Team Leadership - Delegation
1. Determine the task to be delegated?
2. To whom will you delegate the task?
3. Training (What tasks need training? Who will train the person?)
4. Details (What are the appropriate limits of authority? What are the time, money, or resource limits for this project?)
5. Express confidence (How will you communicate your confidence in this person’s ability to succeed?)
6. Inform others (Who inside and outside of the team should be informed this person has this particular responsibility?)
7. Check points ( What are the check points to know if the person is on track?)
8. Availability (When will you be available for help while at the same time encouraging independence? Who should the person go to if you are not available?)
Some additional hints edited from “Job Aids” by Mike Lynch and Harvey Lifton, Amherst, Mass.: HRD Press, 1998:
If you can’t establish performance standards or monitor the results, don’t delegate.
Take the time to communicate effectively.
Insist on quality results, not perfection.
Learn to live with differences.
Don’t short-circuit or take back assignments.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
AMERICA
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Learning To Say "No"
Every leader needs to learn to say two very important words...yes and no. Everyone likes to say "yes", and most people like to hear it as well. The yes word comes with license to proceed. It brings such positive feelings and reinforces our opinions and actions. What a wonderful word..."YES"...just say it out loud now and enjoy the reinforcement it brings. Then, there is the anti-yes word, the word "no". No isn't nearly as much fun to hear as that comforting yes word. No is also much more difficult to say than yes. Think about it, you never struggle to say yes but you may lie awake all night just knowing you have to say no tomorrow. As an example just imagine as a leader that one of those you lead has asked for money to help them through a difficult time. You know their situation and they are a hard worker and you see nothing that should hinder their receiving this gift of mercy. You can't wait to tell them. You might even violate proper protocol and call them late at night just to say that wonderful word, "YES"! On the other hand, if you know the person has wasted their money, they haven't listened to counsel and continually are asking for money without ever changing their patterns, their answer is a clear "NO". It's only 5:30 in the afternoon but you decide to wait until tomorrow to tell them. What a coward!
Leaders all feel the same pressure to please men but good leaders are willing to pay the price of rejection if need be to deal with those they leads with the purity of love that comes forth in true honesty. If a person needs to hear the no word, saying yes is cowardice and betrayal. If a person is due the yes word, the no word is cruel and harsh. A person who really wants truth will welcome the no word if that is the word of the hour for him. He will also know the yes word, if not deserved, is a word of compromise for him.
Jesus was perfect in his communication skills. He spoke the no word when it was needed and the yes word when it was appropriate. In my life, the no word usually comes before the yes word. The no word causes me to stop and evaluate the motives of my heart and not just my intended actions. Then when the yes word comes, it releases me as one now prepared by the no word for success.
Ask the Lord to help you learn to hear the no word as readily as the yes word. Then, ask him to help you become a leader who can say both yes and no as the situation dictates.
Every leader needs to learn to say two very important words...yes and no. Everyone likes to say "yes", and most people like to hear it as well. The yes word comes with license to proceed. It brings such positive feelings and reinforces our opinions and actions. What a wonderful word..."YES"...just say it out loud now and enjoy the reinforcement it brings. Then, there is the anti-yes word, the word "no". No isn't nearly as much fun to hear as that comforting yes word. No is also much more difficult to say than yes. Think about it, you never struggle to say yes but you may lie awake all night just knowing you have to say no tomorrow. As an example just imagine as a leader that one of those you lead has asked for money to help them through a difficult time. You know their situation and they are a hard worker and you see nothing that should hinder their receiving this gift of mercy. You can't wait to tell them. You might even violate proper protocol and call them late at night just to say that wonderful word, "YES"! On the other hand, if you know the person has wasted their money, they haven't listened to counsel and continually are asking for money without ever changing their patterns, their answer is a clear "NO". It's only 5:30 in the afternoon but you decide to wait until tomorrow to tell them. What a coward!
Leaders all feel the same pressure to please men but good leaders are willing to pay the price of rejection if need be to deal with those they leads with the purity of love that comes forth in true honesty. If a person needs to hear the no word, saying yes is cowardice and betrayal. If a person is due the yes word, the no word is cruel and harsh. A person who really wants truth will welcome the no word if that is the word of the hour for him. He will also know the yes word, if not deserved, is a word of compromise for him.
Jesus was perfect in his communication skills. He spoke the no word when it was needed and the yes word when it was appropriate. In my life, the no word usually comes before the yes word. The no word causes me to stop and evaluate the motives of my heart and not just my intended actions. Then when the yes word comes, it releases me as one now prepared by the no word for success.
Ask the Lord to help you learn to hear the no word as readily as the yes word. Then, ask him to help you become a leader who can say both yes and no as the situation dictates.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Called To Care
I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying the morning paper. My daughter Tarah was only about 5 years old. She decided to start a lengthy conversation in the middle of an interesting article. I kept reading while smiling and nodding as if I was really listening to her. I thought I was getting away with it until she climbed up in my lap, took my face between her little hands and said, "you aren't listening to me". I assured her that I had heard every word. She then said, "then tell me what I said"! I was busted! I had demonstrated a common mistake among people who are called to care. I was hearing but I was not listening. What I was communicating without words was, "what you are saying is not important enough to give it my undivided attention". Another way to say it is, " I don't really care"!
Caring is of the utmost importance. Caring opens the door for the Holy Spirit to use us to enter a person's life with redemptive solutions. Howard Ridings was a man who had a great impact on my life. I was in my upper teens when I first met him. He came to our church once a year to preach a series of meetings. I can't remember any sermons he preached but two things stand out to me. First, he preached with such passion and power. Second, somehow he convinced me that he really cared about me. He would single me out to talk. He was 25 years my senior, old enough to be my father, yet he could connect with me. He seemed to always have time for me and I never felt in the least that I wasn't as important as him. One day I finally realized his secret. He would talk and he words were always directed to me and my life. He had this rare ability to talk for long periods of time and only talk about the other person. I can't remember him ever saying, "I care about you", but you just knew in your heart that he did.
As I think about Howard, I now know that he was exemplifying Jesus. Jesus, though the Messiah, was never too busy or distracted to spend time with people. The crowds loved Jesus and wanted to be with him. They didn't want to be with him because he was God. They wanted to be with him because he was a man, filled with the Holy Spirit, called and on an important mission, but still a man who saw them and cared for them. That demonstrated caring opened the door for a receptive heart in the people that created and atmosphere for miracles. In contrast, the Pharisees seemed to exemplify religious leadership that was too important, too busy and distracted to really care about the common man.
May the Lord help us care and demonstrate that care to others. After all, when you are gone, the sermons you have preached and the buildings you have built probably won't be remembered.
I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying the morning paper. My daughter Tarah was only about 5 years old. She decided to start a lengthy conversation in the middle of an interesting article. I kept reading while smiling and nodding as if I was really listening to her. I thought I was getting away with it until she climbed up in my lap, took my face between her little hands and said, "you aren't listening to me". I assured her that I had heard every word. She then said, "then tell me what I said"! I was busted! I had demonstrated a common mistake among people who are called to care. I was hearing but I was not listening. What I was communicating without words was, "what you are saying is not important enough to give it my undivided attention". Another way to say it is, " I don't really care"!
Caring is of the utmost importance. Caring opens the door for the Holy Spirit to use us to enter a person's life with redemptive solutions. Howard Ridings was a man who had a great impact on my life. I was in my upper teens when I first met him. He came to our church once a year to preach a series of meetings. I can't remember any sermons he preached but two things stand out to me. First, he preached with such passion and power. Second, somehow he convinced me that he really cared about me. He would single me out to talk. He was 25 years my senior, old enough to be my father, yet he could connect with me. He seemed to always have time for me and I never felt in the least that I wasn't as important as him. One day I finally realized his secret. He would talk and he words were always directed to me and my life. He had this rare ability to talk for long periods of time and only talk about the other person. I can't remember him ever saying, "I care about you", but you just knew in your heart that he did.
As I think about Howard, I now know that he was exemplifying Jesus. Jesus, though the Messiah, was never too busy or distracted to spend time with people. The crowds loved Jesus and wanted to be with him. They didn't want to be with him because he was God. They wanted to be with him because he was a man, filled with the Holy Spirit, called and on an important mission, but still a man who saw them and cared for them. That demonstrated caring opened the door for a receptive heart in the people that created and atmosphere for miracles. In contrast, the Pharisees seemed to exemplify religious leadership that was too important, too busy and distracted to really care about the common man.
May the Lord help us care and demonstrate that care to others. After all, when you are gone, the sermons you have preached and the buildings you have built probably won't be remembered.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Zeal and Momentum
More often than not, I give warnings about the dangers of zeal. Zeal always, always needs to be balanced with wisdom. It seems that younger leaders are filled with zeal and older leaders are filled with wisdom. Of course there are exceptions to both of these. I know some where the characteristics are certainly reversed. I also understand that there is much Biblical admonition to gain wisdom and I totally align myself with this pursuit. HOWEVER, when wisdom has been gained nothing of value will be accomplished without zeal. I was once told that a battleship could be pushed by one man standing on a dock if the ship was already moving and momentum was occurring. Momentum is often activated by zeal. When King David acted as a simple shepherd boy against the giant Goliath, his zeal activated an otherwise stalled military effort of King Saul. Zeal is such a force of influence. Of course true Christian zeal is not an effort or a decision so much as it is a human response to an inner zeal called the "zeal of the Lord". It is the zeal of Jesus within us that activates and at times explodes to get things off dead center.
You may find yourself today in just such a place of neutrality. Things are safe but benign. "Safe" is not a place where creative things happen. There is little possibility for the miraculous in the harbor of "safety". Columbus had to leave safety to experience the greatness of the discovery of a new land.
I am not saying to run out and act like you have zeal. I am talking about getting in touch with God again in the sphere of expectancy. Dare to believe that He wants to use you and/or your group beyond your past or present, as good as it may have been. Be willing to walk through the plains of discomfort in order to discover the heights of accomplishment. Start by "drawing near to God" and see that he will "draw near to you". Then, listen...listen like you haven't in a long time. Expect him to speak to you. When God speaks new fresh things by His Spirit, Zeal always accompanies those fresh revelations. Then be willing to declare what you have heard and watch your group run with zeal just as the armies of Israel were activated by the zeal of David.
More often than not, I give warnings about the dangers of zeal. Zeal always, always needs to be balanced with wisdom. It seems that younger leaders are filled with zeal and older leaders are filled with wisdom. Of course there are exceptions to both of these. I know some where the characteristics are certainly reversed. I also understand that there is much Biblical admonition to gain wisdom and I totally align myself with this pursuit. HOWEVER, when wisdom has been gained nothing of value will be accomplished without zeal. I was once told that a battleship could be pushed by one man standing on a dock if the ship was already moving and momentum was occurring. Momentum is often activated by zeal. When King David acted as a simple shepherd boy against the giant Goliath, his zeal activated an otherwise stalled military effort of King Saul. Zeal is such a force of influence. Of course true Christian zeal is not an effort or a decision so much as it is a human response to an inner zeal called the "zeal of the Lord". It is the zeal of Jesus within us that activates and at times explodes to get things off dead center.
You may find yourself today in just such a place of neutrality. Things are safe but benign. "Safe" is not a place where creative things happen. There is little possibility for the miraculous in the harbor of "safety". Columbus had to leave safety to experience the greatness of the discovery of a new land.
I am not saying to run out and act like you have zeal. I am talking about getting in touch with God again in the sphere of expectancy. Dare to believe that He wants to use you and/or your group beyond your past or present, as good as it may have been. Be willing to walk through the plains of discomfort in order to discover the heights of accomplishment. Start by "drawing near to God" and see that he will "draw near to you". Then, listen...listen like you haven't in a long time. Expect him to speak to you. When God speaks new fresh things by His Spirit, Zeal always accompanies those fresh revelations. Then be willing to declare what you have heard and watch your group run with zeal just as the armies of Israel were activated by the zeal of David.
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