Stewardship

 

Once again it started with an exchange on Twitter:

One which led to more than one interesting tangent and, serendipitously, followed hot on the heels of a coaching session with a Board member, relatively recently appointed, where we had moved onto the topic of stewardship.

I was first alerted to the concept in the late 1990s when I was working closely with a leadership development team and was also listening, fascinated, to a new Managing Partner who was the epitome of understated, situationally-appropriate leadership and was talking a great deal about stewardship.

Now that I’ve been coaching leaders for so long, it seems to me that it is, or needs to be, a theme running through the thinking of many leaders, particularly those in charge of an entire business unit, region or company.

My coachee was interested that I put this on their agenda in the period immediately following their appointment but it was a deliberate, considered move.

What is stewardship then?

Adding these quotations will turn this blog into a longer read than I’d envisaged, but I hope they bring the topic to life for you. I certainly find them helpful:

“Steward leadership is having a proactive desire to create a better future for key stakeholders while responsibly balancing the needs of others, society, future generations, and the environment. Steward leaders believe that the only way to create sustainable personal and organizational success is to do so by addressing needs of a wide range of stakeholders.” (Peshawaria, 2020)

“We define ethical stewardship as the honouring of duties owed to employees, stakeholders, and society in the pursuit of long-term wealth creation. Our model of relationship between leadership behaviours, perceptions of trustworthiness, and the nature of ethical stewardship reinforces the importance of ethical governance in dealing with employees and in creating organizational systems that are congruent with espoused organizational values.” (Caldwell, 2007)

“Steward leaders are long-term thinkers. They are willing to forego short-term gains to achieve enduring returns. They also build organizations that make the world a better place for current and future generations.” (Peshawaria, 2020)

 “Stewardship is about fulfilling one’s responsibility in growing the assets entrusted such that they would be handed over to the next generation in better shape. Stewardship is built on internal relationships, both with employees and with customers, suppliers and others. Well stewarded firms have solid foundations, building on these to develop capabilities that make them resilient to crises.” (Cossin, 2018)

 

My headline view

And it is this final quote which is closest to how I see it: the acid test is whether a leader hands a business over to the next generation in a better shape than the position it was in when they inherited it themselves.

On a practical level it is a different way of deciding upon your strategy and desired outcomes. It also raises your sights from too much detail and keeps your eyes fixed firmly on the long-term.

Instead of diving into more detail myself, I’d like to commend this article which says much of what I would like to add: https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/inspiring-stewardship/

 

Your challenge

I will limit myself to three key questions for you, for many leaders:

  1. What are you doing, today, which will ensure that you hand over an “improved” business, even if it was already extremely high-performing, when you move to your next position?

  2. To what extent do your activities every week link to this goal?

  3. What will you be remembered for when the time comes? What is your legacy?

 Let us know if you’d like us to coach you through this and other aspects of leadership.  After all, stewardship may well be about building on previous excellent performance and that’s exactly why our coaching practice exists.

 

References 

Caldwell, C. (2007, March 17). Ethical Stewardship – Implications for Leadership and Trust. Retrieved from springer.com: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-006-9320-1#citeas

Cossin, D. (2018, February). Boards and stewardship. Retrieved from stewardshipinstitute.com: https://www.stewardshipinstitute.com/boards-and-stewardship/

Peshawaria, R. (2020, September 22). Stewardship: The Core Compass Of Real Leaders. Retrieved from forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rajeevpeshawaria/2020/09/22/stewardship-the-core-compass-of-real-leaders/?sh=a2a0058428ac

 

 
Tony Jackson