It is easy as a leader to forget that being a leader is both a privilege and a responsibility.
Webster defines Stewardship as “the activity or job of protecting and being responsible for something”. When you are a leader, you have a stewardship that you have been given.
You have a duty of care on multiple levels.
You must care for the PEOPLE that you lead, the THINGS that are under your care, and the NEEDS of the larger organization that you are a part of as well. These are the measurements that define your leadership. What does that look like?
For me, it means that I have to constantly remind myself that I need to speak into the lives of the people that I lead – first by getting to know them, understanding who they are, and what makes them “tick”. Then I have a responsibility to lead them in a way that modifies my leadership based on what I have learned.
With regard to the things under my stewardship, I have to role model for others the care that I want to see in them. I cannot ignore the responsibility that I have to leave things better than I find them as I lead.
And for the good of the organization, I must act in favor of the greater organization by knowing and understanding the needs, and casting a vision to meet those needs. Then, I have to go work to help do whatever I can to facilitate and lift things to the next level.
