Most of us are guilty…. 😂
Lets start by reading Exodus 18:13–27 MSG translation.
Exodus 18 MSG
13–14 The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?” 15–16 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God’s laws and instructions.” 17–23 Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you — you can’t do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men — men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible — and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.” 24–27 Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases they were the judges. Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.
Moses’ Father-in-Law saw him doing the MOST and advised him as seen in the scripture above. The summary of the advice is one of my favorite words STRUCTURE 😍!
Create Structures to make your life more efficient so that you do not BURN-OUT! I am pretty sure you are not busier than Moses… afterall, he was leading an entire Nation! If Moses could take some sound advice on structure, you should too 😉
I particularly love the fact that this advice was given by someone from the outside and Moses listened — shows he was indeed a humble kinda guy. He wasn’t thinking, Mr Father-In-Law SIR, who are you to advise me…! I speak with GOD all the time, God chose me to bring the people out of Egypt, not you 🙊!
I, Not You, PARTED the Red Sea… do you know it?? HUGEEEE MASSIVEEE SEA! No, no no, he humbled himself and took that great advice which changed the way things were being done and changed them forever! Following his advice, things were done efficiently, orderly, new leaders were raised and succession planning was in place. Most importantly, Moses could attend to other matters and did not BURN OUT, at least on this matter anymore, like most of us often do.
Moses sensibly followed Jethro’s counsel, and this improved his ministry, took him to his NEXT-LEVEL AKA PROMOTION and made him more effective in general.
So here is what Moses did and we can learn from it:
1. Moses picked competent people and set them as leaders (Hire the Right people).
2. All the people were then organized into groups of different sizes (Create an Organization with units/departments).
3. The leaders then took over the daily routine (Give Job Descriptions & Measure Performance).
4. Moses only handled the very complex cases, which was about a third of all the cases (Take extreme cases to the Senior Management/Board).
This sounds like excellent management training to me 😉
Great! What does this all mean:
1. Moses could focus on more important things without getting sidetracked, stressed and overwhelmed 😀 (Strategic Thinking).
2. Succession planning was in place as other people were given the responsibility and opportunity to LEARN and SERVE both God and the people 😉 (Succession Plan).
3. Delegation led to situations and disputes being handled more efficiently, faster and better.. 😇 (Excellent Service).
So, what do I do?
- #BeLikeMoses and listen to the advice of the Wise with a Humble Heart.
- Put some Structure to things that are beyond your individual capacity (Checkout the section on what Moses did).
- Learn to delegate & train others where needed.
- Trust them, be Discerning & be Ready & Willing to make changes as needed!
#BeLikeMoses & Structure! 🙇
Structure leads to Promotion because you are able to focus on and excellently execute tasks that truly need your attention.
“It is better to set a hundred men to work than to do the work of a hundred men.” (D.L. Moody)