The Fine Art of Giving Away Responsibility

by Ron Perry

Recently I had the opportunity to paint, which is not my forte, while a skilled painter looked over my shoulder. I got as much paint on my brush as possible and brushed back and forth across the shelf until there was no paint left on the brush. The skilled painter quickly instructed me that I was spreading my paint too thin and that what I thought was speeding up the painting process was actually slowing me down. His advice to me was to keep the right amount of paint on my brush.

In management, I often take the approach that my doing all the work will speed a process along. But soon, the same result I found in painting happens to me personally: I am spread too thin. I soon find myself spending more time putting out the fires caused by my lack of knowledge, skill, or time, than serving those around me who do have the knowledge, skill, and time to do those things. One of the great challenges of management is to keep the right amount of responsibilities for myself and to give away the right amount of responsibilities to others.

As managers, we sometimes cringe at the thought of giving away responsibility because we think, “He isn’t responsible enough to do it the way I want it done.” But Kenneth Blanchard said, “The best way to develop responsibility in people is to give them responsibility” (1989, 73). What a true statement! Instead of becoming frustrated with people who work for us, we ought to give them responsibility and help them develop into responsible people. We will then begin to realize that a primary aspect of good management is being a good teacher.

Before giving away responsibility, a good manager will teach those working for him how to do the job. Then after giving away responsibility, he will check on the progress of the job. Every good school teacher knows that there is value in teaching a subject, giving homework, and then checking it after it is done. That process should characterize every manager, regardless of the ministry in which he finds himself.

In Acts 6, God established the office of deacon because the apostles were being worn too thin; consequently, important ministries were slipping through the cracks. Today, pastors can wear themselves out by attempting to run the nursery, clean the church, and keep up with visitation and discipleship—all in addition to their preaching responsibilities. The solution to the pastor not being worn too thin is to give away responsibility— whether it be to a deacon, assistant pastor, or an individual in the congregation. The simple truth is that there may be a lady in the church who with some responsibility and patient instruction may be able to manage the nursery better than the pastor ever could.

The next time you find yourself being worn thin, ask yourself, “Do I have the right amount of paint on my brush?” It may be that the mentality that you can do all the work yourself is actually slowing you down more than helping your ministry run more efficiently.