Nehemiah - How One Man Made A Difference - Part 3

"Many hands make for light work."

Have you ever tried to tackle a big task all by yourself? How successful are you when you are left to do all the work yourself?

I've been watching the baseball playoffs so I will use them as my visual example.

Imagine the New York Yankees take the field against the Philadelphia Phillie's. However, today the warm up tosses around the bases don't look quite the same as normal because let's pretend that today the Yankees are a one man team. The Philly batter stands at the plate and the only person in the infield AND the outfield is Andy Pettitte. Andy, even on steroids, is not going to be able to pitch, catch, field, and bat his team to a victory all by himself.

I know this sounds like a ridiculous example because baseball does understands the concept of teamwork. By splitting up the infield and outfield into manned areas they are able to cover a lot of ground.

Nehemiah introduces this concept in Chapter 3. He divides up the work into smaller sections assigning a group of people to each section. Everyone from the High Priest, to the goldsmiths, to the perfume makers, to the local rulers, and just plain ordinary folk are each assigned a section of the wall to work on. Everyone can help. Some more than others but everyone is expected to contribute.

Nehemiah also understands that assigning portions of the wall to people who actually live in the specific area, generates a personal sense of responsibility because it directly affects their own security.

The people do not get too tired, too overwhelmed, or too frustrated at a lack of progress because the chunk of work is small enough to be able to see an impact being made. They can see the wall getting higher and higher everyday. Whereas, too big of a section, although lengthwise might be making progress, it wouldn't seem like it to the people unless the wall was actually getting higher, too.

When I worked in manufacturing, a phrase was used a lot in our improvement projects, "A mile deep is better than a mile wide". It was meant to keep us focused on making a lasting, immediate impact in one area instead of trying to tackle more than we had the resources to at the moment. Nehemiah is thinking the same thing. Let each group make a lasting, immediate impact in a small section of the wall building it all the way up, instead of expecting the entire first layer all the way around the city to be layed before moving on to the next layer.

So, the next time I have to tackle Spring/Fall cleaning, a party to prepare for, or even grocery shopping, I would be wise to implement Nehemiah's concept of many hands/ little tasks = big results. Even our two year old can help.

Be a visionary leader today by delegating and creating a sense of teamwork!