How do you eat an Elephant?

I know you have heard the question, "How do you eat an elephant"? The answer you usually hear is, "One bite at a time." My answer is different. My answer is "Invite a lot of friends to help" You see, A job will get done faster and more efficiently if you have help. Jesus understood this. When He was faced with the challenge of feeding the multitude, He said arrange them in groups of thousands, hundreds, etc. As we see with Jesus, not only did He get help, He organized them into manageable groups. To be a success in ministry, you have to organize your team into manageable groups. This is the purpose of organizational charts and structure. Here are some thoughts about organizing your team. The size is determined by what you can manage. Leadership experts say you can effectively manage in detail five people. So, your team should consist of no more than five, and each one of them should have a team of five and so on. A very important point in team building is called the line of authority. This simply put means, You delegate and inspect the work of your team and let them delegate and inspect the work of their team. You shouldn't delegate beyond your team. Be careful not to usurp the authority of your team.  If everyone stays in their place and listens to their leader, the "elephant" isn't so big after all. More to come...

Comments

[Julian and Charlotte Oliver]

Wonderful advice for both the leader and team.

[Diane Doyle]

I think having only 5 allows for stronger unity than being spread to thin as a leader.

[Deveri Albiston]

This is a great way to view Leadership and Teamwork. Thank you for the continual reminder of how to eat...because it's been too easily forgotten. Not to mention, it helps tremendously when we have structure in our teams...you know who and how to communicate!

[Sandi Bird]

Great teaching...

[Lana]

I will definitely take your advice on "Elephant Eating". Five members to a team will work on a meal of elephant. I do not mind sharing this responsiblity with a team because I do not think I could eat even a little bite of elephant, therefore I could delegate that task to my team while I check on dessert!

[Pastor Doug]

I had never heard of having 5 to oversee. I had heard the phrase "inspect what you expect". God brings order out of chaos, the devil, chaos out of order. Thanks for sharing this with us as we organize CE.

[Deveri Albiston]

You know this encourages me, everytime I hear it. The principle is priceless. I must say in the N/T area, I am desperate to have a more established team. Without it, you can get burned very quickly and right now I'm getting warm. As for Pulpit Support, I'm so thankful for the established team we have there. After 5 1/2 years of ground work in Youth Ministry, it's nice to be able to build on what's already there. I know we still have quite of bit of work to do, but so far so good. Thanks Pastor.

[Brenda]

Although the thought of eating an elephant has always made me feel a little sick, I think it's great wisdom concerning organization. We will work on putting these things in practice in our ministry.