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How to Work Through Others
Making the most of each person's time, talents.
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After placing the right people in the right spots, we have to make critical decisions about which tasks to do ourselves and which to accomplish through those individuals. Naturally, there are certain tasks we never delegate. Peter Drucker refers to those as a leader's "unique contribution," what he alone brings to the organization. Leaders shouldn't delegate what they are best positioned and gifted to accomplish. A senior pastor, for instance, typically is gifted and trained as a teacher. Often his most significant contribution is teaching on Sunday mornings. So when he gets overloaded, he should focus on message preparation and delegate competing tasks to others. My unique contribution at Willow Creek is to build our sub-ministries. No one else is so commissioned to help our ministry directors develop their departments. Someone else can type my correspondence, lead singles meetings, or administrate our magazine, but no one else is called particularly to oversee our department leaders. How do we determine our unique contribution? We do this by considering our gifts, passions, talents, background, personality, and temperament. Given these insights, we can then decide how we can best fulfill the requirements of our particular role. I try to be a student of myself: Who did God make me to be? What has he called me to do? The best hours of my day should be given to make that contribution. After I determine my slice of the circle, I need to look at the remaining tasks and ask, "Who can I find to help me complete this circle?" The key is to find people who feel about their slice the way I feel about mine. For example, for a number of years I worked with our compensation committee. However, as the staff grew, the salary schedule became increasingly complicated. With no training in this area, I felt terribly inadequate. Yet technically, the responsibility fell in my circle. At the time, a man in my small group was vice-president of personnel in a major corporation. His Ph.D. and vast corporate experience made salary negotiations a natural for him—and what's more, he enjoyed it. Today he heads our compensation committee. Because of his expertise, our salary structure is worked out in great detail and everyone benefits. The staff is better served, the man gets to use his talents to help the church, and I am freed to do the tasks I do best. That happened because I found a leader who feels as strongly about compensation schedules as I do about ministry development. After determining which tasks to do ourselves and which to delegate, we must decide how much responsibility to give and when to give it. At Willow Creek, we operate on this principle: Faithful with little, faithful with much. We start by giving people a small task or responsibility, and as they prove faithful in that, we give them more. |             |
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