Sometimes leadership is exhausting - but in a good way. Whenever you have many people around you looking to you for direction (whether a team, employees, congregation or children) there is a lot to manage. The bigger the group, the more to handle. You've probably heard that as any group grows, you can (and need to) delegate more and more tasks. That is true. This helps the group be more connected as they take on additional responsibility. This lightens your load, right? Yes and no. Yes, some tasks are now being performed by others, but now you have more people that are accountable to you. You now have the additional task of overseeing, mentoring, training, guiding and sometimes picking up the slack. All this in addition to growing and mentoring new additions to your group and developing new ways to engage and encourage the original group. Your load changes, but doesn't get smaller. When you choose to lead, the only time your total load is lightened, is when it gets smaller... and smaller...
I've heard many in leadership lamenting about the lack of volunteers. If you lead a church or other non-profit, or are in direct sales, you lead an army of volunteers. Sometimes, your volunteers will not hit you over the head with their willingness to serve. Sometimes, they will. Are you ready to mentor them in their volunteer position so that they will be successful? Do you follow through with them while enthusiasm is high? I think we all believe we do. About two years ago, I volunteered with a non-profit in the Quad Cities area. It took several weeks just to be able to get through to the correct person to volunteer my services with. I was invited to attend an open meeting, where I spoke of the service that I was willing to provide. Although there was much agreement that my service would be a great addition to the service they were providing, and several follow up calls on my part, I never was given the opportunity to volunteer. A...
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