My devotion this morning was about Leadership and Management Consulting. To be honest, I was not sure where this was headed! But it took me to the book of Exodus and the story of Moses and his father-n-law, Jethro. I had never looked at this passage in this way before and it was refreshing! Isn’t it cool how the same word can speak to you in different ways?
A little background…
So, Moses’ wife and two sons were staying with her father, Jethro. Upon hearing about all that Moses had done for his people, Jethro decided to go for a visit and take Moses’ family home. The first day Moses and Jethro did some catching up. Moses shared all that the Lord had done, they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and rejoiced in the presence of God. The next day, it was back to “work” for Moses. Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people. And apparently everyone had some type of problem. The people lined up outside his tent from morning till evening. Moses was definitely in a place of leadership.
The Consulting
When Jethro saw what was going on he asked Moses, “Why do you sit alone as judge?”.
In my own words, Jethro was saying, “Are you crazy? You are wearing yourself out. This is too much for you to handle alone. You need some help!” (Wow! How many of you have said those exact words to yourself?) Then here comes the advice: Recruit some help. Find capable, trustworthy men to serve under you. Let them handle the little stuff and anything that is too difficult let them bring those cases to you. This will make your load lighter because they will share it with you. This might serve as another miracle in the Bible; Moses DID as his father-n-law suggested.
Building a Team
We don’t know at what point Moses’s family went to stay with Jethro but it is obvious he didn’t have much time to spend with them. Now we can’t blame Moses, after all, he was dealing with the grumpy Israelites, fighting battles daily, and trying to solve everyone’s problems. He was in a place of leadership but he wasn’t using all of his skills as a leader.
Building his team must have reduced his stress level and created more time to spend with his family.
And that, my friend, is the key point today!
Applying to Life
Sometimes we just try to do everything on our own at work and at home. It is time to let people help you…even if they don’t do it EXACTLY the way you would do it! It is okay if your daughter folds the towels a little different than you, they will still dry you the same. Let go of the perfectionist a little so that you can enjoy this life you have been given. Years from now you will not remember if your husband put away the dishes correctly but you will remember the extra time you got to spend together.
At work, do your best to delegate tasks to others. If there is no one to delegate to then I challenge you to take a few moments each day to plan out the most important tasks and goals for the day. This will keep you focused on solving the “bigger” problems as Moses did. The little things will get done along the way.
What I Do…
I like to stop about 30 minutes before the end of my day and plan out my top priorities for the next day. Then if I have time I will gather the paperwork, etc. that I need to complete these tasks and put them on the corner of my desk. This keeps it “in sight” and helps me stay focused on the most important things as new stuff gets placed on my desk. If it is not a top priority it goes into a different stack to be sorted through at the end of that day. I also use a weekly planning sheet to plan out tasks for the week. You can download and print your very own here!
Inspired by: Top Ten Ways To Be A Great Leader by Hans Finzel (affiliate link)
