"Don't do anything yourself." That's what a woman I trusted, a member of my advisory board, told me as we talked about effective church ministry. She wasn't encouraging laziness. She was stressing delegation. In my experience, delegating is rarely encouraged, or even discussed, among church leaders. Perhaps that's because we confuse it with two other ways of giving work to others: dumping and directing.
Dumping is giving someone a task or a responsibility with a brief, "Here. Now it's yours" then walking away. It feels like relief to the dump-er, is rarely appreciated by the dump-ee, and rarely brings good results.
Directing is giving someone a task and then standing over their shoulder with, "Now do this; now this. No, not that way!" and never walking away. Again, few people appreciate continual, detailed direction, and it shows in the results.
Delegating involves a balance between letting go and remaining in charge. If either half is missing, you end up with something unpleasant
Anyone can learn to delegate. Here's how: (continue)
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Why delegate?
Why we don't delegate
How to delegate