FOLLOW THE LEADERMany leaders find it very difficult to delegate responsibility – and then
“take their hands off.” They give power – only to take it back again.
Unfortunately, this pattern of limited empowerment is often characteristic
of the church. In his book, The Other Side of Leadership, Eugene Habecker
wrote: “It is my observation that many Christian organizations do not do a
good job in the area of dispersed leadership.”^9 Perhaps that is why more does
not get done!
Organizational studies have proven over and over again that the more
people are involved in the process, the greater sense of ownership they have
about it. If the person at the top “owns” all of the leadership, his people
will feel very detached from his vision. They may at times ignore strategic
opportunities for organizational growth. They may also “turn a blind eye”
to organizational problems that may result in disaster. Organizational
experts Daniel Katz and Robert Kahn have concluded:
People have greater feelings of commitment to decisions in which they
have a part...and the wide distribution of the leadership function
is likely to improve the quality of decisions...Few indeed are the
organizational disasters that occurred unforeseen by someone.^10Wise leadership always seeks to involve as many people as possible in
the goal-setting and decision-making process. The wider the sense of
ownership in the goal, the better chance there is of reaching that goal. It
is the difference between individual leadership spirit and team spirit.
The team goal or mission is the key to developing and maintaining
a productive team. The leader or manager interested in developing
a productive team should involve the team members in developing
or refining the team goal. Such participation gives the team
ownership of the goal and motivates commitment to its
accomplishment. A team will work much harder to achieve a
goal it helped design than one developed solely outside the team.^11Since delegation and empowerment are such crucial components of
partnership leadership, let’s look at a few other insightful quotes:
- The degree to which a leader is able to delegate work is a measure
of his success. A one-person office can never grow larger than
the load one person can carry. Failing to delegate, the leader
is caught in a morass of secondary detail; it overburdens him