Alone?

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You Can't Do It Alone

Exodus 17:12

"But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."

The battle with Amalek revealed to Moses something that every leader must learn at some time. It revealed that he could not do everything by himself. While the men were fighting, Moses lifted his hands to encourage the troops that they were winning. However, his arms got tired and he lowered them until they were rested. The problem with this was when he lowered his arms the troops thought they were losing the battle. Aaron and Hur came and lifted his arms until the battle was over.

As a leader you must realize that when you try to do everything by yourself you are hurting the very organization that you want to help. There is no way that you can do everything by yourself. You are human! Too many leaders try to do everything by themselves only to burn themselves out in the long run.

Learning to delegate duties to others does not make you a weak leader, rather it actually makes you stronger. When a leader tries to do every duty themselves they frustrate those who want to help. If Moses would have told Aaron and Hur to leave him alone and let him keep his arms up by himself, then he could have caused men to die in the battle. Likewise, a leader who will not delegate is hurting the lives of people. God gave people to you so you can accomplish more. You become a stronger leader by learning to delegate.

However, when you delegate, be sure to let those to whom you give responsibility the freedom to do their tasks. Often a leader will think they have delegated, but because they won't keep their fingers out of the tasks, they frustrate and limit the ability of the one to whom they gave the task. Micromanaging hurts morale and limits the growth of followers. Yes, you must oversee what they are doing, but you must give them the freedom to do the task themselves. If you have to tell and show someone how to do something all the time, then you don't need them. Though they may not do it to the level of your ability, they will grow into the task.

Every leader must learn that they cannot carry everything by themselves. I know it may be hard to give something up, but for your sake and the sake of the growth of your followers you need to give up some tasks for the furtherance of the work. The potential of a leader, follower and the work will be determined by how much the leader allows the followers to help. If they do everything by themselves, then the potential of the work will be limited and the followers will become frustrated. However, if the leader delegates and allows the followers to grow into these tasks delegated to them, then the potential of a work is great.

If you lead in some area, get others involved in helping you do your tasks. You cannot do it alone, so use your leadership skills to challenge others to grow with you by helping you do the work God has given you to do. If you are not leading in some area, then ask your leader how you can help. Your help will both grow you and your leader. Don't sit and watch your leader's hands get heavy with the tasks because nobody will help, instead get involved so the potential of the work will increase.