Stewardship.

If you've ever been in a public bathroom (kind of a rhetorical 'if', but who knows), you likely understand the importance of stewardship whether you realize it or not. Stewardship is, in my opinion, a role of leadership that often goes unnoticed when done well and sticks out like a sore thumb when done poorly. We tend to be good stewards of our own belongings because they reflect our outward image - but what about when it comes to stewarding in the business world?

A terrible mistake that many managers, specifically middle managers, make is neglecting ownership of their designated area. It isn't uncommon to see them fall into the, "Good Enough" trap where standards continue to slowly drop over time. Before long, the standard is that as long as someone isn't passed out or dead on the floor, then everything must be okay! The public bathroom is a great example of this, as well as the truth of good stewardship going unnoticed and bad stewardship being apparent. It's not often that we walk into a bathroom and come out going, "Wow! That bathroom was so clean. This place is great!" Unless of course you're in the Buchanan family, we do that quite often. But if I'm with friends and say that they always look at me like I'm crazy, like who in their right mind pays attention to the bathroom? Well, those same friends have a lot to say when we make a stop with a filthy restroom.

In my opinion if you want to know how well a business/organization stewards their belongings, just take a good look at their bathrooms. It sounds silly, but it's so true. I have yet to see a dirty establishment with a clean bathroom, I've seen a few seemingly clean places that then have horrendous bathrooms (So everything else should be clean, but as long as the toilet flushes it's good enough? Where else are you slacking off? If it's a restaurant, hopefully not where the food is being made.) And then I've seen clean establishments with clean bathrooms (Wow, these people really don't cut corners!)

I think the reason this example works so well is because one, bathrooms tend to get overlooked, and two, they are the least fun thing to steward. If the time is being taken to offer an over the top clean bathroom, then there is a really good chance that everything else with priority over the bathroom is being done to an even higher standard.

Being a good steward is important mainly because it keeps people around, but it's also cost efficient. Taking care of things saves a lot of money in the long run. Again the bathroom example, it costs labor, soap, water, and disinfectant to clean a bathroom every night. Compared to ignoring bathrooms and having standing water, growing mold, broken toilets, obstructed plumbing, the list goes on and on, you might as well be looking at a full bathroom remodel. Whether that damage takes one year or five to occur, anyone with a money management brain cell knows that it'd be better to pay the $20/day in materials as opposed to a $10,000 remodel being due at one time. Not to mention the customers a storefront will lose by having a disgusting bathroom.

Moral of the story is that stewarding your business well is important. Whether you manage the entire establishment, a section of it, or are just managing equipment without a storefront, be a good steward. People may not notice your cleanliness, but they will certainly notice the lack of it if you don't make it a priority.