How I Built The Operating System For A Brand-New Team
When I joined a brand-new team, Partnerships, there were basically two rituals and no operating system: a weekly executive meeting and a weekly team meeting (plus ad-hoc meetings as needed). The file structure for documentation was pretty much non-existent, and approvals bounced through a dozen email chains and pings before they reached the right person. Cross-functional work stalled, then everyone compensated by adding more meetings, even more pings, and more “quick syncs.” It became clear almost immediately that talent wasn’t the issue. The system was.
When I say operating system, I mean the basics that determine whether a team can move without constant executive involvement: how decisions get made, how work moves between teams, where context lives, and how accountability shows up when the exec isn’t in the thread.
That experience taught me a fundamental lesson that founders and operators learn the hard way: operational success doesn't come from the tools you buy or the software you implement. It comes from taking the time to assess reality, define the team’s mission and decision rights, and create structures people can rely on. In 3 months, these adjustments produced measurable results, improving meeting efficiency and reducing travel and expense spending. Cleaner approvals and clearer planning reduced last-minute fire drills and duplicate travel, which is where the spend was leaking.
What I Did First: Map Reality
Before changing anything, I needed to understand how the company actually worked, not how it was described in meetings. I was brand new too, so I treated my first few weeks like a listening tour. I met with operators in Sales, Marketing, Product, Legal, and Finance, the people who kept the engine running every day. I traced calendars, handoffs, approval paths, and communication channels, then documented where bottlenecks showed up and where informal workarounds had become the “real process.”
The output was simple: a one-page map of how work and approvals actually moved. That one page made it obvious where the friction lived and why the team kept needing meetings just to move basic work forward.
Founders skip this step when they’re in a rush. The problem is that creating new processes without understanding reality almost guarantees friction, frustration, and wasted time. Mapping reality upfront is what saves you from building a beautiful process nobody can actually follow.
Define The Team’s Job And Decision Rights
Once I mapped the flow of work, the next step was clarifying what the team was responsible for and how decisions were supposed to happen. I took what existed and turned it into a usable operating rhythm. I drafted a one-page team charter that spelled out the mission, quarterly objectives, and who owned what. I also defined decision rights and escalation paths so approvals stopped bouncing around like a pinball.
This is the part founders underestimate. When mission and ownership are clear, decisions move faster, conflicts drop, and the team stops burning cycles clarifying what should have been obvious. Energy goes into execution instead of translation.
Concrete artifacts that made the difference:
A one-page team charter (mission, goals, owners)
An owner list for recurring workstreams
A simple escalation path for approvals and blockers
Fix The Hand-offs With Other Teams
A new team absolutely cannot thrive as an isolated island. Partnerships in particular touches everyone, which means confusion spreads fast when the team’s interfaces are unclear.
I mapped every handoff with Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Finance and then standardized how requests flowed. I formalized intake workflows, clarified account ownership and deal registration with Sales Ops so everyone knew who was responsible for what and what “complete” looked like before something moved to the next step.
This is how you stop being the “mysterious group nobody really understood” and become a reliable partner other teams can count on. Requests get routed correctly. Approvals happen faster. People stop creating side channels and workarounds. Executives can finally see how the team contributes to outcomes instead of just seeing noise.
Concrete artifacts that made the difference:
Intake rules and templates for all requests
A clear handoff checklist for cross-functional work
Defined account ownership and deal registration rules with Sales Ops
Make Work Visible And Install A Rhythm
Processes only matter if their impact can be seen. If you can't see the work, you can't manage the work. I set up dashboards to track a small set of metrics that mattered: project progress, workflow completion, and the operational outcomes leadership actually cared about.
In addition to the regular exec and team meetings, we replaced the ad-hoc (time-wasting) syncs with weekly async check-ins that surfaced blockers, priorities, and asks in writing. Getting that change through took some convincing because my exec was skeptical. The deal was a small trial. His skepticism melted pretty quickly once he saw the updates were clearer, faster, and didn’t require everyone to be on a call. After that, we expanded the async check-ins across the rest of the team.
We added bi-weekly reviews for broader initiatives and resource allocation, and ran monthly ops reviews to evaluate performance and adjust the system based on what was actually happening.
This combination of visibility and cadence turned the team’s work from “vibes and heroics” into something tangible and predictable. My exec stopped needing to sit in every meeting to feel safe. The team could run day-to-day operations with accountability, and leadership could focus on strategy instead of firefighting. (I was EXTREMELY proud of the work I put it and pulled off!)
Pilot It Small, Then Roll It Out
The first 60 days were about learning and testing, NOT imposing processes. Instead of rolling everything out at once, I piloted new workflows with a few teams or departments first. That let me spot gaps, uncover unforeseen friction, and refine the processes before asking the broader organization to adopt it.
Feedback loops mattered. I gathered input from the team and cross-functional partners, adjusted workflows, clarified responsibilities, and updated dashboards as needed. Treating the initial period as a learning phase built confidence, created early wins leadership could see, and avoided the big adoption failures that happen when someone tries to “process overhaul” an organization overnight.
Once the pilots worked, we scaled across the full team with clear documentation, training, and visible metrics.
Concrete artifacts that made the difference:
Small pilots with clear start and end points
A feedback loop for partners and internal stakeholders
Updated documentation and training as processes stabilized
The Principles Founders Can Steal
This isn't complicated, but it is disciplined. The transition from chaos to a high-functioning team came down to five principles founders can use anytime they are building a new function, integrating a new leader, or watching a team collapse under growth.
Understand the environment before implementing process
Define mission, roles, and decision rights early
Make handoffs explicit so work stops bouncing
Make work visible with a rhythm leadership can rely on
Pilot first, then scale what works
Following these steps turns chaos into predictable execution and keeps leadership focused on strategy instead of constant escalation.
The Final Takeaway
Structure and operational clarity matter more than tools or talent alone. You can hire strong people and still get chaos if the system is unclear, since they’ll spend their time interpreting, coordinating, and redoing work instead of executing. Real leverage comes from making the system obvious: map reality, define ownership, fix handoffs, make work visible, and install a rhythm that holds.
These principles apply whether you are scaling partnerships, building a new GTM motion, rolling out AI automation, or launching any major internal change. Technology can speed things up, but it will never replace operational design.
If you’re building a new team or function and it already feels like meetings, Slack chaos, and approvals stuck in email chains, reach out. Tell me what team you’re building and where work is stalling. I’ll help you map the operating system and get it moving without you having to be in every thread.