So should you do it yourself or delegate it to someone else? That’s a loaded question. I’ve already shared Nine Reasons Why People Don’t Delegate in another post. Delegation is an important, and often difficult, part of leadership.
In fact, I wonder if people who DON’T delegate shouldn’t be labelled leaders at all. After all, doesn’t being called ‘leader’ imply that others are doing things on behalf of that person? It’s just a thought.
One of John Maxwell’s most famous “Laws of Leadership” includes what he calls the “Law of the Lid“. He explains it in his book, ‘The 21 Laws of Leadership” like this:
“Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential. The higher the individual’s ability to lead, the higher the lid on his potential. To give you an example, if your leadership rates an 8, then your effectiveness can never be greater than a 7. If your leadership is only a 4, then your effectiveness will be no higher than a 3. Your leadership ability – for better or for worse – always determines your effectiveness and the potential impact of your organization.”
Note in the two diagrams below that a person can have the same commitment or ‘Success Dedication’ towards their cause, but the actual impact is drastically increased when it’s combined with ‘Leadership Ability’. Ironically, according to this illustration, it seems that someone could potentially be LESS dedicated and still accomplish more in the long run. Interesting.
If we apply this principle to our leadership skills in delegating ministry to others, it’s clear that the overall impact is going to be much greater. If we focus on delegating to other leaders, who are also skilled in the art of delegation, then our impact becomes exponential.
Sometimes the growth barrier we are struggling with is external. External barriers would be those conditions and circumstances that prevent us from practically delegating tasks to others. Maybe it’s an imminent deadline, lack of resources, or some other barrier. In those cases, we sometimes need to get our hands dirty and get it done. Later on, it would be good to do some strategic thinking on how you might remove those external barriers.
However, I suspect MOST of the time, the barrier is internal. That is, it’s a leadership problem, which means it’s one of the nine reasons I’ve already discussed. When we are the lid preventing effective ministry from happening, it’s time we get honest and ask ourselves what we could or should do differently. That conversation (with ourselves) isn’t always easy, but it’s an important step in growing and developing ourselves as leaders.
Sometimes, we need help. Our blind spot is too big for us to find and we need others to step in and help us find it. In this case, I recommend you find a 3rd party leader who you trust to help you grow in this area. It might be a mentor, another pastor or leader, or possibly a Leadership Coach. Of course, I’m available to assist you as a Leadership Coach, if you feel that’s a viable option as well.
So which is it for you? Do or Delegate?
photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc