Lessons Learnt @Youth Camp 2010 - Part 2
5:59:00 PMWhile coordinating an event, Preparation and Planning (Check out part one!) are the key essentials to get started. But that's not all; we have to learn to work with other people if we want our event to be truly successful.
Lesson #3
Delegate Away
Since I was not new to camps, I kind of knew what was needed and what was not. But for most of my key leaders, it was their first time. So, I had to explain what had to be done and how. And doing this took time.
Being a choleric when it comes to work, waiting on work to get done is not really my cup of tea. I did explain some of the works to be done and they did an excellent job at it too.But, trying to gain time by doing it on my own, proved to be costly for me. Not only did it stress me but it also wore me out physically.
In his book, The Next Generation Leader, Andy Stanley writes "Only do what only you can do."
As a leader, there are always a few things that only you can do. You just can't delegate it away. And if we don't learn to focus on those few things and do them, we will often find ourselves winging it and probably even make a mess out of it.
I was the key leader for planning out most of this camp. Besides the fact that I was required to overlook every aspect of the preparations, another thing that was needed was to motivate people to attend. Most of the young people at our church this year were new and a vast majority of them had never been to a camp before. So, not everyone was really excited at the idea of taking three days off to come. One of the best opportunity I had to promote the event was through our church announcements. But because I was so caught up running around and stressed out mentally, I never did sit down and prepare. I often would just go up and talk, totally unprepared. One time, I had made a total mess out of it. I missed out on many things to say! I was supposed to inspire and motivate; later I was just hoping that I didn't de-motivate anyone!
Only do what only you can do so that you are not distracted and bring out the best you can; delegate everything else! What I learnt the hard way was that, time spent on instructing others was not really time wasted but it was time invested and gained!
When we delegate work, what we really do is:
- We free up ourselves of time, energy and effort that can be used to focus on works best done ourselves.
- We not only allow others to get involved in the process but also enable them to accomplish things thereby building and training them up.
Try having a minimum of one person to a team of two or three in charge for a few responsibilities that do come up normally during events.. They essentials ones are:
Registrations, Finances(Accounting), Travel arrangements, Accommodation & food, Sound systems, Accessories (Note pads, pens, badges etc.), Promotions (Advertising the event!), Speaker arrangements (Their travel, food etc.), First Aid (in cases of emergencies), In-event responsibilities (Emcee, Music team, Games etc.)
Lesson #4
Many hands make light work.
Never do anything alone. This is yet another important lesson I learnt and saw right throughout this camp. I made sure that whatever work that I did, I took someone along with me. I also encouraged the others to do the same. That not only helped train the first timers but it also brought us together as a team and resulted in a sense of unity. We were able to build strong bonds. and got to know each other like never before.
It's true that I didn't delegate all of the work but for the work that I did delegate, I saw results which I couldn't have seen had I done it by myself. It's true that if we want to see the best results come out of any project or work we do, we must learn to work with other people as a team.
Mother Teresa, who worked with people her whole life, observed, "I can do what you can't do, and you can do what I can't do; together we can do great things."
There are many things to watch out for while working with other people but it all starts with one thing and that is called 'relationship'. It has to start here. This can make or break the team.
Its true that for most organizations, leaders can bank on things such as money, promotions and other benefits to get people to work together. But this does not hold good in volunteer run organizations. The glue brings people together here is the relationship they share. And yet, this is what so often gets overlooked while working with people. Using leverage on people to work together other than relationships can run for a while but it will never last. The key to hold the team together is to foster a strong relationship within the team players.
People will work with you if they have a good relationship with you.
I encourage you to build strong relational bonds with the people around you. If you are not a relational person, I would suggest you spend sometime around people who are strong relationally and have a firsthand learning experience as you watch them.
We have one more post coming up based on what I learnt @the youth camp. Stay tuned here!
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