There is a lot more to consider than just the building when it comes to handling your church’s remodeling project. Leadership is critical to the successful completion of a church building or remodeling effort, and there are a number of key characteristics of effective church leaders. In addition to the communication skills, the ability to appropriately and successfully delegate responsibilities is another key leadership quality.
Delegating Peter to Pay Paul
A delegator is someone who can assign important tasks and information to other team members and hold them accountable for getting the work done. This person needs to be a good judge of what team members can handle, so that they assign work appropriately. For example, assigning an interior design task to someone who doesn’t notice when you change the banners in the worship space is probably not the right choice. But if this person is really good at remembering to change the filters in the HVAC system every 3 months, they will probably be a great person to handle getting all the necessary city and state permits applied and paid for, and contracts signed, before the work begins.
A good delegator also recognizes that no one person can handle everything and will be able to assign a variety of specific tasks to members of both the central organizing team and the various subcommittees. This leader will also be organized themselves, so that they can keep track of what needs to be completed by when, and follow up to make sure things are actually getting done.
All for One and One for All
Any major building project requires a team approach. As we discuss in one of our free i3 webinars, unity is a key component to a church remodeling effort. You cannot present two options to the wider church community because inevitably there will be people that prefer the option that isn’t chosen. Once this happens, grumbling often follows, and groups form behind each of the “options.” Then the congregation could divide into camps which begin to compete against each other and even split the church.
Instead, before anything is revealed to the entire church community, the delegating leader will find a way to involve every key person in some part of the project, so that they are all united behind one vision. All team members will then see how their part is integrated into the whole, and understand that their individual task is critical to the successful completion of the building project.
From Many Parts, One Vision
When everyone is united behind a strong leader who knows how to delegate, the individual tasks in a building project are never handled only by one person. This means that no one is overwhelmed in the process. Instead, everyone has a part to play in moving the project forward. Unity in the community is preserved and everything, from church funding to the church architect, is recognized as having a part in fulfilling the vision for the church building project.
To learn more about the importance of having a team leader with delegation skills for your church’s remodeling project, we invite you to join us for our free i3 webinars.