THE DIMENSION
How an executive creates space for others to contribute, develops responsibility beyond the current role holder, and considers the people consequences of enterprise decisions.
The dimension in context
How an executive creates space for others to contribute, develops responsibility beyond the current role holder, and considers the people consequences of enterprise decisions.
More endorsement may indicate attention to voice, delegated responsibility, and continuity of leadership work. Seek examples from people affected by those practices, with their consent.
Less endorsement may reflect a recently assumed role, urgent stabilization work, or responsibility for a smaller team. Ask which opportunities for stewardship existed during the reference period.
An illustrative work situation
An important enterprise process depends on one experienced executive. A potential successor receives occasional tasks but lacks access to the decisions and relationships that make the responsibility work. A continuity plan on paper may therefore be very different from a supported opportunity to learn the role.
Talent stewardship includes voice, supported responsibility, and the distribution of critical knowledge. It does not establish leadership potential or justify succession ranking. The participant’s intention needs to be considered alongside the experience of the person receiving the opportunity and the actual authority available to them.
A small practice to examine
Choose one bounded responsibility that can be practiced with suitable support. Agree access, decision rights, resources, feedback, and a review point with the colleague. Identify what should remain with the current role holder during the trial. Review what the colleague learned and which missing condition limited the experience.
Development opportunities become burdens when responsibility grows without authority, resources, or recognition. Check the experience of the person receiving the assignment.
A question for closer study
Would the person receiving an opportunity describe it as supported responsibility rather than extra workload?
Read the example alongside the research
The following editorial passages come from the linked framework chapters. They provide context for the original teaching example above; the example is fictional and is not a reported study finding.
For a practical reflection, choose a responsibility currently concentrated in one person. Identify what another person would need to practice it safely and usefully. Include the decisions they may make, the support they can request, the information they can access, and how the experience will be reviewed. The aim is not simply to create a successor list. It is to examine whether important work can be learned and carried beyond its present holder.
Continue: Talent stewardship and the conditions for speaking up →
External evidence should be specific to the proposed practice. A record of how a decision was framed is closer to strategic framing than a company’s market value. A consented account of a delegated assignment is closer to talent stewardship than a participant’s title. Enterprise outcomes have many causes and often reflect decisions made before the current executive’s tenure. Research should avoid attributing such outcomes to a questionnaire merely because the association is convenient to calculate.
Continue: A research agenda for studying executive practices →
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Edmondson (1999), Administrative Science Quarterly ↗Detert and Burris (2007), Academy of Management Journal ↗Teece, Pisano and Shuen (1997), Strategic Management Journal ↗