Six steps to get your complex project on track
- Susan Carter
- Feb 20
- 3 min read
If you’ve ever managed a complex project, you know the challenges. Multiple stakeholders, intricate technical or scientific details, tight deadlines, and sometimes even misinformation campaigns. Sound familiar? It can feel like a maze.
Your mission: Deliver the project on time and on budget, while maintaining (or building) trust with stakeholders. And often, a highly engaged community is watching closely, eager to understand how your project will impact them.
You can’t bulldoze your way through challenges like these. Complex projects require a collaborative approach that brings people together to co-design solutions. Done right, this process leads to better results and strengthens relationships along the way.
But here’s the million-dollar question: Where do you begin? And what does a good process look like?
Introducing the Authentic Co-design Approach
Born from real-world workshops with people managing projects like yours, the Authentic Co-design Framework provides a structured yet adaptable pathway to tackle complexity. It’s not just a framework - it’s a roadmap to success.
Let’s dive into the six steps of the framework.
The Six Steps of Authentic Co-design
Step 1: Checking Readiness to Collaborate Are we truly ready to collaborate? This foundational step ensures you’ve laid the groundwork for success inside your organisation. You’ll need leadership buy-in, adequate resources, and a team equipped with the skills to engage meaningfully. Think of it as the “readiness runway” for your project.
Step 2: Building a Shared Understanding When multiple stakeholders come to the table, they bring diverse perspectives. This step focuses on creating a shared understanding of the problem, how to work together and the broader context. Building this common ground with stakeholders is critical for productive collaboration.
Step 3: Deciding What We Can Do Together This is where alignment happens. Stakeholders work to identify a problem that everyone finds meaningful and solvable. Throughout this step, the Five Principles of Authentic Co-design serve as a compass, ensuring the process stays grounded in mutual respect and purpose.
Step 4: Co-designing What We Agreed Now comes the action! Participants work together to co-design the solutions they’ve agreed upon. The Authentic Co-design Manual offers a treasure trove of tips and lessons to help you succeed.
Step 5: Implementing Agreed Actions A plan is only as good as its execution. This step is all about turning decisions and ideas into reality - whether it’s building something tangible or delivering a decision. Success here depends on clear communication and accountability.
Step 6: Reviewing Progress Did we achieve what we set out to do? This step involves a genuine review by all participants, focusing on adaptive learning and accountability. If goals aren’t met, it’s an opportunity to revisit earlier steps, refine the approach, and move forward with renewed clarity.
Why Co-design Matters for Complex Projects
Co-design isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s necessary for complex projects with high stakes and engaged stakeholders. Without it, you risk alienating stakeholders, running over budget, and failing to deliver on your promises.
The Authentic Co-design Approach offers a proven way, based on years of experience, to navigate these challenges. It ensures that your project not only succeeds but also fosters trust and collaboration.
So, are you ready to tackle your next complex project with confidence? Start by embracing co-design, and watch as the process transforms both your outcomes and relationships.
We recently launched a new one hour, online course to introduce you to the key concepts and strategies the Authentic Co-design has built over the years. Click below to find out more about Authentic Co-design, our co-design process that will help keep your complex project on track.
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