Use marginal gains to spark continuous improvement

When I first became CEO of a struggling ad agency, we talked big about reinventions and new business wins—but little shifted. I realized we were skipping the small stuff. So I borrowed a page from British Cycling’s ‘marginal gains’ playbook.

One Monday I asked my leadership team to pick one tiny corner—our meeting starts were almost always five minutes late. We brainstormed mild nudges: gentle chimes to start, a quick one-minute icebreaker. We rolled out two tweaks: a five-minute agenda at the top and a daily SMS reminder five minutes beforehand.

By Friday, we shaved three minutes off each meeting start time. It felt trivial until we multiplied by every session, every team. Our days gained nearly an hour of productive time. More importantly, we lit a creative spark—six more small experiments followed in the next month, on lunches, email templates, client check-in calls.

Over a quarter, our overall productivity, measured by billable hours, rose 7%. More than the numbers, the team rediscovered a culture of curiosity and incremental progress. The lesson for me was never underestimate the compound power of tiny changes—one tweak at a time.

You start by zeroing in on one small process that bugs you—maybe late starts or slow firmware updates—then rally your core team for a ten-minute brainstorm of tiny fixes. You pick the top three ideas and implement them fast—no sign-off or committee needed. After a week, you measure even a 1% improvement, log the gain and share it with everyone. That sense of forward momentum sparks momentum for the next tweak—and pretty soon you have a culture of continuous wins. Try it this week on the most nagging small problem you face.