Delegating that Empowers

You must have heard that “many hands make light work.” Moreover, Jesus said to his disciples that they would do “greater works” than Him. In reality, we aren’t greater than Jesus but Jesus is speaking in context about us being His hands and feet around the world. In other words, the disciples were going to spread the Good News of Jesus.

Jesus knew the empowerment of good, godly delegation. Well… here are some thoughts that delegates empowerment for your people:

  • Communicate purpose and calling – communicate in conviction both corporate (love the world) and individual (how God created me) callings. We must move people beyond themselves and serve the purposes of the Kingdom
  • Develop God-given roles and responsibilities – SHAPE design helps people get into roles and responsibilities that are based on how God created them.
  • 80% rule – I think it is good to mention this rule. Most of us are reluctant to empower others because they may 1) disappoint us or 2) we can do a better job. In any case, the 80% rule means that if you have someone that can do 80% of what you can give 100% that saves you at least 80% of your time and talent to do something else. This is so important to realize in your leadership capacity.
  • ENCOURAGE – be an encourager. It is easy to give incentives to employees and accountability to paid staff, but it is a deeper challenge to delegate, empower, challenge, and offer accountability to volunteers. One aspect is to be an encourager… No one will ever get sick of well deserved encouragement.
  • Communicate often – meet with leaders, volunteers, and staff effectively. There are some great resources on this topic… but over communication is more important than foggy communication that can lead to misinterpretations, contempt, and discouragement.
  • EMPOWER – give tools that will help your people succeed in their roles and responsibilities. Remember, your call in leadership is to bring out the best in others for the Kingdom, not yourself and your kingdom (Eph. 4:11-16)
  • Structure for DISCIPLESHIP– develop a leadership/volunteer structure where ALL your people can get involved; no matter the spiritual maturity, limited amount of time or talent your people can offer, and/or the size of church. This is truly the church that Jesus was referring to for “greater works than me” (John 14:12).

What causes people NOT to offer their time, talent, and treasures is poor delegation. Poor delegation is the opposite of what Jesus was about; if we don’t communicate purpose but “fill the hole” needs; if we don’t take the effort and hard work to develop roles and responsibilities; slack off with encouragement and communication because we could easily do better or MORE than they could; if we don’t give tools for volunteers to succeed; and develop a Biblical paradigm that ALL people can get involved, then we are the problem as leaders. Not our people.

Delegate like Jesus.

Church, Kingdom, LeadershipBCYD AdminComment