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Stewardship can be defined as the work of leading and caring for an organization and those it serves. But what is stewardship, and how does it relate to ownership?
MLA understands stewardship and ownership. We can help you develop both in the organization you lead. We use a process called Business Redeemed to guide you through answering the key questions that will help your business fulfill its promise.
Every organization makes a promise to improve the lives of those it serves. Responsibility for fulfilling that promise is a burden that rests on business owners. That burden cannot be delegated, but it can be shared. How that burden rests in your organization defines the difference between stewardship and ownership.
Stewardship is part of ownership, but not every owner is a steward.
Being an owner means you are in the role of a steward. By virtue of being an owner, you do lead and care for an organization. But stewardship includes an additional concern. That concern is understanding you care for that organization on behalf of others.
Caring for something on behalf of someone else may sound contradictory to the concept of ownership. But that tension is at the heart of stewardship. Managing that tension well requires a bigger perspective than just what happens inside your organization.
Every company, no matter how big or small, fits within a larger, created order. Where your company fits has implications for how your actions and decisions will affect others.
This is true in how we compete with those who offer the same goods and services as we do. Healthy competition creates respect and even cooperation. And during times of upheaval, those relationships can even produce collaboration.
But understanding your fit in the created order also influences our employees and their families, communities, churches, and other organizations where they are involved.
So how do you take those relationships into account when you make decisions or take actions inside your company?
At MLA, we see ourselves as stewards and are committed to helping business owners grow in their stewardship. We call our approach Business Redeemed.
Interested in knowing how Business Redeemed can help you? Contact us to learn more.