Day 26
And I
said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot.
And while thy are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors.
Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard
posts and some in front of their homes.”
Nehemiah
7:2
It
has been said, “To be clear is to be kind.” You cannot expect that people would
live up to expectations that they never knew about. People, either in the
context of an organization or a relationship, cannot fulfill expectations that
have never been stated. Unfortunately, we are too often upset or discouraged
because people did not do what we had hoped they would do. However, we can only
be frustrated with ourselves if we did not make our desires clear.
To
this point time, Nehemiah has been a very hands on leader. However, the time
has come that he will have to share some leadership and responsibility. As we
have seen, he carefully chose who he would share leadership with. Now, he
carefully explains what that leadership should look like. He tells Hanani and
Hananiah how he wants them to accomplish the task at hand; namely, securing
Jerusalem.
Many
times, as a leader, there is great frustration when people do not do what we
had hoped they would do. However, when we stop and assess the situation, we
often realize that we never made the goal clear. So, as a result, people end up
guessing. If they do not resort to guessing, they will create their own desired
outcome, which may or may not be the same as ours. Whether in a relationship or
as a leader, if there is a specific outcome that you desire, make that known.
Nehemiah
has taught us a great deal about successful delegation. First, we must choose
the right people to fulfill these roles. Second, we must be clear of what the
desired outcome is. Finally, if we want them to approach things in a certain way,
we must make that clear as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment