Enlarging The Possibility - Part 18 Series

INTRODUCTION

• As a leader one of the most difficult things to do is delegate to others.

• Some will accuse you of control issues.

• Others will complain about who you delegate to and how they perform.

• But at the end of the day sharing ministry is crucial for all of us to fulfill our destiny.

• Unless we share ministry things that are meant to give life will kill us.

• Some of you know what I mean…as business owners and leaders.

• Delegation is much more difficult than it appears.

• And as great a leader as Moses was he had a tough time with it.

• Moses had a large heart and often people who want you to delegate to them don’t have the same heart.

John Maxwell: “They either hold onto as much as they can and only give away what they absolutely cannot do themselves, or they try to dump everything on unprepared and unsuspecting followers. The result? Burnout…or a train wreck.”

• Nicest thing about this chapter is people are settling into life together.

Exodus 18:13-24, It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. 14Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”…17Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. 18“You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone…Select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

I. THE FAMILY REUNION

• Some of you may remember Jethro from Chapter 2:11-22

• And you may remember Moses sending his family home before entering Egypt.

• Verse 7-8 - Moses sees his family again.

• Verse 9-12 - He shares the stories of all God did…wow how many times would that happen after this…

• When we share our stories about God working, others are encouraged and empowered…

• Verse 12 - to worship…

• Jethro was a gentile priest (Exodus 2:16) whose testimony indicates that he knew the true and living God.

• He also knew the importance of Israel in the plan of God, because he said that the Lord had punished the Egyptians because they had “treated Israel arrogantly” (Exodus 18:11 NIV).

II. SHARING THE LOAD

• If something is going to grow it must be shared…

• That can be tough…especially if it was born in your heart…WOL story

• I drive people crazy sometimes detailing how I arrived at a decision.

• But if you are to delegate well, people need to know how you think.

• My assistant Susan DePaola has worked for me now for almost eight years.

• She often makes a decision and then asks “did I get it right” if not why not?

• She is so teachable which makes her excellent!

John Maxwell: With everyone who works closely with me, my goal is to teach them to think like I do. So at the beginning, I pour a lot of myself into them.

I don’t just make decisions and ask them to implement them. I share my thought processes and encourage them to tell me what they think I would do.

• Generally, the more important a task is to the leader, the more tightly they hold onto it. Even if it’s not a good use of their gifts or it keeps them from doing other things.

So regardless of the task’s importance…

1. If someone else can do a task better than I can, I give it away.

• And I’ve discovered that I do only four things really well: lead, communicate, create, and impart vision.

• I routinely give everything else, such as administrative and financial tasks, to the experts.

2. If someone else can do a task at least 80% as well as I can, I give it to them.

3. If someone else has the potential to do a task at least 80% as well as I can, I train them.

• Take a look at your delegating style. What are you dumping without development? What are you holding onto that’s stealing time from your priorities?

• If you take time to train your people, you can trust their thinking enough to let them do even the most important tasks well. Then you can use your best energies to do the things you do best.