3 Ways to ACE Stewardship
Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash
by Pete Kelly
When I was 12 years old, I got my first job as a delivery boy for the local newspaper. Each morning I woke early before school to walk the two mile route, placing newspapers on customers’ steps. And at the end of each month, I retraced the route in the evenings to collect payments. But the money I received wasn’t necessarily mine to keep. The first portion always went to the company to cover their costs, and I got to keep whatever was left over.
Although I called it “my paper route,” in truth, it wasn’t really mine. Yes, I was responsible for the customers and resources assigned to me, but they ultimately belonged to another. I served at the newspaper’s discretion. If I was irresponsible or lazy, the company could always give my route to another willing candidate.
That experience helped shape my understanding of biblical stewardship: managing the property or affairs of another. In truth, everything I have is ultimately a gift from God, entrusted to my care for however long he sees fit. I am not the owner. He is. I am simply a steward. And my goal is to be the best steward possible.
As CEO of Apartment Life, I begin each day with this prayer:
God, this is your organization, not mine. If you want to grow it, please grow it. If you want to prune it, it’s yours to prune. Only let me be faithful with everyone and everything you have entrusted to me: every client, every employee, every board member, every dollar. Everything I have is yours.
Each time I pray this, I’m reminded of the parable Jesus told about a ruler who entrusted his servants with various amounts of money. When they were faithful with the little they had been given, the master entrusted them with even more. I believe this is how God would want us to steward the organizations we lead. If we do an excellent job caring for our clients, we will naturally earn more business. If we do an amazing job caring for our employees, we will never lack for talent. Our job is simple... be the best stewards possible.
But what does excellent stewardship practically look like? At Apartment Life, we define it with the acronym ACE, which stands for: Attitude, Communication, and Experience.
Attitude: Excellent stewardship begins with our attitudes. In his book Shine, author Kris Den Besten tells the story of the most remarkable busboy he had ever seen. The server worked with such focus, precision and enthusiasm that the entire restaurant applauded each time he finished clearing a table. The author was so impressed by this young man’s attitude he had a hard time sleeping that night, wondering if anyone would ever applaud him for that same kind of work ethic.
Of course, it’s nice when people appreciate our hard work; however, for me an even bigger test of attitude is how I handle negative feedback, especially when it comes from someone inside the organization. It’s one thing to bear patiently with an unhappy client. After all, they are paying me. It’s entirely different when it comes from an employee whom I am paying.
Yet if I want my frontline staff to serve clients with an excellent attitude, that culture starts with me. If I want them to be cheerful, grateful and gracious, even when people are negative, I need to lead by example. And the purest source of motivation comes from God himself, as I experience his cheerful grace despite my ingratitude. As the apostle Paul put it, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph 4:32).
Communication: Excellent stewardship also requires strong communication. In my experience, a great attitude tends to naturally come out in face-to-face and phone conversations. It radiates from our countenance and tone of voice. But written communication is much more challenging.
At Apartment Life we emphasize four attributes of excellent communication, especially in email:
Warm - (It uses positive, affirming language).
Personal - (It shows a genuine interest in the other person).
Proactive - (It anticipates questions or concerns of the other person).
Timely - (It responds the same day, whenever possible).
For me, the trickiest part is maintaining all four consistently. I tend to be pretty timely, but not always proactive. I could be better at anticipating others’ needs. That’s one of the things I like so much about Amazon. Whenever a shipment is delayed, Amazon anticipates that concern and proactively communicates. Granted, they aren’t warm, personal emails. (They are computer-generated, I assume.) But they certainly are proactive and timely.
Experience: That third ingredient of excellent stewardship is experience. That is, deliver exactly what we promise, and if possible, go the extra mile. This is something for which the Ritz Carlton is famous. In his book, The New Gold Standard, Joseph Michelli shares how Ritz Carlton employees go out of their way to create a legendary customer experience. One of my favorite stories comes from a hand-written letter from a Ritz Carlton guest:
One of your employees and I got on an elevator in your building. I pushed the sixth-floor button and he pushed none. Instead of getting off with me on the sixth floor, your employee simply said, “Have a nice day.” Upon exiting the elevator I asked, “Where are you going? Aren’t you getting off here?” Your employee replied, “No, I’m going back down to the fifth floor.”
The guest went on to ask, “How do you find people who are so invested in placing the needs of their guest above their own?” While the Ritz Carlton employee only went one extra floor to serve the guest, it might as well have been a mile.
Stories like that inspire, and yet it’s helpful to remember that before you can go the second mile, you have to go the first. That means providing quality basic service. Even companies like the Ritz have to deliver the basics, by making sure the rooms are clean and ready on time.
Bringing it all together
Imagine the impact if every Christian led enterprise embraced these three aspects of stewardship:
Attitude - If we were cheerful, grateful, gracious, even when people were negative.
Communication - If we were warm, personal, proactive, and timely.
Experience - If we delivered on our promises, and whenever possible, went the extra mile.
How would our culture respond? How might the perception of Christians change? What would be the long-term impact for the gospel? Imagine the honor it would bring to the Rightful Owner we serve.