Tag Archive: delegating

If You're Going To Miss, Call "Help!"

Help me please!

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto®

One of my standard comments to prospective employees or new staff* is:

I realize you’re going to fumble the ball sometimes, but just don’t fumble without first calling “help.”

  • It’s one thing to miss a deadline. It’s another to not let people know in advance who may be able to help or do damage control.
  • It’s one thing to make an error in judgment. It’s another to let those you report to be surprised by the error at the same moment everyone else in the church is.
  • It’s one thing to not have the skills or knowledge to complete a task. It’s another to be irresponsible by not collaborating with people who can help provide those skills or knowledge. (Click here to read a previous post on collaboration.)

Mistakes will happen. But ignoring or concealing them until the 11th hour isn’t fair to your church or place of business.

You’ve got to determine what’s more important: your pride, or the objective you’re trying to achieve.

Like I have, you will fumble the ball. But when you see the fumble coming, call for help, and see if someone else can take the ball.

Is there a project you’re already behind on?

Is there an assigned task you don’t think you have the knowledge or skills to complete?

Call “help!”

Calling “help” doesn’t necessarily mean you walking away from the task. Sometimes, it just  provides others a chance to collaborate with you. Other times, a team leader may determine to reassign the task.

I’ve fumbled the ball, both literally and figuratively, and it doesn’t feel good. But it feels worse when I’ve looked up to the sideline and seen willing, competent people who could’ve helped me if I’d asked.

*Read more about onboarding and orientation for new staff in a recent post.

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Hard Lessons Learned the Hard Way

He’s been the pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church for over 20 years. He’s been a part of a lot of awesome things God has done here and he’s also taken the opportunity to learn along the way. Below is his description of a hard lesson learned that has freed him up to be the pastor God called him to be. I’m thankful for @MikeGlenn‘s guest post on my blog. You can read Mike’s blog here.

Hard Lessons Learned the Hard Way

“Mike, it’s not that you don’t help us when you’re in these meetings. You hurt us.”

Yes, that was said to me. And believe it or not, it was a friend who said that to me. Even more, he’s still my friend. He’s my friend because he loved me enough to tell me the truth. And even though I didn’t like hearing it, I knew my friend was right.

I don’t have the gifts of administration—none of them. I’m creative, visionary, and future-oriented. I can see where the culture and church are going to intersect in the future and how the church needs to prepare for the coming realities.

Now, what else have I told you about myself? I don’t have a clue how to actually get any of this done. If I don’t have someone around me to work through the details, then nothing gets done.

What’s more, when I try to attend to details, I grow bored and frustrated very quickly. In fact, if I’m trapped in the minutiae of working out the implementation of an idea, I quit. My house, my office, my whole life are full of great, but unfinished ideas.

Here’s what this means. I have a person, or rather people, around me who have the gifts I don’t. I need these people around me—those who know me, those I can trust—to break down my ideas into doable next steps.

Not only do I have to have them around me, I have to let them do their work. Once the idea has been handed off, I have to have the self-discipline, indeed the humility, to realize that if my idea is going to happen, someone else will make it successful.

This isn’t all bad. People who have the gifts of administration love meetings, setting budgets, and aligning strategies. I’m glad they’re happy. It gives me more time to think about the future.

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