The grand calling of leading in ministry can be challenging when it comes to balancing all the responsibilities, including releasing control and responsibility to others. Instead of just releasing control, we recommend understanding the art of delegation.
Delegation is the act of empowering others to accomplish a task.
Although it seems like one of the simplest things in the world to do, it can often be one of the hardest to accomplish. Delegation is never an exact science, but often takes flexibility as we interact with different tasks and different leaders’ abilities. The job of leaders is to see that all the work gets done – but not to do it all themselves.
del-e-gate : “To entrust to another. To empower another person to act.”
What the Bible Says About Delegation
Creation
From the beginning of creation God began empowering others to accomplish a task. Psalm 8 says, “What is man that you are mindful of him…You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.” God entrusted his creation to sinful, mistake-prone people, and through us is going to accomplish His plan. God made the animals, but he delegated to man the job of naming them. If the God of the universe entrusted to us His creation, should we not be much quicker in empowering others to act?
In Exodus 18 we read the account of what has become known as “The Jethro Principle.” Moses, as the leader of several hundreds of thousands of Israelites, had been serving “as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening.” Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro gave him this timely advise. “Select capable men from all the people…and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens…That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.”
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus explains some principles of delegation:
- Delegation is a trust. “…he entrusted his property to them.”
- We take into account a person’s abilities when we delegate. “To one he gave five talents…, to another, two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.”
- Delegation means accountability for the right results. “…the master… returned and settled accounts with them.”
- Faithfulness with a few things is a prerequisite for being in charge of many things. “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”
- Faithfulness with things, precedes faithfulness with people. “Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter (one mina), take charge of ten cities (people).”
Luke 16:10-12
Jesus outlined an important principle of delegation. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Faithfulness with things precedes faithfulness with people. People who are faithful in carrying out small delegated responsibilities will usually be faithful to a group of disciples.
What Delegation Does For Others
Delegation says, “I believe in you – that you are capable of following through on this responsibility or task. You can do it!” Delegation says, “We are a part of a team. We are all in this together.”
Delegation helps others “own” the ministry. Delegation develops new abilities and a sense of contribution to reaching the campus together. To delegate to others expands the level of competence and confidence in another.
Two of the deacons who got their start waiting tables in Acts 6 went on to enter into God’s history book – Phillip the great evangelist and Stephen, the first martyr. Because they were faithful in a “very little thing” God gave them opportunity to be
Educator Howard Hendricks once noted, “Any time you do for someone else what they are capable of doing for themselves, you are helping to create an emotional cripple.” God wants everyone serving. Ephesians 4:11-13 and 1 Peter 4:10,11 make that point clear. Leaders are, in part, developed as we entrust them with greater levels of responsibility and decision making.
Three Types of Delegation
Oftentimes we want to delegate responsibilities but because we have gotten “burned” in the past, we are hesitant to release an important job to someone else. That being the case, let’s develop a new model of delegation. Depending on the maturity of the person involved and their skill level, we will want either to direct him, coach him, or delegate to him.
- Directing means to give a specific job description or checklist of what needs to be done along with intermittent deadlines to ensure his success.
- Coaching means that you allow him/her to design the plan and procedure. You coach him along and advise him until he succeeds.
- Delegation means that you just turn it over to him/her. Because his commitment level and skill level are both high, you can trust that he will do it right and on time. You have seen his proven faithfulness over time.
Bob Fuhs, who worked in campus ministry for more than 25 years, wrote a great article on how to delegate well. Read this to learn how to not just off-load duties without providing guidance.
The Goal of Delegation
The goal of delegation is:
- That the person succeeds in accomplishing the task he has been given. Failure is seldom a good motivator to take on new responsibilities.
- That the person develops in competence, confidence and faithfulness.
These being the goals, then you need to do what you can in order to see that they happen.
- A potential leader (low or untested levels of skill and commitment) will need structured guidelines for success.
- A progressing leader (high skill but low commitment or visa versa) will need coaching to succeed.
- With proven leaders (high skills and high commitment), you can turn them loose to accomplish what needs to be done. This is the only case in which you truly delegate with hands off.
How to Delegate
- Decide what needs to be done.
- Select the best person for the job. Let him/her know you believe he/she can do it. Trust is one of the highest forms of motivation.
- Clarify and agree upon the desired result and deadline.
- Define guidelines and potential pitfalls. Let him/ her learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others.
- Establish level of authority, accountability, and method of evaluation.
- Identify resources – financial, human, technical, and organizational resources that he/she can draw from.
- Re-evaluate at the end with the leader on results and lessons learned.