categories: leadership
9 comments (+ Add)
Letting Go of the Know
Perhaps the most challenging thing about empowering people is “letting go of the know.”
When you are in the beginning stages of empowering another (developing) leader, you probably want to know a lot. You are building trust.
Once a leader is trained and functioning well, it’s time to “let go of the know.”
Sam Roberts oversees all of our Life Church locations and pastors. Because we’ve developed a deep trust, he knows what I need to know. Rather than me interacting regularly with fourteen pastors, I interact regularly with one leader.
When someone else knows what I need to know, I don’t have to worry about the details. As we hand off the “need to know,” we are freed to lead rather than micromanage.
Visit 
Craig, I was in the army for five years. One of the most important aspects of leadership was the chain of command. It’s interesting to me to see how at times the church and the military can be very much alike, and very much different other times. Thanks for sharing.
reminds me of the leadership/discipleship method:
1. i do, you watch
2. i do, you help
3. you do, i help
4. you do, i watch
5. you do, i do something different
that healthy sense of trust leading to release.
thx craig.
I really love what you say at the end there as a young leader still developing and learning…”we are freed to lead rather than micromanage.”
Absolutely mission critical the whole Christian movement is based on this principle…thanks for demonstrating this for us.
Great Post and I am certainly one that is figuring out the balance. As Executive Pastor, my role is more of process thinking and I try to understand what each “sub-ministry” deals with and how we can solve reoccurring issues as they deal with the whole structure while leaving the problem solving of ministry-specific up to the ministry point person. Sometimes, it is the hard balance between knowing what is needed and what doesn’t really need to be known.
What does the “need to know” look like for Sam? I assume it’s broader than your need to know?
I cant stand the idea of Micromanagement….letting go is truly a sign of faith. Control or having to have control is showing that God is not big or wise enough to steer Your ship (church). Leadership is contagious!!! If you let go and LEAD by faith others will be empowered to LEAN on God and not ONLY You as the leader or if you are a control freak leader and question everything others will try to prove their worth to YOU and keep God as a “side dish” in their life…great post
[...] Groeschel has two great blog posts about what a leader needs to “know”: letting go of the need to know and what a leader doesn’t [...]
[...] great articles on what growing leaders need to “know”: letting go of the need to know and what a leader doesn’t know. This is definitely what I am learning at [...]
Good article makes you want to keep am eye on people that always ask “Why didn’t you know”?