Preparing for the More God Has for Me: Teach Me to Trust Other Carriers
The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. — Exodus 18:18
I've been preparing for the Camino de Santiago by asking God to prepare me for the “more” He may have for me. Leading up to my trip, I've been writing a series titled “Preparing for the More God has for Me.”
In my previous 4 posts, the preparation made me look inward:
But I'm beginning to realize something.
Maybe God doesn't intend to increase my capacity enough to carry everything that's coming. Maybe that's the point.
THERE'S A FASCINATING MOMENT IN EXODUS 18.
Moses is leading Israel, and people are coming to him from morning until evening to settle their disputes.
Moses is doing important work…necessary work… Godly work.
There's just one problem: he's doing too much of it himself.
His father-in-law Jethro watches what's happening and asks him: “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge?”
Then he tells Moses: “What you are doing is not good.”
That's a pretty strong statement.
Not because Moses' work wasn't important, but because the way he was carrying it wasn't sustainable.
Jethro tells him:
The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. — Exodus 18:18
Then he gives Moses another way…a formula for leaders handling too much:
Teach people.
Develop leaders.
Give responsibility away.
Let capable people handle what they can handle.
And reserve the leaders’ (Moses') attention for what actually requires the leader (Moses).
THAT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE WHAT GOD IS TEACHING ME RIGHT NOW!
For years, I've been the rainmaker in my company. Even at the writing of this series, I generate the overwhelming majority of our sales.
And that has worked…until you start imagining what happens if the company becomes two, three, five, or 10x larger.
I cannot become ten versions of myself.
So right now, we're doing something that actually feels heavier before it feels lighter: we're building a sales organization!
I'm documenting what I do, we're developing processes, we're building training, we're interviewing, we're teaching, we're mentoring, and we're letting other sales people begin carrying pieces of something I've carried personally for years.
And here's what I'm discovering: delegation isn't difficult because handing off tasks is difficult, delegation is difficult because trust is difficult.
Will they do it like I do it?
Will they care as much as I care?
Will they make the right decision?
Will they say it the way I would say it?
What happens if they make a mistake?
And underneath all those questions can be another one: what happens when they discover they don't need me?
That's where delegation becomes spiritual. Because if I'm honest, there's a part of entrepreneurship that loves being necessary.
We say we want the freedom entrepreneurship offers…but then we build companies where everything flows through us.
We say we want leaders, but then we correct them every time they don't lead exactly like us.
We say we want people to “take ownership”, but we don't actually give them enough authority to own anything.
Then we wonder why we're exhausted, working 16 hour days and weekends!
Maybe sometimes we're not overwhelmed because God has given us too much, maybe we're overwhelmed because we're carrying what God intended other people to carry with us.
I've had to confront that in several areas of my company.
When my COO went on sabbatical, I felt like I needed to absorb a lot of his role.
Instead, I've had to trust another leader to step into the integrator role.
I've delegated branding, even though I did branding for 20 years.
I've delegated marketing, even though I could do it with my eyes closed.
Now I'm working to delegate more of sales.
Even the process of building our sales academy isn't something I'm carrying alone.
And every one of those decisions requires me to release something…
…control.
…being needed.
…having the final say on every detail.
…the comfort of knowing that if I do it myself, it will probably be done the way I want it done.
HOWEVER, NOW I'M BEGINNING TO SEE DELEGATION DIFFERENTLY.
Delegation can be an act of faith.
Because when I release something to another person, I'm acknowledging: I am not the only person God can use to accomplish this mission.
That's humbling.
The vision may have been given to me, but that doesn't mean every responsibility inside the vision was given to me.
In fact, if the vision is truly bigger than me, I should probably expect that God will send other people to carry parts of it…people with different gifts, different strengths, different perspectives, and different capacities.
Maybe the “more” God has for me isn't something He's asking me to become strong enough to carry alone, maybe He's preparing us for more.
THAT'S CHANGING HOW I THINK ABOUT LEADERSHIP.
The goal isn't to become the strongest person in the organization, the goal is to build an organization full of strong people…sales people I teach, operators I trust, leaders I develop, vendors I empower, and colleagues who eventually become better than me at the responsibilities I've handed them.
And yes, sometimes they're going to make mistakes…but so have I.
Sometimes they'll make decisions differently, and I'll have to resist jumping back in.
Sometimes trusting another carrier will feel riskier than simply putting the weight back on my own shoulders, but if I take everything back every time carrying gets uncomfortable, I'll never actually develop other carriers.
And I'll eventually become the limitation of the very thing I'm praying God will increase. That's the part that hits me.
I don't want to pray for multiplication while insisting that everything still depends on me. If God expands what He's entrusted to me, then my leadership has to expand too. Not by doing more, but by developing more people who can carry more.
THAT'S WHY MY PRAYER AS I PREPARE FOR CAMINO IS CHANGING AGAIN.
Father, teach me to trust other carriers.
Show me where I'm holding responsibilities You intend someone else to grow into.
Show me where my standards have become control.
Show me where my desire for excellence is actually fear of letting go.
Give me wisdom to recognize the people You've placed around me.
Give me patience to teach them.
Give me grace when they make mistakes.
Give me humility when they become better at something than I am.
And give me enough faith to stop believing everything depends on me.
If You're preparing me for more, don't just make me capable of carrying more.
Make me capable of entrusting more.
Because maybe one of the clearest signs that I'm ready for a bigger assignment isn't how much weight I can carry myself.
It's how many other people I've prepared to carry it with me.
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