I have been thinking a lot about stewardship lately.
We usually hear that word in conversations about money, resources, or responsibility. But I believe some of the most important things we are called to steward are our relationships.
Personal and professional relationships are built on trust. And trust is one of those things that can take years to build and moments to change.
We build it in the everyday things.
Doing what we said we would do. Showing up. Following through. Having the conversation. Communicating when circumstances change. Being consistent even when it would be easier not to be.
Words matter. But our actions give those words meaning.
We can tell someone we value them, but how do they experience that value? We can say a relationship is important, but do our choices demonstrate it? Organizations can say their people, clients, or members matter, but what happens when those people actually interact with them?
There can be a very real gap between what we intend and what others experience.
And relationships live in that gap.
That is why I think trust is something we have to steward intentionally.
When someone gives us their time, confidence, business, talent, or support, they are entrusting us with something valuable. The same is true when someone chooses to join an organization, volunteer, renew a membership, recommend it to a colleague, or simply keep showing up.
Those choices should never be taken for granted.
At SMPS, relationships are at the center of who we are. We are a community built across firms, chapters, career stages, geographies, and generations. Some relationships begin at a chapter event or conference. Others grow through volunteer service, a shared project, a mentoring conversation, or an introduction that changes the trajectory of someone’s career.
What sustains those relationships isn’t simply proximity or a shared affiliation. It is trust.
And over time, trust can become loyalty.
But I don’t believe loyalty is something any person or organization is automatically owed. Loyalty is earned through experience.
That is an important distinction.
People have choices about where they spend their time, where they work, where they do business, where they belong, and what they support. Our responsibility is not to assume the relationship will continue. It is to steward it in a way that gives people a reason to continue choosing it.
That requires consistency. It requires accountability. Sometimes it requires grace and repair. And it always requires paying attention to whether our actions align with our words.
So perhaps the question isn’t simply, What relationships matter to me?
Maybe the better question is: How am I stewarding the trust within them?
Because ultimately, relationships aren’t sustained by what we say about them. They are sustained by what we do with the trust we have been given.
Article written by Marci D. Thompson, chief executive officer of SMPS and the SMPS Foundation.