How to Thrive Under the Strains of Leadership

Some days the phone doesn’t stop ringing, the emails are constant, and there are multiple knocks on the door – all asking you to handle an issue, make a decision, follow up some detail, or just DO SOMETHING! And you are supposed to be leading more than doing??

As a leader, I sometimes wonder why everyone is “delegating up” to me so that nothing gets done without me driving it. In my more narcissistic moments, I may find an odd gratification from being so central to so much… but this doesn’t sustain, and many become frustrated with the bottleneck at my door and even with me. Pretty soon, there is just too much to do, and there are endless messages and emails letting me know how much I am letting them down, no matter how hard I work.

You and I are not the first to experience this strain: Moses, the leader of the ancient Hebrew nation, found himself drowning in the details as thousands of people turned to him for decisions, arbitration, and direction (see Exodus 18). He was wearing out, and no one was satisfied with God’s appointed leader over the nation. Turns out that Moses himself was the problem – he was clinging to the role of a lonely, central leader.

Enter Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, with some solid advice: Rather than continuing a system in which he was the only one who could get things done, Jethro prescribed some key steps to allow Moses to “scale” his leadership and serve the thousands of people around him. These are simple and very doable IF you and I are willing to be less central to everything that happens. Here are 5 key steps to thriving under the strain of leadership.

1. Teach the mission, principles, and practices that guide your work, sharing the content and equipping others to lead, even when you are not there.

2. Select capable people who can learn, do, and manage the work.

3. Appoint those people into accountable roles publicly. Set up a system of leaders with defined expectations and hierarchy so that each level links to the next and has the oversight, direction, and empowerment needed for their level of management.

4. Share the load. Delegate completely and clearly with specific goals. Don’t accept the delegation back from one of your struggling leaders!

5. Support the leaders behind the scenes, hold them accountable, and use every challenge as a new way to teach and delegate.

While none of these steps will feed our ego, we will see a growing team of leaders who, in turn, develop new leaders as they release to others and support them.

Here’s the result Moses saw: His load was lighter because they shared it with him, all the people went home satisfied, and Moses was free to lead on the higher levels of mission and vision!

The Center Consulting Group works closely with leaders and staff members to build out the leadership and systems that result in high-performing and sustainable teams. Contact us to learn more about how our coaches can assist you!

Paul is a Senior Consultant at The Center Consulting Group and has over 40 years’ experience in building, leading and operating organizations. He enjoys coaching and developing leaders at all levels of organizations. He is particularly interested in supporting organizations and leaders in times of crisis, transition and through the strategic planning process. Paul has served on a number of nonprofit boards and was a founding board member of Chariots for Hope - an organization that oversees Children's Homes across the country of Kenya. He holds a BA in Behavioral Science from Messiah College, a Master of Social Work from Temple University, studied theology and counseling at Westminster Seminary, and is a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner. He is a frequent presenter on mental health topics, program development and Servant Leadership.