Qualities Necessary in a Spiritual Leader: Delegation

Leaders must be men and women who can delegate. Sometimes it seems easier to do things yourself. Yet no one can be the best at everything. If you do things alone, you are limited by you. But when you learn to delegate you efforts and strengths are multiplied by the efforts and strengths of others. Here are some of the things J. Oswald Sanders says about delegation:

• “The ability to choose men to whom he can safely delegate authority, and then actually delegate it, is that of the true leader.” (202)
• The leader who is “reluctant to let the reins of power slip from his own hands...is unfair to his subordinate and is unlikely to prove satisfactory or effective. Such an attitude would tend to be interpreted as a lack of confidence, and that does not induce the best cooperation, nor will it draw out the highest powers of the one being trained for leadership.”(203)
• “how is he [the subordinate] to gain experience unless both responsibility and authority are delegated to him?” (203)
• “A one person activity can never grow bigger than the greatest load that one person can carry.” (203)
• “The man in a place of leadership who fails to delegate is constantly enmeshed in a morass of secondary detail that not only overburdens him but deflects him from his primary responsibilities.” (204)
• “Subordinates should be utterly sure of their leaders support in any action they feel called upon to take, no matter what the result, so long as they have acted within their terms of reference. That presupposes that areas of responsibility have been clearly defined and committed to writing so no misunderstanding can occur.” (204)
• Moses example: (Ex. 18:1-27) “Those gifted men, who might have become his critics had he continued to keep things in his own hands, were developed by the burden of their office and became his staunch allies.” (206)
• “even should they [subordinates] do them [delegated tasks] worse, we should still relinquish them—a severe test for the perfectionist!” (207)
• We should be willing to delegate responsibility to emerging leaders the moment they evidence sufficient spiritual maturity and be ready to help while they gain experience by trial and error. (208)
• “In the early stages, a wise watchfulness will be necessary, but a resort to interference should be made only if the need becomes acute. The sense of being watched destroys confidence.” (208)

Source: J.Oswald Sanders "Spiritual Leadership