HBR (1974).

Use when — someone’s underperforming and you’re about to guess at the cure.

Underperformance is can’t (skill) or won’t (will) — and the treatments are opposites.

✓Done when — Your trickiest report is plotted, and your next move matches the quadrant.

Max Landsberg, “The Tao of Coaching”; Grove’s task-relevant maturity.