Leaders Let Leaders Lead

November 1, 2010 by cloften  
Filed under Family and Parenting

I couldn’t help the alliteration of that title.  As a general rule, I reject such cheesy alliteration.  I certainly reject making my outlines spell a word–being a great father is all about Desiring God, being a great Advisor and Delighting in your kids. (I just came up with that.  You can use it all you want.  You don’t even have to give me credit.  In fact, don’t.)

We had a Fall Festival yesterday at the church.  While trying to remain Switzerland on the Hallowe’en thing (It’s just not worth the energy for me), this was a great, fun safe way for our kids to have fun, be with friends and score some candy.  We have a lot of little kids under 5.  It was a great time. (BTW, you cannot go wrong dressing your baby up as a dinosaur. A lot of cute there last night.)

I bring this up, not so that you will search the internet to see if you can find the picture of the elders and me, because if you found it, you would not ever come to our church.  I bring this up, because I had nothing to do with this.  Two different people approached me.  One wanted to donate the cost of having a petting zoo, and the other wanted to lead it.  I met with the person that wanted to lead.  Her name is Jacey.  I mention her name, because I want to praise her publicly.  I don’t mention her last name, because some people aren’t fired up about their name coming up on random websites.  (Not sure how Cass Harris feels about this, but we’ll let Cass Harris figure that out for himself.  Cass Harris is good that way.  Right, Cass Harris?)

We spent about an hour together talking about the idea, parameters, her plan, etc.  Then she and her team made it happen.  I guess I helped a little by helping recruit volunteers and asking people to donate candy.  But other than that, I did nothing.  She and her team did it all.  They didn’t need my help.

The end result was that it was incredible.  It exceeded everyone’s expectations.  It had a lot of people saying that we should do this again, and that we should make it a community event.  It really was a lot of fun.  I don’t know how it could have been better.  We had a lot of people serving, and a bunch of cute kids having fun.

By me stepping out of the way, creative people were able to be creative, dreamers dreamed, and task people got it done.  I would have only gotten in the way.  But Cloften, what if it had been terrible?  It’s risky to just let people do stuff.  What if they forget something?  People will blame you if it’s no good.

That is true, there is a risk.  If I had been more involved, I could have guaranteed that it wouldn’t be terrible.  I would also have guaranteed that it wouldn’t have been incredible, because people wouldn’t have owned it, and felt the freedom to dream and create.  I would have guaranteed a solid, OK event.  What is the greater risk?  Risking that something might not be good or insuring that it won’t be great?

Find great leaders and then let them lead. Let Everyone Accomplish Dynamic Enterprising Realities.

Comments

2 Responses to “Leaders Let Leaders Lead”
  1. Amy Stearns says:

    It is hard to be a micro-managing leader–lots of stress and fewer followers because said leader would tend to be overbearing. Good word, man. And glad you can let people step up.

    But may I suggest brushing your teeth more often? They were looking pretty bad last night. And Jacy cuts hair really well. Just saying.

  2. Aaron Reddin says:

    I liked this post. I was learning, and dreaming, and being inspired, and then you did this…..

    “Find great leaders and then let them lead. Let Everyone Accomplish Dynamic Enterprising Realities.”

    :)

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