🌊 Part 3 - The What: Purpose, Architect & Coach

We’ve already written two blog posts together: the Manifesto, and a first exploration of What People Say Stewardship Is - shaped through your voices and reflections. Now it’s time to go deeper.

One of my favourite quotes comes from Rudyard Kipling, who wrote about his “six honest serving-men” - What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who. These steward framings, as I call them, have helped me steward teams, organisations, and new ventures for years, and I’ve seen them bring clarity to nearly every leader I’ve coached. They sit at the heart of transformation.

In this post, we hone in on three core components of stewardship - the first of Rudyard’s steward framings: “What”, which guides how we act, build systems, and hold responsibility. Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue this series, exploring each component in depth.

The What of Stewardship is made up of three components: Purpose, Architect, and Coach.

🌊 Purpose - The Current That Carries

A current runs deeper than surface waves. It shapes where the ocean flows, even when unseen. Purpose is that current - giving meaning and direction to effort, carrying people further than they could swim alone.

I think of a client who rewrote their mission statement not for investors, but with frontline staff. The language wasn’t polished - but it carried everyone with it.

Voice from others:
Neil Thomas OBE shared recently that “it’s hard for the neurodiverse in a world where cover letters, cvs, sifts and scored interviews are still king” as part of a wider discussion on dyslexia in business, in life and in public service. That’s having a sense of purpose and when applied to a context or any place - it can’t help buts ‘shift the dial’ - for a better place and planet.

Science & psychology:

• Purpose buffers stress and sustains resilience. Viktor Frankl observed that finding meaning helps people endure extreme challenges (Man’s Search for Meaning, 1946: PMC).

• Psychologist Roy Baumeister emphasises that purpose is essential for resilience, as it directs action towards meaningful ends (Baumeister).

• Research in the Harvard Business Review shows that organisations with strong, purpose-driven cultures outperform those focusing solely on short-term results (HBR).

When performance is coupled with purpose, we steward not only the organisation (Place), but also our people and planet - a virtuous circle for today, tomorrow, and the future.

➡️ What current carries your organisation forward - and is it strong enough to hold in storm?

🧱 Architect - The Reef That Holds

A coral reef does not appear by chance. It is built slowly, layer by layer, providing shelter, structure, and resilience. The steward as architect does the same - shaping cultures and systems that sustain life, growth, and fairness.

I’ve seen this in teams that create space to revisit how they meet and decide - not just what they deliver. Over time, those cultural reefs protect against burnout and silos.

Voice from others:
Stacey Crump recently added to one of our posts that “…stewardship (could) be embedded into a culture design canvas? These are guiding lights that need maintenance and focus.” . The recognition that as in any great development, landscape or building, there are foundational structures, beams and principles of construction. No two building have to be the same; indeed it would be foolhardy and reckless to do so - but good design, is good design.

Systems research:

• Healthy organisations aren’t stumbled into - they are intentionally built. Learning organisations expand capacity, nurture new thinking, and adapt to change (Senge, The Fifth Discipline, 1990: Wikipedia).

• Resilient organisations thrive through flexible structures, balancing autonomy and coordination rather than relying on rigid hierarchies. Adaptive systems allow teams to respond quickly, innovate, and sustain performance over time (MIT Sloan, 2020: MIT Sloan).

In order to achieve anything meaningful, we must intentionally build it - in line with the purpose we are building towards. When good people do that, it saves lives and sustains our ecosystems.

➡️ Are you tending your reef - or patching holes in a crumbling structure?

🌊 Coach - The Tide That Renews

The tide brings nutrients, clears debris, and makes renewal possible. Coaching is stewardship’s tide - enabling growth, creating space for others to rise, and refreshing what has grown stagnant.

I remember a CEO who stopped giving answers in exec meetings and started asking questions instead. It slowed decisions at first, but within months, the whole team was stronger.

Voice from others:
Esther Patrick shared as part of our ‘what stewardship means to you’ blog that stewardship is about creating “Self-awareness and choice - recognising fears, insecurities, and old scripts so we can make better choices.”. That’s coaching; empowering people, place and planet to lean in rather than lean out.

Neuroscience & psychology:

• Growth is stimulated when people are stretched just beyond their comfort zone (Dweck, 2006: Growth Mindset).

• Leaders who adopt a coaching approach drive higher engagement and innovation compared with directive leadership (ICF, 2019: ICF Global).

Our world, our politicians, and our communities need innovation - which aligns with our values and a thriving planet. What we face is new and requires people who can take the old and the new to deliver something that balances needs, wants, People, Place, and Planet.

➡️ Are you hoarding the tide - or letting it lift others too?

Why This Triad Matters

• Purpose sustains resilience.

• Architecture sustains adaptability.

• Coaching sustains capacity.

Together, they ensure stewardship is not just about one leader’s actions, but about systems, cultures, and people who can thrive long after that leader is gone. Without them, stewardship risks becoming drift. With them, it becomes a living system.

The Core of Stewardship

Stewardship is holding past, present, and future in one hand, and people, place, and planet in the other.

• People means both the individual and the collective - from self and relationships to community and humanity.

• Place is the context we inhabit and shape - whether that’s our workplace, home, neighbourhood, or land.

• Planet is the living whole we all depend on - the ecosystems and shared future that stretch beyond us.

This is what makes stewardship more than leadership: it is responsibility held with conscience, across time and across the systems that sustain life.

The Rallying Cry

Purpose, Architect, and Coach are not management tools. They are the living currents, reefs, and tides of stewardship.

👉 Which of these three shows up strongest in your leadership?
👉 Which one is most neglected in your organisation?

Stewardship is not abstract. It is lived, built, and shared. Systems only change when we build them together.

Without stewards to hold both time and system, leadership drifts. With them, we rise.

Looking Ahead

Next time, we’ll explore the Why of Stewardship - the deeper purpose and the three core values that anchor our choices, guide our actions, and keep us steady when the tide turns. These values are the heartbeat of stewardship, and we’ll look at each one in depth to understand why they matter and how they show up in practice.

Don’t just lead; steward.

Stefan

CEO, Be The Waves | Executive Coach | Father | Citizen

Create stewardship wherever you go. Be the Waves.