Photo by Buck Nacho Gomez, pexels.com
Great leaders are great coaches, and the best coaches know their players intimately and know how to inspire, encourage, correct, and develop them to help them reach their potential.
I think the idea of empowering others can sometimes be scary for most of us.
By its very definition, to empower someone on our team means that we’re giving away our power to them. I could make a decision, but instead I choose to give someone else the power to do it.
But let’s also think of it as a two-way street, where empowerment is also equal to entrustment. I’m trusting that someone else is going to make the right decision, and they’re also trusting that I, as their leader, have set them up for success to do so.
It’s easy to claim that we’re “too busy” to spend time with those we lead, and we just throw them in the deep end of the pool and hope they figure things out. But that’s no way to set anyone up for success.
Empowering others is a critical step in ministry success. Obviously I’m not capable of doing everything myself. I have to have a team of people, whether staff or volunteers, do the things I physically can’t. Other people are critical to our ministry succeeding. The entire organization can’t hinge on whether I am the specific person that does everything, otherwise the ministry will cease to exist once I’m gone, and as long as I’m around it will only be able to grow to the extent that I can handle that growth myself.
So if empowerment is so critical (and so common-sense, most times), why is it so difficult to do? Why do we struggle so much in developing others and giving them the space to act?
More than anything, I think it all lies in our ability to embrace it as a lifestyle.
I think we all know in our heads that empowering others to act is important and necessary. But do we really KNOW it in our hearts, to the point that it affects our perspectives and decisions? Have we internalized it to the point that it becomes the filter through which we see our team?
In order to empower others, we first have to understand that our primary goal as ministry leaders is to develop other leaders.
In one of my favorite empowerment stories of the Bible, Moses shows how well he understood this concept.
Because of his own mistakes, he was told by God that he wouldn’t have the privilege of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land and that Joshua would do it instead.
Moses could have lived in his flesh in his response. He could have pouted or been bitter or refused to support Joshua as his replacement. But he knew that in the big picture, he had a responsibility to the nation of Israel to make sure that what he was doing as a leader was transferred to his protégé, so that his people would still be successful.
In Deut. 34:9 (NIV), we see a note of this: Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him.
While the verse reads beautifully as-is, I love to read it backward, with the second half of the verse first: “Because Moses had laid his hands on him, now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom.”
Because Moses, the leader, chose to give away his power and authority, Joshua was filled with wisdom. What a great example that we can follow too!
Like so many examples of miracles in the Bible, God’s power is just waiting on one of us to take our first step of faith before it’s released. And the process of empowerment is no different. Others around us will never reach the full potential of the power and giftings inside of them until we first choose to give to them some of the power and authority we carry as leaders.
But giving away power isn’t easy. It has to be done strategically and correctly, and the process of communicating vision and expectations is different for every person. That’s why, in order to empower, we must first be committed to developing a personal relationship with those we lead.
If I don’t know and understand my team, then I have no way of knowing their strengths and weaknesses. I don’t know where they need support and encouragement, or where they are already developed and ready to stretch their wings. Without having one-on-one time with them on a regular basis, I can’t effectively coach them so they can succeed.
It’s easy to claim that we’re “too busy” to spend time with those we lead, and we just throw them in the deep end of the pool and hope they figure things out. But that’s no way to set anyone up for success. Great leaders are great coaches, and the best coaches know their players intimately and know how to inspire, encourage, correct, and develop them to help them reach their potential.
Remember, if empowerment is also entrustment, then my team must trust that when I give them my authority to act, I’m setting them up for success in doing so. And how can I set them up for success when I don’t know what they need?
Spending time with my team must also be a two-way street. It’s not just so I can tell them a bunch of things to do and hope they retain it all, or so I can share a bunch of coaching pointers in hopes that they lead to immediate acceptance. Our time together is a vehicle for feedback to go in both directions.
How good of a listener am I? Am I receptive when my team mentions their struggles or things they need from me to be successful? If they note that I need to be more attentive or give more communication, do I respond well, or do I become defensive and try to downplay their concerns?
Also, instead of just telling my team members what I think they need to improve, do we have dedicated time to debrief big decisions? Having a way to talk thru what happened and why is a critical part of the empowerment process.
When Jesus sent out his 72 disciples in Luke 10, he had important conversations both before and after their mission. They talked intimately up front so they knew exactly what to expect and how they should act, and when they returned, there was another conversation to discuss what happened and why.
Empowerment involves clarity and resourcing (up front) and accountability (after the fact). And I must also be willing to ask my team what I can do differently next time to better set them up for success.
Ultimately, the goal of empowerment isn’t just outcomes, but growth. It’s not about how well my protégé did “the thing,” but the process they underwent to get to that point. Do they understand and embrace the vision? Do they have the right filters to look through? Are they asking the right questions? Can they flex and adapt with the situation and apply the right wisdom?
Each situation my team is in without me is an opportunity for learning and growth. My job is to prepare them for my absence, when I’m not around to make a decision. I spend time with them individually so they know clear expectations, next steps, and how to act, and then we find time to talk thru the situation after the fact.
Being a leader is a multi-generational responsibility. In 2 Timothy 2:2 (NIV), Paul referenced this when he was giving instructions to Timothy and said, “and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
In this one verse are four generations! Paul shared things with Timothy, who was then expected to “entrust” things to reliable people, who themselves would teach others. Paul was investing in Timothy, with the expectation that he, like Paul, was always looking for others who could help perpetuate the message of the Gospel.
We need to be the same way. Who in our orbit can be entrusted with the ability to do things? Who can we give away our power to?
That’s the only way to ensure that our ministry will remain successful, and it’s the best way to ensure we as leaders are successful as well.
