Rethinking Our Most Important Leadership Responsibility
A few months ago, I sat across from Michael (not his real name), a senior executive who had just received stellar quarterly results. Yet instead of celebrating, he looked troubled. “I hit all my numbers,” he said quietly, “but I’m losing my best people. And the ones who stay… something’s dimmed in their eyes.”
His words stayed with me because they revealed a profound truth we often miss in our metrics-driven world: you can win the game and lose what matters most.
The Forgotten Art of Stewardship
We’ve become fluent in the language of human resources, talent management, and workforce optimization. But what if we’ve been using the wrong vocabulary entirely? What if people aren’t resources to be managed but sacred trusts to be stewarded?
The word “steward” carries weight that “manager” never could. A steward holds something precious that belongs to another. A steward is entrusted with nurturing, protecting, and developing what’s been placed in their care. A steward thinks in generations, not quarters.
When we shift from seeing people as resources to recognizing them as trusts, everything changes.
Beyond the Transactional Trap
There was a time when I observed a team meeting in which a manager reviewed performance metrics for thirty minutes without once making eye contact with his team. The irony wasn’t lost on me—he was so focused on measuring human output that he’d forgotten the humans.
This transactional approach to leadership creates a paradox: the more we try to extract from people, the less they have to give. But when we invest in people’s growth, something remarkable happens—they contribute from abundance rather than obligation.
The Stewardship Shift: From Extraction to Cultivation
Traditional Management asks: How can I get the most out of my people?
Stewardship asks: How can I help my people become their best?
Traditional Management focuses on: Performance metrics and productivity
Stewardship focuses on: Potential development and human flourishing
Traditional Management measures: Output and efficiency
Stewardship measures: Growth and engagement
The Three Dimensions of People Stewardship
Through years of observing and coaching leaders, I’ve noticed that effective stewardship of people operates in three interconnected dimensions:
1. Seeing the Whole Person
Sarah, a marketing director, transformed her department’s culture with one simple practice. She began each one-on-one by asking, “What are you most excited about right now?” Not “What’s your status update?” but an invitation to bring their whole self to work.
People aren’t compartmentalized beings. The parent worried about a sick child, the employee processing a loss, the team member excited about a new hobby—these aren’t distractions from work. They’re the context within which work happens.
Stewardship Practice: Create space in your leadership rhythm for people to be human. Ask questions that invite wholeness, not just productivity reports.
2. Nurturing Unique Potential
I once heard a leader try to turn an intuitive, relationship-driven salesperson into a data analyst because “that’s where the department need was.” Six months later, both the employee and the department were struggling.
Every person carries a unique combination of gifts, experiences, and potential. Stewardship means discovering and developing these distinctive qualities, not forcing people into predetermined molds.
Stewardship Practice: Spend time understanding each team member’s natural strengths, growth edges, and aspirations. Then craft roles and opportunities that align with their unique potential.
3. Creating Growth Ecosystems
A garden metaphor illuminates this dimension beautifully. You can’t make a plant grow—you can only create conditions where growth naturally occurs. Similarly, leaders can’t force development, but they can cultivate environments where people flourish.
This means attending to:
- Psychological safety: Where mistakes become learning opportunities
- Challenge and support: Stretching people while providing scaffolding
- Connection and purpose: Linking individual growth to meaningful outcomes
- Recognition and celebration: Acknowledging both progress and potential
Stewardship Practice: Audit your team environment. What conditions promote growth? What inhibits it? Make one change this week to improve the ecosystem.
The Multiplication Effect of Stewardship
Leaders who embrace people stewardship don’t just develop better teams—they create leaders. Their influence multiplies because they’re not building dependencies; they’re building capacity.
Consider James, a technology director who sees his role as “developing leaders who will surpass me.” Over five years, six of his team members have been promoted to senior positions across the organization. Rather than losing talent, his department has become known as the company’s leadership incubator.
When you steward people well, they contribute discretionary effort because they want to, not because they have to. They bring creative solutions because they feel safe to experiment. Others develop under their guidance because they’ve experienced development themselves. Team members stay engaged because they’re growing, not just producing.
Navigating the Tension: Results and Relationships
I can hear the skeptics: “This sounds nice, but I have quarterly targets to hit.” The beautiful paradox is that stewardship doesn’t compromise results—it amplifies them.
A recent study found that teams with highly engaged employees are 23% more profitable. But even if the numbers weren’t there, I’d argue for stewardship on principle: because people are inherently valuable, not just instrumentally useful.
The key is holding both realities in tension:
- Yes, we need to achieve organizational objectives
- And yes, we need to honor human dignity and potential
- The magic happens when we realize these aren’t competing commitments but complementary ones
The Courage Required
Stewarding people requires more courage than managing resources. It’s vulnerable to truly see people, to invest in their growth without guarantee of return, to measure success by their flourishing rather than just their output.
Lisa, a senior leader who was afraid to invest deeply in developing her team because “What if they leave?” Her coach’s response: “What if they stay and never reach their potential?”
Stewardship requires the courage to:
- Have difficult development conversations
- Let go of control and trust people’s growth journey
- Advocate for your people’s advancement, even when it means losing them
- Measure your leadership by your people’s growth, not just their productivity
The Stewardship Questions
As you reflect on your leadership, consider these questions:
- How would your leadership change if you saw people as sacred trusts rather than human resources?
- What would become possible if you measured success by human flourishing, not just financial outcomes?
- How might your team transform if you stewarded potential rather than managed performance?
A Personal Invitation
Recently, a friend’s former team member reached out after ten years. “You probably don’t remember,” she wrote, “but you once told me you saw leadership potential in me that I couldn’t see in myself. That conversation changed my career trajectory.”
Her note reminded me why stewardship matters. We hold people’s potential in our hands. We can either limit it through transactional management or liberate it through transformational stewardship.
The choice we make doesn’t just affect quarterly results—it shapes human lives.
Your Next Step
Stewardship Practice: Choose one person on your team and practice intentional stewardship:
- Schedule time to understand their whole story, not just their work history
- Ask about their aspirations and growth edges
- Identify one specific way to invest in their development
- Follow through with consistent support and accountability
Remember: people are not your most important resource—they’re your most sacred trust. How you steward that trust will define not just your leadership legacy but the leaders who come after you.
Ready to transform your leadership from resource management to people stewardship? Let’s explore how coaching can help you create environments where both people and performance flourish. Schedule a discovery conversation to begin your journey from managing metrics to multiplying potential.
