The job of an executive on a complex project is not to run the project. The project team runs the project. The job is to create the conditions where the team can succeed. That sounds soft until you try to do it well.
Every morning, I do a quick check-in with my team. It is short. It is not a status meeting and it is not a chance for me to look over their shoulder. The only question I am really asking is, “Where do you need help today?” Sometimes the answer is nothing. Sometimes it is a question I can answer in thirty seconds because I know where the information lives. Sometimes it is a connection, and I can point them to the person who has done this before. Sometimes it is an obstacle that needs an executive to move it. The goal of the check-in is not to manage the work. It is to find the friction and remove it.
The other half of the job is harder and more personal. Every member of a team has strengths and gaps. A good leader builds the team around the strengths and quietly closes the gaps. One of my team members is excellent in front of customers and avoids paperwork. I find ways to help with the paperwork so he can spend his time where he is strongest. Another is strong on process and people and lighter on technical detail. I help him fill in the technical gaps so he can do what he does best without getting stuck. That is not lowering the standard. It is recognizing that a team performs best when each person is doing the work they are built for.
The mistake I see executives make on large projects is treating leadership as a function of authority. Authority moves work. It does not make teams successful. Making teams successful is a function of attention.
The question worth asking at the start of every project, and every day inside it, is simple: “What is in the way of my team’s success, and what can I do about it today?”
The most complex systems are human ones.