Launching Successfully: From Vision to Confident Rollout
When organizations launch something new, excitement is often matched with some complexity. I am currently partnering with a forward-thinking organization that is launching a new service this week — and their thoughtful, intentional approach offers valuable lessons for leaders navigating similar efforts.
We’ve taken a systematic approach to ensure this launch is both successful and sustainable. The foundation was creating clarity around the strategic case— defining why this service matters, who it serves, and how it aligns with the organization’s mission to expand access to care. (This particular organization provides health care services to their community through localized health centers).
Operationally, we selected a core group to participate in the Proof-of-Concept phase. Each member brings a unique perspective — clinical, operational, and supportive — as we validate assumptions around three key goals: improving patient access, ensuring ease of use by service providers, and ensuring the supports are in place to resolve the inevitable glitches (often minor) that come with any first-time implementation.
Clinically, we’ve defined a subset of patients who will be the first to experience the new service. This enables the organization to build both confidence and competence by beginning with use cases most likely to succeed, before expanding the scope of the service. It’s a thoughtful and practical way to manage complexity while building internal capacity.
As part of this new service, we’ve worked closely with stakeholders to define new workflows, craft and refine job aids, and design tiered training that supports different learning styles and paces of adoption.
Together, these steps reflect excellence at every stage of the work — and help ensure smoother adoption across teams and the organization.
All along the way, a multi-disciplinary steering team has provided essential guidance. This collaborative leadership approach has helped shape the service’s development, ensured alignment with the organization’s strategy, supported collaboration between departments, and supports a culture of learning throughout the organization.
Rather than a traditional “pilot” that runs for a set time or arbitrary number of cases, we’ve embraced a Proof-of-Concept approach, as described in the article “Are You Still Using Pilots?”. This means we’re not just testing — we’re validating assumptions, gathering evidence, and making refinements in real time. This approach leads to faster, more informed scale-up because we’re building readiness as we go.
In this context, we’ve also leaned into the Plan-Do-Check-Act mindset emphasized in “To Launch Is Not Enough”. We’ve planned carefully, are executing the Proof-of-Concept deliberately, and have embedded checkpoints to assess whether the initial deployment matches our expectations. Once the service proves effective, usable, and valuable, it will be deployed more broadly.
Throughout the endeavor, I’ve been especially impressed by the leadership provided by the project sponsor and two clinical champions. Their insights, openness to feedback, and genuine embrace of learning have been instrumental, and honestly refreshing. They’ve ensured that individuals and teams feel seen, heard, and included — a hallmark of great leadership and a major reason this launch is on a path to success.
In any launch — whether it’s a service, a product, or an internal change — there are multiple layers of learning. I always pay close attention to both individual learning and organizational learning. One spurs the other. And both are essential.
Excellence is how I lead. And this organization has modeled excellence… through intentional design, inclusive planning, and a clear commitment to quality at every step of the way.
I want them — and all leaders — to know: I see your excellence! Keep leading with purpose. The results will follow.
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Kathy Letendre, President and Founder of Letendre & Associates, advises organizations and leaders to create their excellence advantage.
Contact Kathy by phone or text at 802-779-4315 or via email.