Process: Enterprise Stewardship Model

[swaraj]

Process: Enterprise Stewardship Model
Contribution from Richard Bull
I have been thinking about what we discussed at our meeting in Cambridge earlier this month, in
particular the desire to have a 'canvas' upon which can be mapped the various themes and 'insights'
which we have in mind for our publication.
I would like to offer such a canvas, in the form of a model - the Enterprise Stewardship Model. I have
developed it over more than ten years since, I believe, God gave it to me to use for this very purpose.
The C-in-C group have contributed to it and prayed for my stewardship of it in its early days. I have
since used it in a number of articles for professional journals, on various themes in business, and one in
particular for Faith in Business back in 1998. A few months ago I had a new edition of my book
published by Elsevier under the CIMA Publishing imprint, using the model to explain how and when to
use financial measurements for managing a business - and when not to. So it has very practical
applications. One has been to map and explore the various (stakeholder) relationships in a business and
another the different approaches to leadership and strategic management that might be appropriate
for an enterprise.
However, I feel that God wants the model to be used primarily to illustrate how we are part of His
business, and how He can be part of ours, if we let Him. This is just the vision I believe our group has
for sharing 'crucial insights' with people in business so that we can become more like Jesus in our work
and the commercial world can become more like His kingdom.
I have attached three versions of the model which illustrate the process of an enterprise to show 'Our
role in God's business', 'God's role in our business' and 'Building our business on God's foundations' (see
Appendix 3 below). It is often the choice of language that makes the difference. But the words we use
often determine the meaning we attach to things and the motive we apply to actions. They also reflect
the source of those meanings and motives, which is a most important consideration for Christians.
At our meeting earlier this month, Swaraj quoted from a book by Ed Silvoso which offered a model of
"4 levels" of maturity for a Christian in the workplace. I have since come across a very relevant article
by Michael Hammer which he wrote in the Harvard Business Review last April. In the article he
presents his Process and Enterprise Maturity Model (PEMM) in which he uses four levels of maturity
rating against two sets of criteria - process enablers and enterprise capabilities - for measuring the
effectiveness of process management. He also refers to another (rival?) maturity model, Carnegie
Mellon's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) framework. The similarities in approach - and
difference in content - are striking, and I think one could apply the same idea to each of the six key
process steps in The Enterprise Stewardship Model. In this way I believe we could have a 'canvas' that
covers the full width and breadth of business but which also illustrates the depth of engagement
Christians can have in a business, whether as employees or consultants. The role of consultants is to
help their clients transform their business from where they are now to where they want to be. Perhaps the role of Christians in consultancy is to give clients insights into where God would want them to be -
and enable them to develop along that path to maturity.
The Enterprise Stewardship Model is descriptive rather than prescriptive and lends itself to asking
questions, as illustrated in my article for FiB. And so I hope it would be a useful tool for Christians in
consultancy to be enable them to ask the right questions in guiding their clients to the right solution.