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Opening Salvo
Stretch assignments used to feel exciting. They were framed as the moment someone got noticed. A signal that leadership saw something in you. A chance to expand capability and move closer to the next step in your career.
Today, they show up differently. Employees are taking on stretch work because roles weren’t backfilled. Because teams shrank, but expectations stayed the same. Because the people who deliver reliably get asked to deliver even more.
I see this pattern everywhere. Leaders praise adaptability while quietly relying on the same people to absorb work that should belong to a full job. It gets framed as development. It functions as capacity strain.
Growth requires challenge, and it also requires transparency about the responsibilities that challenge replaces. Stretch assignments must be intentional, scoped, and temporary. When they are used to fill resource gaps, they create burnout, inequity, and confusion about role expectations.
Practical Personas (with a tinge of hyperbole)
The High Performer Pack Mule: They take on every stretch assignment because they care about the work. The organization interprets this as limitless capacity. Their reward is more work and the same title.
The Invisible Gap Filler: They quietly absorb tasks left behind after departures or reorganizations. No one notices because nothing falls. Their job expands without a formal conversation.
The Development Designer: They take stretch assignments that are structured, time-bound, and aligned to their aspirations. The work builds capability, not exhaustion.
Ask Yourself:
What skill is this stretch assignment intended to strengthen?
What work is being removed to make space?
What future opportunity does this unlock?
How long will this assignment last?
Stretch assignments can build capability, but only when leaders design them instead of defaulting to them.
Did You See This?
SHRM is in the News. Yes, Again.
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Talent Management 101 (TM101)
Stretch Assignments or Skill Exploitation?
Stretch assignments are temporary responsibilities that expand an employee’s capability while aligning with a long-term development plan. When implemented correctly, they provide meaningful exposure, deepen skill sets, and support advancement.
Where Stretch Assignments Go Wrong:
They substitute for unfilled roles instead of supporting development
They expand workload without reducing existing responsibilities
They reward silence rather than capability
They lack clear scope, timeline, and follow-through
Best Practices:
Align stretch work with a defined development goal
Set explicit timelines and expectations
Remove lower-priority work to create capacity
Recognize and reward the contribution with transparency
Review outcomes at the close of the assignment
Stretch assignments should accelerate growth, not conceal structural issues.
The Plug
This newsletter is brought to you by AstutEdge, a performance consultancy that helps organizations execute strategy by fixing misalignment in people, systems, and structure.
We work with leadership teams that want to turn strategic intent into measurable execution, by aligning operating rhythms, decision accountability, and leadership capacity with the metrics that matter most.
How We Help:
Expose Friction: Surface the hidden work, duplicate effort, and slow decision paths that quietly stall execution.
Realign Operating Rhythms: Redesign meeting and decision cadences so priorities move faster and accountability sticks.
Build Leadership Capacity: Strengthen how leaders make, communicate, and cascade decisions across teams.
Clarify Ownership: Define decision accountability to reduce noise, sharpen focus, and eliminate rework.
Engineer Performance Systems: Connect performance metrics to real outcomes, not paperwork.
Reinforce Organizational Health: Align people, systems, and structure so performance scales without burnout.
If your organization, or a partner organization, needs to move strategy from “planned” to “proven,” let’s talk.
Share this newsletter with leaders who feel the drag of misalignment, or visit astutedge.com to see how we help organizations execute faster, cleaner, and with greater impact!
The best HR advice comes from those in the trenches. That’s what this is: real-world HR insights delivered in a newsletter from Hebba Youssef, a Chief People Officer who’s been there. Practical, real strategies with a dash of humor. Because HR shouldn’t be thankless—and you shouldn’t be alone in it.
