Small Decisions Make Small Leaders

Many leaders of smaller movements and organizations try to make all the decisions themselves, and under certain circumstances this approach works well. But such leaders almost always crash and burn as the organization grows; or alternatively, the organization itself collapses when the original leader ages or becomes ill or dies.

Even in small organizations there are compelling reasons why a leader should consistently delegate most decisions to selected ones of his lieutenants.

1. Time constraintsFirst, making a good decision is hard, time-consuming work, and no leader can make many good decisions in a month’s time, much less in a day or a week. So he needs to carefully reserve for himself only the most important decisions, and cheerfully delegate the rest.
2. Truce or consequencesA second major factor in favor of delegation is that it helps develop and nurture strong lieutenants. A leader can’t expect his lieutenants to grow and grow up unless he gives them the opportunity to make real decisions that will have real consequences for the organization, without their being constantly second-guessed by the leader.
3. Team coherenceFinally, the leader who is willing to delegate almost all decisions to lieutenants has an opportunity to build a much stronger and more coherent organization than does the leader who tries to make all the decisions himself.

This assertion is counterintuitive; one would think at first blush that strength and coherence would be on the side of the absolute dictator. But here’s the key: the leader who delegates is forced to build coherence by putting together a team of lieutenants who have shared values and common goals. If he’s successful in this regard, his organization can survive the loss of the leader himself (which will always happen eventually).

—Steven B. Sample, president   of the University of Southern California,   in The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership   (Jossey-Bass, 2001)

—online survey from www.buildingchurchleaders.com, Leadership’s site for church leaders training materials.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today,/Leadership journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership.