"The monkey in each case begins its career astride both their backs."

This 1974 classic from the Harvard Business Review uses a funny illustration for balancing managerial/subordinate obligations. 

"Most managers spend much more time dealing with subordinates’ problems than they even faintly realize. Hence we shall use the monkey-on-the-back metaphor to examine how subordinate-imposed time comes into being and what the superior can do about it."

Our In-Tune Teambuilding workshops do not use monkeys, live or otherwise.  But we do--through the shared process of learning music together--foster productive communication, prioritization, and delegation within your team.   Our monkey is illustrated through sweet, sweet music. 

"Every monkey should have an assigned next feeding time and degree of initiative. These may be revised at any time by mutual consent but never allowed to become vague or indefinite. Otherwise, the monkey will either starve to death or wind up on the manager’s back."  As Bill Ocken wrote oh so many years ago, “'Get control over the timing and content of what you do' is appropriate advice for managing time."