Building your Stewardship Council

The best approach I’ve found for building a stewardship council is to start by identifying the lead steward. This can be done in a number of different ways, and I’ll write about it later, but the easiest way is by having the business sponsor pick them (with some consultation from you). Having the business sponsor pick the chief steward ensures that the chief steward will work hard and allocate the time needed. It also means that the steward has exposure to upper management and should have some clout within the company.

The key part of this is the ‘clout’, or recognition this chief steward has inside the company. You’ll need that chief steward to leverage that visibility to build the stewardship council.
That last sentence hints at what my recommendation is for getting the stewardship council built… have the chief steward lead the initiative! Your chief steward is on the business side, has many connections within ‘the business’, has executive support, and likely has the leadership to put together a team. The path to follow, from a high-level, would be this:

1. Identify the lines of business involved
2. Find a business leader from each LOB.
3. Secure 5% of their time for the Data Governance initiative. Use executive support as leverage if needed.
4. Have 1-on-1 meetings with them (prior to any large meetings) to show the value of the program, and how you can help them!
5. Have a kick-off meeting to get the initial buzz going.