More on Identifying the Lead Steward

Yesterday I posted about building the stewardship council and breezed through the bit about selecting the lead steward. I want to give some more information about what was successful for me…

I didn’t look for a chief steward until we had executive support. I think it is very important that you ensure your formal program has executive support, otherwise it probably isn’t going to go very far. So, once you have executive support, you can start to think about your program structure. Most programs have a chief data steward, namely they act as the head of the data stewardship council.

Landing an effective chief steward can be a bit daunting, they must be a leader, be recognized by upper management, be respected by their peers, and be visible to the workforce. Some organizations choose to put the stewardship council together first, and then have them elect a chief steward. My philosophy is to do the opposite, because a good chief steward can put a good council together.
Use the executive support by having them help select a chief steward… chances are they are going to pick someone with the qualities above. The Business Sponsor is a great person to go to on this. Generally they will pick someone who reports up to them, and thus the chief steward will (1) have to do it, and (2) want to do it b/c it came from their boss (or their bosses boss).

So, thats our approach on selecting a lead steward. I’m not one to just go out and ask someone, I’d rather ask someone high-up (who believes in the program) to pick someone they think will be effective in that roll.