When given a job to do, a person who delegates the job is giving you a responsibility to carry out. The person in charge may define what the task is as well as telling you what the resources you will be given. The critical element in the exchange of the job description is whether or not you have the authority to carry out the job to its completion. Being responsible for a job without having the authority is doomed to fail. If the person in charge holds onto the power to say yes or no to you in what you do, you will become frustrated because you don’t have the authority to use your mind in making the job your own.
Way too many people quit jobs because they were given the responsibility to carry out the job, but they have a boss that is looking over their shoulder and micromanaging them because they carry the authority. When someone else has the authority, they as well have the ownership of the job and want it done a certain way, done in a certain time frame, and control when and where the job takes shape. Jobs will get done, but individuals with a mind to think will become frustrated and never take ownership of the present or future tasks.
Delegation and building ownership of any job is the best way in which all people involved in a project do their best because they not only are responsible for the project, but have a personal investment in the project because they have the authority to carry out the task at hand. Responsibility with authority is the foundation for any successful business opportunity.
Nehemiah recognized this concept when he was placed in charge of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem that had been broken and burned down. He challenged the people to work on the wall and realized that without delegation, the wall would never have gotten rebuilt. “Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites under Rehum son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district. . . . Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.. . .Beyond them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house.” Nehemiah 3:17, 20, 23 NIV
The people in Jerusalem were responsible for rebuilding the wall in front of their own house. I would imagine that if I were them, I would want to do the best job possible in rebuilding the wall in front of my home so that no enemy could crash into my section of the wall. When we take ownership of the job we have been given, we are more apt to do the best job possible because it is a reflection of ourselves. Ownership=quality workmanship.
On this journey, we will all be involved in jobs at work and at home. When we think about owning the job, it will transform how we go about completing the work.
