Delegate like Jesus
Colin Baron
"authority can be the last thing on our agenda, when we are preparing people for the tasks we want them to do for us"
Bryn Hughes “it’s not sufficient just to create opportunities. Research is quite clear about the reason why delegated tasks can and do go wrong… is that the delegator can be unwilling to delegate sufficient authority along with the task.”
Why and how we delegate tasks is a subject that has been covered countless times in scores of books, seminars and blogs on leadership and management. We will find, unsurprisingly, that Jesus was a great delegator. The principles we find in the narrative as he sends out the twelve disciples give us a fantastic insight into the skill of effective delegation.
First, Jesus gave the disciples authority to drive out evil spirits and heal every kind of disease. It is interesting that authority can be the last thing on our agenda, when we are preparing people for the tasks we want them to do for us. Bryn’s remarks that this that it is one of the main reasons that delegated tasks can and do go wrong.
Secondly, Jesus was very specific in what area he was giving them authority. In a future blog I will discuss how very specific his instructions were on the scope, or arena that the disciples would be able to exercise the authority he was giving them.
With the giving of authority there was also an impartation of faith for the disciples to do the works that Jesus was demonstrating. They seemed to do well on this trip but on another occasion nine of them failed miserably to cast out the demon in a young boy.
To be continued
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Colin's Profile
Colin leads Christ Church Manchester (CCM), a new church on the east side of the city birthed out of a passion to see significant churches planted in each of the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.
Colin also travels internationally for the Newfrontiers team, encouraging and equipping church planters as well as coaching leaders and developing teams in established churches.
The concept of delegation with appropriate levels of decision making authority is a key element of effective leadership, and is an effective antidote to burnout of the leader…regardless of the arena. I would argue that there is another key factor in delegation, that is the ability of the delegator to take their hands off the task and allow the person to whom the task has been delegated the freedom to complete the task in their own way.
If I have been delegated the task of getting us from point A to point B, I may do it differently to anyone else, but because it is different doesn’t mean it is wrong.
Micro management stifles creativity and disempowers. Do you agree…or does this only apply in the notion of secular leadership?