Spot and amplify existing successes before fixing problems

When Maya joined the marketing team, projects often sputtered in endless meetings. Instead of fixing every complaint, she asked her colleagues to share one instance when a campaign ran smoother than expected. Surprised, the team listed three recent wins: a Facebook ad that hit its target cost, a relaunch that beat deadlines, and a successful live webinar.

Maya interviewed each project owner and discovered they had quietly tested short daily check-ins, used a simple shared spreadsheet for content approvals, and blocked out ‘no-meeting’ afternoons. Rather than overhaul the entire workflow, Maya invited those three colleagues to demonstrate for the rest of the group. In a fast 15-minute session, everyone saw how these small tactics could be cloned.

By the next quarter, the team’s average project cycle had shrunk by 30%. Conversations shifted from “What’s broken?” to “Let’s do more of what works.” It turns out that change doesn’t require solving every problem — it only needs you to scale the positive exceptions you’ve already discovered.

You start by gathering a handful of recent small wins. Then you interview the people behind those wins to uncover the exact steps they took and share those tactics with your entire team. Finally, you formalize those practices by updating checklists or playbooks so every new project benefits from proven solutions. Give it a try in your next project cycle.