I’ll try to refrain from pointing out the pitfalls of holding anyone (besides Jesus) to a golden standard, but I have to admit that good wisdom is good wisdom, especially when the Bible supports it.
I read a book years ago by Andy Stanley called Next Generation Leader.
In his book, Andy constantly hits on exponential discipleship/leadership and the benefits of what can happen when we pull all in the same direction.
But lately I’ve been really thinking about the words I read years ago:
Do only what you can do.
– Andy Stanley
And there’s a lot of loaded meaning behind that, so I’d like to break it down into a few statements.
1. Hey dummy. You are a leader.
If you are in any position that influences in any way you need to understand that you are a leader. Now you might be one and not know about the immense influence you have – but I’m serious – you are a leader if you’re an employer, of course, but you’re also a leader if you’re a parent or if anyone ever asks you for advice or listens when you speak.
2. Hey Leader. You better be growing people.
If you’re not growing the people you “lead”, you’re not leading.
Think about all the greatest leaders throughout all of history: their fame and accomplishment was rarely about what they did, but about the very equipping through influence and delegating of responsibilities to others. And that’s the core of the matter.
3. You should be delegating more tasks that others can do.
Here’s his quote, again – don’t miss it.
Do only what you can do.
– Andy Stanley
If you don’t delegate/train/educate the things to those you have influence over, you’re not leading as effectively as you could be.
The only thing worse than [not delegating] is to delegate and then instantly/constantly take back the very responsibility you “delegated.” If you do that, then instead of one problem, you now have three:
1. You’re not delegating – duh.
2. You’ve now lost trust.
3. You’re going to have to work twice as hard to undo what you done did.
Craig Groeschel said in a podcast you’d be silly not to listen to that:
If you have a team member that can do something 50% as well with upward momentum […] you can trust them and one day they will exceed your expectations.
– Craig Groeschel (on a take from John Maxwell)
I struggle with this, but I feel like I’m getting better. If I don’t give away the things others can do, then that’s a problem.
So what can you do? Make a list of all the things you do on your team/at your job/in your family. Then I want you to think about what (of those tasks) can you give away to those that you lead?
Now if you’re anything like me – the second part is going to be a bit… challenging. I like control and having opinions and being a perfectionist, but hey – if Jesus didn’t delegate, the very movement of Christianity would have been a lost cause, his sacrifice an unknown blip in history.
So go out there – see what you can do. I promise it will be worth it.