Smart people have great ideas. Legends have great execution. (credit: unknown)

This quote really pumps me up! I love “ideas” people; they are my muses. However, I thrive in executing those ideas by orchestrating the moving parts, aligning diverse agendas, setting the vision and driving a team to the finish line. Similar to great design, operational effectiveness requires precision, and when achieved, it goes unnoticed – which is a good thing!

When initiating a large and complex project, certain foundational elements are crucial for setting your teams up for success:

1. A comprehensive intake process. Conduct thorough intake conversations with stakeholders to gain a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished.

2. An understanding of funding sources and what success looks like. Being clear about where the money is coming from will help you with developing your measurement plan.

3. A shared platform for accessing the intake results by all team members. Role expectations and deliverables should be transparent and accessible to everyone on the team.

4. A change order function integrated into the working agreement. Changes to the plan will happen, be prepared by capturing the change and deploying it efficiently so your team doesn’t get derailed.

Effectively launch and manage your large-scale initiatives by putting these essential elements in place and go be legendary!