There’s a phrase people around our team hear from me fairly regularly: “See the forest through the trees.” Over time it has become shorthand for how I try to approach complex projects and the decisions that come with them.

Large civic development efforts generate an enormous amount of activity. Multiple stakeholder groups, technical design challenges, long timelines, public visibility, and a constant stream of decisions all compete for the team’s attention. In that environment it is very easy for even experienced teams to become absorbed in the details of individual issues as they arise.

Attention to detail is essential in this work. Successful projects are often the result of careful, disciplined thinking about those details. But leadership on projects of this scale requires something equally important: the ability to maintain perspective about which decisions actually shape the outcome of the project and which ones simply need to be resolved so the work can continue moving forward.

That distinction matters more than it might initially appear, because on complex projects the scarcest resource is rarely expertise or effort. It is leadership attention.

The Trap of the Small Problem

Every large project produces a steady stream of smaller issues along the way. A design detail needs adjustment, a stakeholder expresses a preference about a specific element, two teams interpret a requirement differently, or a previously resolved decision resurfaces for further discussion.

None of this is unusual. It is simply the rhythm of complex development work.

Problems begin to emerge when every issue is treated as though it carries the same weight as the decisions that actually determine the direction of the project. When that happens, momentum begins to erode and leadership attention starts to scatter.

I have sat in many meetings where a room full of highly experienced professionals spent an hour debating a relatively minor issue where the cost of having everyone in the room likely exceeded the value of the problem itself. Situations like that are usually a sign that the team has lost perspective about where its energy should be directed.

Once that dynamic takes hold, something subtle begins to happen. The project begins to feel far more complicated than it actually is, not because the work itself has changed, but because attention is being applied indiscriminately rather than deliberately.

Proportionality

One of the most important leadership disciplines on complex projects is understanding that not every issue deserves the same level of attention.

Some decisions genuinely shape the trajectory of a project and require thoughtful engagement from senior leadership. Others are better handled by the professionals closest to the work, who typically have the clearest understanding of the situation and the most practical path toward resolution.

When leaders treat every decision as though it requires the full weight of the organization, the pace of the project slows dramatically. Teams begin to assume that even routine issues must escalate upward before they can be resolved, which creates unnecessary friction throughout the process.

Complex projects move effectively only when capable people are trusted to make decisions within their areas of responsibility while leadership focuses its attention where judgment, experience, and perspective genuinely influence the outcome of the work.

Trusting the Team

This principle is closely tied to another belief that has shaped how I approach projects over the years: strong teams perform best when they are trusted to do the work they were brought in to do.

Projects of this scale cannot function under a model where every decision flows through a single point of control. They are simply too large and involve too many areas of expertise. The only way they move effectively is by assembling the right group of professionals, placing them in roles that match their capabilities, and giving them the authority to manage the responsibilities within their scope.

Leadership still plays a critical role, but that role is not to control every detail. It is to maintain direction, preserve perspective, and step in when decisions carry broader implications for the success of the project.

When that balance is maintained, teams operate with greater clarity and momentum, and leadership attention remains available for the moments when it is genuinely needed.

The Bigger Picture

Maintaining perspective also requires remembering why civic development projects exist in the first place.

These projects are not simply exercises in designing and constructing buildings. They create places that support public institutions, serve communities, and shape how people interact with those institutions for decades after the project is complete. A courthouse, airport terminal, or civic center becomes part of the daily functioning of a community long after the development team has moved on.

Keeping that broader purpose in view provides an important frame of reference for decision-making. It helps teams evaluate which issues truly affect the long-term success of the project and which ones can be resolved more efficiently by the professionals closest to the work.

When that perspective is consistently maintained, the project tends to move with greater clarity and focus.

Why It Matters

Most of the civic projects we work on take years to deliver and will serve their communities for decades after they are complete. Work with that kind of timeline demands careful attention to detail, but it also requires discipline in how attention is applied.

Complex development efforts generate thousands of decisions along the way. The role of leadership is not to personally manage every one of those decisions, but to ensure that attention remains focused on the ones that truly shape the outcome of the project.

When teams maintain that discipline, they are far better equipped to navigate the complexity that inevitably comes with work of this scale.

That is why, when conversations begin drifting too far into the weeds, I often return to the same reminder our team has heard many times over the years:

Let’s make sure we’re seeing the forest through the trees.