"STEWARDSHIP IS A SUPREME QUALITY OF LEADERS"

Stewards are institutional leaders. They act as responsible caretakers for organizations, large and small, which seek to improve and expand. ... These qualities are invaluable when building a rich organizational culture.

Stewards are institutional leaders. They act as responsible caretakers for organizations, large and small, which seek to improve and expand. For stewards, the pressures of short-term performance, financial or otherwise, threaten to compromise long-term goals, and the challenge for institutional stewards is to navigate these external pressures. Faced with competing responsibilities, stewards must remain committed to their organization’s long-term mission through short-term strategies that stay faithful to the organization’s core values.

It is our belief that stewards should focus their energy on constructing an internal environment that empowers others and aligns with the ethics of employees, ultimately providing a durable framework for decision-making. This internal environment is an organization’s “culture,” which is governed by a set of standards that outlines both the institutional mission and acceptable means by which to realize that mission. Despite the diversity of the types of organizations around the world, we believe that there are certain qualities of stewardship, in particular, long-term foresight, effective listening, humility, and trust that are universally applicable. These qualities are invaluable when building a rich organizational culture.

True stewards are often lost to history, but the accomplishments they create through institutional cohesion are endless. For example, history will remember that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, but not many people know the name George Mueller. With President Kennedy’s promise to send a man to the moon, Mueller was put in charge of NASA to win the space race. Through selfless service and a commitment to excellence, Mueller focused his efforts on enhancing the internal workings of NASA. Importantly, Mueller drafted a set of organizational values that represented a consensus among employees. He saw himself as a servant, participating intimately in different departments and acting as an intermediary that integrated and reconciled varying perspectives. In short, Mueller fostered trust within all levels of his organization and prioritized the organizational mission above his individual goals and needs. In doing so, he left a legacy of collective buy-in to a common goal.

George Mueller operated in an environment in which the values he introduced represented a broad national consensus. Americans wanted to win the space race, and therefore the leadership challenges he faced were structural in nature. But we also wish to consider an example in which society itself has contradictory values, where an institutional leader must reconcile challenges relating to that organization’s purpose. For instance, employees may have drastically different backgrounds or governments might have varying standards. For example, in many parts of the world, child labor and harsh working conditions are unfortunate consequences of modernization, which often go against the expressed ethical values of organizations that work in these contexts. International organizations are often pressured to neglect these incongruities, in order to prioritize financial considerations. However, institutions that have strong organizational culture are uniquely equipped to handle these pressures, retaining ethical values and a sound mission. A steward that clearly identifies and embodies a set of defined values encourages and empowers his/her employees to act in accordance with the organizational culture. This culture creates a firm setting in which responsible decisions can be made that benefit the organization without compromising moral standards. Within this framework the steward must be both courageous and accountable.

Our formula for stewardship is based upon two components: structure and purpose. Through the creation of a robust internal culture, a steward can ensure the organization is both structurally competent and purposefully strong. Institutional leadership is time-delineated; a successful steward can leave his or her post at any time knowing that the mission remains intact.. As such, a steward’s legacy is not personal, but collective. The steward creates a system of enduring values, and then empowers others to perpetuate them.

Finally, we believe that by creating a culture of stewardship, a successful organizational leader can empower everyone in an organization to be both a leader and a steward, regardless of their position in an organizational hierarchy. Thus, leadership through stewardship should be a fundamental aspect of not just successful organizations, but of our shared culture as citizens of this 21st century global society

Stewardship refers to the responsibility that companies have to understand and manage their impacts on the environment in any number of ways. Practicing stewardship can help a business find sustainable practices, improve its reputation among consumers and even save money.

that good stewardship allows any organization to continually develop and adjust to an ever-changing world. At its most basic level, stewardship is acting upon the understanding that leadership is a temporary role which is outlasted by the lifespan of an organization. A leader is performing the act of stewardship whenever he or she is actively preparing for an organization’s future vitality. This act of stewardship takes form at different organizational levels.At an individual level, stewardship focuses on promoting well-being for each person within an organization. One of the many ways to promote this well being is to ensure that each individual is generally happy in his or her working environment. A student from our group provided a simple but impactful example of an act of stewardship which had this individual-level focus. She and her classmates developed a social initiative to make their campus a happier place. They dispatched club members to go open doors for students as they entered major buildings around campus.

After piloting this initiative at various locations, they discovered that their dedicated focus on individuals had a profound effect. Within a few days they could already notice that people on campus were generally happier than before. Those student leaders viewed themselves as stewards of their university. They recognized the brevity of their time as university students, and took seriously the positive impact their actions could have upon individuals around them. However, preparing for the prolonged vitality of an organization does begin with a focus on individuals, but leaders should continue their stewardship approach by taking action at the team level.

Leaders are stewards at the team level whenever they work to ensure individuals within the organization interact well with each other. A great example of team stewardship comes from the experience of the Swiss group member who had done peacekeeping tours in Kosovo. Early on during one tour he noticed his team was losing motivation. Personality conflicts also arose amongst the team. In order for the team to succeed, it was important that this lack of motivation and the team conflicts did not translate to their interaction with the local population. So managing the interaction between individuals was key. For our Swiss group member, this involved setting agreed-upon codes of conduct, periodically explaining the “why” of their missions, and ensuring equal working hours. These actions improved team effectiveness and avoided future misunderstandings. Stewardship begins with ensuring individual well-being, transitions into a focus on team effectiveness, and ultimately leads to a need for institutional-level considerations.

In an increasingly globalized world, stewardship at the institutional level involves ensuring that organizational values and missions remain appropriate. The more involved organizations become with different cultures, the more responsible they become for all kinds of people. The key to success is to become a globally conscious steward—a steward of the vision you were entrusted with; of the livelihoods of those in your organization; and now, of the welfare of the global community. This suggests a need for a culturally competent set of organizational values that is adjusted to the globalizing world. Implementing them as an institution throughout their organization is the final challenge which becomes easier if teams and individuals are working well within the organization.

The act of stewardship by leaders in an organization can be invaluable. Truly, achieving relevance and in a globalizing world, ensuring that individuals work well in effective teams, and establishing environments where individuals can improve their sense of well-being are all good acts of stewardship. To the eight of us in that room at West Point, it seemed that effective leadership always involved some level of stewardship. In our reflections we agreed that acts of stewardship are often a requirement for great leadership.

Stewardship of a vision of learning:

What are Best Practices?

A “Best Practice” is a program or practice with specific outcomes that has been clearly defined, refined, and evaluated through repeated delivery and supported by a substantial body of research. These practices represent the best knowledge available for use under specified circumstances. It’s important to note that best practices may change over time. They are recommendations based on what has been observed or documented to be effective to date, but which may change given additional experience, evaluation, and research.

For natural resources management agencies and organizations trying to educate people about conservation, the use of best educational practices is simply a matter of applying tested, science-based practices to educational efforts, the same way biologists apply science to the management of fish, wildlife and other natural resources.

Best practices are process-oriented.

Best practices do not suggest what content you teach; but rather how you plan it, approach it, teach it, and evaluate it. Therefore, all the recommendations in this Planning Guide are applicable to nearly every sector within conservation education.

Best practices are meant to enhance, not replace, existing efforts. The best practices in this. Measuring effectiveness can be difficult; however, to be accountable for their programs, educators need to use appropriate evaluation tools and methods to measure intended outcomes. Furthermore, programs need to be designed and evaluated based on the best information research and practical experience has to offer.

BEST PRACTICES FOR STEWARDSHIP IN EDUCATION

• Have organizational mission, strategic vision, education program goals, and instructional objectives aligned with one another.
• Address each stage of a participant’s progression from entry-level to ownership, to empowerment, and then to environmentally responsible behavior.
• Consider the role that ethical principles and reasoning can play in supporting stewardship.
  
• Provide opportunities for individuals to have positive and repeated contact with the outdoors over a long period of time.
• Match the developmental stages of the learner.
  
• Consider the social context in which the education takes place and provide avenues to enhance social support for learners.
• Help learners consider all aspects of the natural resource issue of interest (including historical, social, scientific, political, ecological and economic) with a systems-based approach.
• Encourage long-term stewardship behavior.
  
• Structure effective curricula to give learners a well thought-out and data-supported sequence of stewardship opportunities.
• Evaluate all aspects of the stewardship education program to determine what is working and where improvement is needed.

Best Practice: Effective programs have organizational mission, strategic vision, education program goals, and instructional objectives aligned with one another to reflect stewardship education

There may not be anything you can do that will have a greater impact on your program’s chances for success than to identify your mission, vision, goals, and specific objectives regarding stewardship. If you don’t know why your organization or program exists, any parameters can define you, and if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. Think strategically to identify why your program exists, what sets you apart from similar organizations, what you want your program to accomplish, and get agreement from the others who will help you implement a plan to achieve it.

The mission statement is a broad, philosophical statement about what the program hopes to contribute. It provides overall guidance for program goals and objectives. It answers the questions: Why is this program in existence?

What is it trying to do?

The vision statement paints a picture of where you want to be. It is clarifying and often inspirational. Goals help define how the program will help achieve the mission. Goals explain why you are using a particular program or approach.

Objectives spell out what, specifically, you want to accomplish. Objectives should be measurable, and generally—though not always—are set up on a relatively short time frame “As a result of this program, participants will be able to ______.”

Sometimes, the differences between missions, goals, and objectives can get fuzzy, especially when you’re working in partnership with other organizations. Also, goals and objectives may overlap. Regardless of what you call the various levels, it is critical to ask the questions:

“Why are we doing this program?” and “What do we want to accomplish with this program?” If you have not completed a strategic plan or a goal-setting process, you should start there.

Without some understanding about the living and nonliving components of the environment and how they influence one another, individuals most likely will not progress to the ownership stage. For example, when people learn about the source of their drinking water, especially a local river or lake, they are more likely to take interest in what happens to that body of water. Building awareness, relevance and meaningful threshold experiences will provide a good foundation toward the next stage, developing a sense of ownership.

Ownership Level

A sense of ownership occurs when individuals and groups personalize environmental problems and issues, and thus take ownership of them. These characteristics include a personal connection with one or more natural areas, an in-depth understanding of the issues, and personal investment in and identification with an issue.

Individuals and groups who develop knowledge and apply skills, investing their own time, energy, and resources in addressing a particular problem or issue, often develop a sense of ownership for that problem or issue. Research indicates that when people directly experience the destruction of natural areas with which they are intimately familiar, they develop a sense of ownership for those areas. A sense of ownership is a motivator to move on to the next stage, empowerment.

Empowerment Level

Empowerment experiences give people a sense that they can make changes and help resolve important environmental issues. Empowerment characteristics. Progression toward environmentally responsible (stewardship) behavior.

Stewardship Empowerment Level:

Citizenship / Service Ownership Level:

Knowledge and Skills Entry Level:

Awareness / Interest / Appreciation Family

Social, cultural, peers include perceived skill in using environmental action strategies and skills, knowledge of action strategies, an internal locus of control, the intention to act, and an assumption of personal responsibility. To accomplish empowerment, programs should help participants develop guidelines and foster internal motivations for responsible behavior toward other people and the natural world.

Given enough time and experience in the empowerment level, people truly becomes stewards. They internalize stewardship—it becomes a part of them. Stewardship behavior results from a long-term process of learning through a series of developmental stages. It calls for a series of complementary education efforts and usually works best when learning takes place in a combination of formal and non-formal learning environments.

The Entry-level is the bottom of the pyramid in. At this stage, learners are exposed to new themes, concepts, and activities in a positive way, consistent with the mission of the organization. The focus is on giving participants a “gee-whiz” experience that engages them and makes them want more. Program activities that characterize this stage include exhibits/ demonstrations at fairs, TV shows, park visits and exhibits, school presentations, etc. Entry-level experiences should lead participants to learn more about end acquire skills regarding the activity—as participants take some ownership in the issue, they move a step closer to the top of the pyramid. Examples of ownership-level opportunities include: park day camps; Becoming an Outdoors Woman; hunter education; boater education; fishing clinics; some Project WILD activities; etc.

Developmental Stages of Children

Following is a generalized overview of developmental stages children go through from kindergarten through +high school. Children develop at their own pace and all characteristics will not be observed in all children at the same age or same stage of development; however, the order of the stages does not change much. But it is important to remember that each child is unique.

Kindergarten-Grade 3.

Five- to nine-year old are optimistic, eager and excited about learning. They have short attention spans. Five-year-old can sit still and listen for 10-15 minutes; nine-year-old for 20-30 minutes. They still think and learn primarily by experience. Rather than simply giving instructions verbally, demonstrate the activity. They enjoy doing, want to be active and are always in motion. They are more interested in working on a project than completing it. Children this age need rules to guide their behavior, information to make good choices and decisions, and consistency once the rule is established. Provide small group activities and lots of opportunity for them to be active.

Grades 4-6.

This is a period of slowed physical growth when a lot of energy goes into learning. Children 10-12 years old love to learn facts, especially unique ones, and they want to know how things work and what sources of information are available to them. They still think in terms of concrete objects and handle ideas better if they are related to something they can do or experience with their sens es. They are beginning to move toward understanding abstract ideas. They still look to adults for approval and need guidance to stay on task and to achieve their best performance. They often are surprised at what they can accomplish, especially with encouragement from an adult.

Grades 7-9.

Youth 13-15 years of age are in a period characterized by much “storm and stress.” Although they look older, most remain emotionally and intellectually immature. Young teens move from concrete to more abstract thinking. They can be very self-conscious, and a smaller group usually is less intimidating. Help them get over inferiority complexes by concentrating on developing skills. They are ready for in-depth, longer learning experiences. They can begin to deal with abstractions and the future. “Fitting in” with friends is a controlling influence.

Grades 10-12.

High school students are future-oriented and can engage in abstract thinking. Teenagers continue to be group-oriented, and belonging to the group motivates much of their behavior and actions. They have more time constraints such as work, social ties or sports interests. They want to help plan their own programs. Involve them in the planning process. Use the discussion method when working with them. Instead of providing detailed instructions for how to put something together, provide suggestions and several alternatives.

Adult Learning Styles

Adults vary tremendously in how they acquire knowledge, and no single theory on adult learning styles can adequately address the diversity of each learner. However, a synthesis of the research findings on adult learning is illustrated in the following:

Structure of Learning Experiences

1.Adults prefer flexible schedules that respond to their own time constraints.

2.Adults learn better when learning is individualized.

3.Adults prefer face-to-face learning rather than through the use of video or audio tools.

4.Adults benefit from interactions with others who differ in age, level of experience, and professional preparation.

Learning Climate

1.Adults seem to learn better in an atmosphere of mutual helpfulness and peer support.

2.Since adult learners are reluctant to take risks, the climate should be characterized by a sense of trust and acceptance.

3.Adults appreciate the invitation to express their views and are open to the views of others.

4.Adults bring clear expectations to the learning environment and expect instructors to accommodate these expectations.

Focus of Learning

1.Since adult learners are often focused on problem-solving or immediate application of their learning, they derive the greatest benefit from instructional methods that assist them in processing their experience through reflection, analysis, and critical examination.

2. Adult learners value teaching methods that increase their autonomy.

3.Adult learners are motivated by practical, how-to learning

Stewardship programs are most effective in reaching behavioral goals if they incorporate parents, family, and neighborhoods as part of the learning community. Participants also can be given guidance on how to involve family and other peers in stewardship behavior.

One of the premier illustrations for this technique is David Sobel’s book, Place-based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. The book offers research and practical examples of how schools and communities have incorporated the environment to facilitate learning, strengthen communities, and foster an appreciation for the natural world and a commitment to citizenship engagement (www.orionsociety.org).

The influence of the social context also may explain why the most effective service learning projects for schools are those that share information with the community (storm drain stenciling, flyers about control of exotic species, posters about how to recognize harmful situations, etc.).

We all agreed that good stewardship allows any organization to continually develop and adjust to an ever-changing world. At its most basic level, stewardship is acting upon the understanding that leadership is a temporary role which is outlasted by the lifespan of an organization. A leader is performing the act of stewardship whenever he or she is actively preparing for an organization’s future vitality. This act of stewardship takes form at different organizational levels.At an individual level, stewardship focuses on promoting well-being for each person within an organization. One of the many ways to promote this well being is to ensure that each individual is generally happy in his or her working environment. A student from our group provided a simple but impactful example of an act of stewardship which had this individual-level focus. She and her classmates developed a social initiative to make their campus a happier place. They dispatched club members to go open doors for students as they entered major buildings around campus. After piloting this initiative at various locations, they discovered that their dedicated focus on individuals had a profound effect. Within a few days they could already notice that people on campus were generally happier than before. Those student leaders viewed themselves as stewards of their university. They recognized the brevity of their time as university students, and took seriously the positive impact their actions could have upon individuals around them. However, preparing for the prolonged vitality of an organization does begin with a focus on individuals, but leaders should continue their stewardship approach by taking action at the team level.

Leaders are stewards at the team level whenever they work to ensure individuals within the organization interact well with each other. A great example of team stewardship comes from the experience of the Swiss group member who had done peacekeeping tours in Kosovo. Early on during one tour he noticed his team was losing motivation. Personality conflicts also arose amongst the team. In order for the team to succeed, it was important that this lack of motivation and the team conflicts did not translate to their interaction with the local population. So managing the interaction between individuals was key. For our Swiss group member, this involved setting agreed-upon codes of conduct, periodically explaining the “why” of their missions, and ensuring equal working hours. These actions improved team effectiveness and avoided future misunderstandings. Stewardship begins with ensuring individual well-being, transitions into a focus on team effectiveness, and ultimately leads to a need for institutional-level considerations.

In an increasingly globalized world, stewardship at the institutional level involves ensuring that organizational values and missions remain appropriate. The more involved organizations become with different cultures, the more responsible they become for all kinds of people. The key to success is to become a globally conscious steward—a steward of the vision you were entrusted with; of the livelihoods of those in your organization; and now, of the welfare of the global community. This suggests a need for a culturally competent set of organizational values that is adjusted to the globalizing world. Implementing them as an institution throughout their organization is the final challenge which becomes easier if teams and individuals are working well within the organization.

The act of stewardship by leaders in an organization can be invaluable. Truly, achieving relevance and in a globalizing world, ensuring that individuals work well in effective teams, and establishing environments where individuals can improve their sense of well-being are all good acts of stewardship. To the eight of us in that room at West Point, it seemed that effective leadership always involved some level of stewardship. In our reflections we agreed that acts of stewardship are often a requirement for great leadership.

Living as good stewards of God's gifts will satisfy the deepest, strongest longings of your heart. It will fill you with joy, happiness, satisfaction. Stewards know the meaning of life -- and make real sacrifices to make the world a better place -- making their own lives better in the process. Please make a commitment to take a step to better stewardship today...and post your reflections!!!!