With every dollar contributed to the organization comes an incredible responsibility of integrity. With every student that is enrolled in our school comes the sobering reality that parents are entrusting us with their most precious possession. With every employee under contract comes the God-given duty to protect and provide for those individuals. Integrity, trust and duty are all words of stewardship.
Stewardship Stewardship Stewardship
A solid definition of stewardship is holding something in trust for another person. Servant leadership assumes, first and foremost, a commitment to serving the needs of others. Thus, Greenleaf (1991) includes stewardship as one of his 10 characteristics of servant leadership. This characteristic brings with it the weights of responsibility, perseverance, diligence, ownership, and accountability.
I love walking by the big glass breezeways at one of our campuses because some of these breezeways face the outside areas where our elementary and junior high students play. I get a kick out of watching them enjoy one another and the activities being provided. The sounds of their laughter are such music to my ears. I see friends playing side by side. I hear shouts of excitement... cheers from teammates....encouragements from the teachers. Occasionally there are disagreements and even tears, then I see loving counsel and intervention from adults as they take advantage of a teachable moment. And as I stand for a few minutes and observe the activity of the students, I am often impressed with the grave responsibility of caring for these young lives. God has charged us with the nurturing of these precious people... the parents have sent them off to school with the confidence that we will look after them as if they were our own children. We must be their parents while they are under our care.
Stewardship Stewardship Stewardship
Our school has recently undergone some serious financial crises. Because of the severity of the financial situation, some of the former leadership wrongly decided to use some designated funds to meet the operational budget of the school. This foolish decision resulted in many stakeholders losing trust in our financial integrity (and rightfully so). The school system has corrected these financial practices and restored all designated money to the proper accounts, but we will be regaining the trust of others for some time to come. Stewardship demands honesty and ethical integrity. Lack of stewardship can destroy a reputation in a moment.
Stewardship is a corporate responsibility as the leadership manages the resources and assets of the organization. Stewardship also reaches throughout the institution as each employee is called to careful stewardship. Stewardship can involve the proper use of materials, using the time on the clock with wisdom and diligence, and being careful to represent the organization in positive ways. Using your emotions to bring optimism to your coworkers... demonstrating support toward your superiors even when the task ahead of you is difficult.... submitting your work on time and with accuracy... all of these reflect an attitude of stewardship. The alignment of stewardship throughout the organization is imperative if an effective culture of ministry is to be obtained. From the CEO to the custodian...from the classroom teacher to the bus driver... from the coach to the principal...every employee is a critical cog in the wheel of stewardship.
Stewardship Stewardship Stewardship
The definition of stewardship is holding something in trust for another person. Ultimately the other person is not the parent, nor the CEO, nor the board of directors, but rather God Himself. He will be the final judge of our faithfulness and integrity. How important it is for my life and effectiveness as a leader to assess my stewardship on a regular basis with the ethical standards of God's word.
Greenleaf, R.K. (1991). The servant as leader Indianapolis, IN; The Robert Greenleaf Center.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Leadership is Foresight - Greenleaf Pt 7
Robert Greenleaf describes servant leadership in terms of ten characteristics. The past six blogs have addressed the first half dozen of Greenleaf's descriptors. Number seven in his list is the concept of Foresight.
Foresight is closely akin to the idea of conceptualization, the subject of my last blog. Foresight results when a leader understands the lessons from the past, obtains reliable insights into the present, and casts solid possibilities into the future. Foresight thinks in abstract channels and is deeply rooted in intuition. Consequently it is most difficult to analyze or codify foresight. Foresight often defies a logical formula or a ten-step process.
The Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913) was officially called the British Antarctic Expedition 1910. T
he expedition was led by Robert Scott embracing the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions reached their goal on January 17, 1912, only to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had beat them to the pole by 33 days. Sadly, because of poor planning and inadequate preparations, Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole. Some of the their bodies, journals, and photographs were discovered by a search party some eight months later. This fascinating story is a great example of foresight (or lack thereof). This tragic race to the South Pole is worthy of investigation into the leadership provided by both Scott and Amundsen. I will leave this subject to your future inquiry.
Because foresight involves the past, present and future, I believe that there are skills that can be developed in all three of these areas that can increase the leader's ability to develop this characteristic. First, let's think about the past. A good leader is a scholar who carefully examines the past. Analyzing the historical trends of one's organization (and one's competitors) can provide significant insights into creative future decisions. Knowing what has been tried, what has worked, and what has bombed allows a leader to see reality in depth of awareness. Observing the attempts of the past can illuminate a different path, previously untraveled. Studying the minds of predecessors can lead innovators to a deeper level of ideation. An effective leader can study the past in order to make wise decisions in the future.
The present is the only time that a leader can make a decision. Past decisions must be lived with, future decisions are only a dream, but the now is the time frame for change. Foresight in the present involves applying wisdom to contemporary life. For the Christian leader, foresight involves a discernment that comes from the Spirit of God. As Paul shares in Galatians 5:25, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." I think that this is present-time foresight... not running ahead of the Spirit, nor lagging behind His pace, but staying in step; staying in tune; staying sensitive to the Spirit's direction.
The future is the context that proves the amount of foresight that a leader truly possesses. A leader can make a bold statement of prediction or confidence; but when action has been taken and results become known, then the foresight can be clearly seen. Following the leader can lead to success, and profit, and fresh air; or it can lead to miscalculations, and loss, and stagnation. When a leader stands and proclaims, "come and follow me," it is the foresight of the leader that validates his/her vision. Scott or Amundsen.... who had the foresight? Who would you want to follow?
Photo of Scott Statue found at
http://homepage.mac.com/lheringer/NewZealand/page17.html
Foresight is closely akin to the idea of conceptualization, the subject of my last blog. Foresight results when a leader understands the lessons from the past, obtains reliable insights into the present, and casts solid possibilities into the future. Foresight thinks in abstract channels and is deeply rooted in intuition. Consequently it is most difficult to analyze or codify foresight. Foresight often defies a logical formula or a ten-step process.
The Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913) was officially called the British Antarctic Expedition 1910. T
he expedition was led by Robert Scott embracing the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions reached their goal on January 17, 1912, only to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had beat them to the pole by 33 days. Sadly, because of poor planning and inadequate preparations, Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole. Some of the their bodies, journals, and photographs were discovered by a search party some eight months later. This fascinating story is a great example of foresight (or lack thereof). This tragic race to the South Pole is worthy of investigation into the leadership provided by both Scott and Amundsen. I will leave this subject to your future inquiry.Because foresight involves the past, present and future, I believe that there are skills that can be developed in all three of these areas that can increase the leader's ability to develop this characteristic. First, let's think about the past. A good leader is a scholar who carefully examines the past. Analyzing the historical trends of one's organization (and one's competitors) can provide significant insights into creative future decisions. Knowing what has been tried, what has worked, and what has bombed allows a leader to see reality in depth of awareness. Observing the attempts of the past can illuminate a different path, previously untraveled. Studying the minds of predecessors can lead innovators to a deeper level of ideation. An effective leader can study the past in order to make wise decisions in the future.
The present is the only time that a leader can make a decision. Past decisions must be lived with, future decisions are only a dream, but the now is the time frame for change. Foresight in the present involves applying wisdom to contemporary life. For the Christian leader, foresight involves a discernment that comes from the Spirit of God. As Paul shares in Galatians 5:25, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." I think that this is present-time foresight... not running ahead of the Spirit, nor lagging behind His pace, but staying in step; staying in tune; staying sensitive to the Spirit's direction.
The future is the context that proves the amount of foresight that a leader truly possesses. A leader can make a bold statement of prediction or confidence; but when action has been taken and results become known, then the foresight can be clearly seen. Following the leader can lead to success, and profit, and fresh air; or it can lead to miscalculations, and loss, and stagnation. When a leader stands and proclaims, "come and follow me," it is the foresight of the leader that validates his/her vision. Scott or Amundsen.... who had the foresight? Who would you want to follow?
Photo of Scott Statue found at
http://homepage.mac.com/lheringer/NewZealand/page17.html
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