Hi there, Danilo here.

This week, a consultancy founder asked, "I feel like we create specific and actionable recommendations for clients, but when we hand them off, they rarely get implemented well. How can we make sure the work we do translates into real results, without becoming another commoditized contractor?"

The answer, which took me a few years to really understand, lies in one word: Stewardship. It’s about staying involved after the strategy is crafted, guiding the execution to ensure your clients achieve the outcomes they’re aiming for - all while remaining "upstream." Let me explain why this matters to you.

Estimated read time: 5 minutes.

There’s a common misconception in consulting: that strategy is the glamorous part of the job, and execution is just grunt work. When we ask clients to "move upstream" by solving larger problems, they often rank implementation as something that's less valuable.

That’s bullshit. Strategy and execution are two sides of the same coin, and both are essential to delivering real value to your clients. This is why stewardship matters.

Stewardship means staying engaged beyond the recommendation phase, even if you're positioned as a strategic advisor. You can't generate real impact by providing a roadmap and walking away - someone needs to guide the client through the implementation of that strategy to ensure it delivers the desired results. Without stewardship, even the most brilliant plan can fail to be put into practice.

Strategy without stewardship is like drawing a map but never taking the journey. Sure, the map looks good on paper, but it doesn’t deliver the outcomes your client is paying for. On the other hand, stewardship without strategy is just aimless action - busywork with no direction. To create real, lasting value, you need both.

For example, think about a company that hires you to revamp their sales strategy. You start by diagnosing their current issues, mapping out a comprehensive plan to restructure the sales process, align the teams, and improve revenue. That’s the strategy part. But what happens next? If you leave after delivering the roadmap, you’ll have no way of knowing whether your insights actually work in practice. More importantly, your client won’t have the support they need to implement it.

Enter stewardship. You stay involved during the implementation phase. You can have bi-weekly calls with the Head of Sales to review KPIs, coach the sales team on the new process, and adjust the strategy when unexpected challenges come up. You’re not there to micromanage or act as an outsourced sales team - you’re there to ensure that the plan gets put into practice and that everyone stays on course. When things go off track, you’re the one pulling them back, reworking what needs to be reworked, and keeping the momentum alive.

Again, this is important: Stewardship isn’t just about doing the work yourself. It’s about making sure the organization has the right momentum to succeed.

This approach creates long-term success for both you and your client. Why? Because by balancing strategy with stewardship, you position yourself not just as a consultant, but as a trusted partner in their business. You become someone who’s not only delivering ideas but helping to ensure those ideas come to life. That ongoing engagement leads to deeper relationships, more insights into their business, and more opportunities for future work.

The longer you’re involved, the more you learn about the business, the more value you can offer, and the more indispensable you become. Suddenly, you’re not just solving one problem - you’re constantly finding ways to improve and optimize different areas of the business. This is how you turn a one-off project into a multi-year engagement.

The hidden value of adding stewardship to your work is that it helps clients build positive psychological momentum. No matter which industry or practice area you are in, momentum is what turns a strategy into a success story. You may have the best plan in the world, but if the client loses motivation or internal politics start to derail things, the whole effort can come crashing down. That’s where you come in - you’re not just a consultant, you’re the person who’s making sure the engine stays running.

Don’t underestimate the value of being the person who drives momentum. Clients value this more than they let on. It’s easy to deliver big ideas, but it’s much harder to make sure those ideas come to life. If you can be the one who ensures things don’t fall apart, you’ve made yourself indispensable.

Source: Recipes for Systemic Change, Helsinki Design Lab​

When asked what their top concerns were when selecting a firm, consulting buyers’ top answer was "not getting the job done / not meeting expectations." You might be selling strategic work, but what your clients are buying are results. Adding stewardship to your engagements is the best way to deliver them.

Source: Inside the Buyer's Brain Study 2022 - Consulting Edition​

Do you view stewardship as a natural part of your consulting engagements?

If not, how could staying involved during execution create more value for your clients and make your consultancy indispensable?