Friday, April 8, 2011
Small Decisions Make Small Leaders
Steven B. Sample, president of the University of Southern California wrote an article for Christianity Today, January 1, 2002, entitled “Small Decisions Make Small Leaders.” The focus of the article is that leaders should delegate most decisions to selected ones of his lieutenants. Three reasons he gave that a leader should delegate. First, making good decisions are hard and time consuming. A leader cannot make good decisions quickly concerning everything. He should concentrate on those things he does well. Secondly, in delegating responsibility it helps to develop and nurture strong lieutenants. Leaders cannot expect those that are under them to grow unless they are given an opportunity to make decisions without being second guessed by the leader. Thirdly, the leader that delegates almost all decisions to lieutenants has an opportunity to build a stronger and more coherent organization than does a leader that makes all of the decisions. One very important reason leaders should delegate is to build coherence by putting together teams of lieutenants who have shared values and common goals. Moreover, in this model, the organization can survive the loss of the leader. I am in complete agreement with Sample’s analogy. I believe this is the way that Jesus taught and trained the disciples. Jesus knew he wasn’t going to be with them always in the physical body, so he allowed them to perform different ministries while he was with them. They were allowed to make mistakes, but Jesus used their mistakes to teach them the correct way.
www.christianitytoday.com/le/2002/winter/19.11.html
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Dibs! :) (And Cynthia...can I borrow your laminated parsing sheet from Greek class?)
ReplyDeleteSuch a “small” article with such huge implications for leaders! Thank you for selecting this article and summarizing the author’s three main arguments for delegation. As I read, the first question that popped in my head was, “How does this contribute to the slow death of the small church?” Many attribute the decline to the larger churches nearby, the change in culture, and so on. I wonder if part of it is the pastor’s refusal to delegate in order to (forgive the cliché) dream bigger. Bringing in other leaders to help make decisions, whether they be paid or volunteer, allows for greater input and creativity. Delegating smaller decisions allows a leader to focus on bigger ideas. Perhaps the small church pastor could focus on an idea for growth if other leaders made decisions about worship music, visitation, and the Spring Fling Prayer Walk Pancake Extravaganza (what—you don’t have one of those?). Delegation also helps the leader realize it is not all about him or her. It requires humility to hand over part of your work, particularly if you have allowed that to become part of your core identity. Perhaps it is when we leaders step outside ourselves and include others that our ministry begins to blossom.
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