Quick Wins: The Power of Small Victories in Leadership and Life

I mentioned a while back that I switched from watching the news to reading The Economist, and I’ve been enjoying it very much for the past six months or so, even though it seems like President-Elect Trump has been the main focus of the newspaper lately. The good thing is that I can skip some of those articles and find something awesome, like the one I read yesterday about the benefits of asking employees what most infuriates them.

The article highlights the value of getting rid of unnecessary rules and focusing on quick wins, which, as it noted, are often associated with new or incoming leaders.

Quick wins can be a great strategy, and that was something I capitalized on during my time in the military. In the military, leaders typically transition every 2-3 years, leaving little time to implement major changes. Knowing this, my focus was to learn everything I could about the organization—its mission, purpose, personnel, and short- and long-term goals—and then identify five key areas to improve. Securing a few quick wins within the first six months was essential to set the tone.

The article also discusses “listening tours,” where leaders walk around, talk with employees, and listen to their concerns. This approach is incredibly useful for identifying issues that can be addressed easily, making a significant impact on morale. In other words, quick wins.

As a senior leader, one of my quick wins when I started a new assignment was to prepare my own briefing slides and talking points. Believe it or not, many senior military officers rely on others to create their presentations and speaking notes. Junior officers dislike this, even if they don’t openly admit it for obvious reasons. So, my junior officers were thrilled when I began my initial talk by saying that I prepared my own presentations and speaking notes. You could see the happiness in their eyes. This small action allowed them to focus on their own work, leave early, and spend more time with their families—a huge morale booster.

I remembered my own time as a junior officer, working long hours, sometimes weekends, creating slides and talking points for my bosses. It was exhausting and demoralizing.

Another quick win was eliminating unnecessary meetings. Oh my goodness—the military is notorious for the number of meetings held daily. Sometimes, during my initial briefing at a new assignment, I’d discover that my predecessor held staff meetings twice a day: one to set priorities in the morning and another at the end of the day to check on progress. Talk about micromanaging!

As soon as I took over, I eliminated those meetings. The reaction from my staff was priceless—it was as if a huge burden had been lifted. My approach was to hold one meeting per week to present short- and long-term priorities and check on progress. Of course, additional meetings were sometimes necessary to address emergent requirements, but they were the exception, not the rule.

These are just a couple of examples of how quick wins can have a powerful impact. They created enough motivation and enthusiasm to accomplish some of my larger projects during my tour.

Now that I’m retired, I’ve been thinking about the types of quick wins I can pursue in my personal life. Small things, like adding a short fiction book to my reading schedule to finish more books in a year, or exercising in the morning to check it off my list early in the day.

At the end of the day, quick wins are about building momentum and increasing motivation, whether at the individual or organizational level.

I’d love to hear about some of your quick wins, whether at work or in your personal life. If you’re retired like me, what are some of the small victories that have brought positive changes? Perhaps this is your first time hearing about quick wins, and my post will inspire you to think about ways to spark some momentum in your life.

56 thoughts on “Quick Wins: The Power of Small Victories in Leadership and Life”

  1. I’ve read in several books and articles that an important reason for our failures in Afghanistan and Iraq was constantly moving officers around so by the time they figured out what they should do, they had to move on to another post. But I’m curious, how do you think the reallotment of time benefitted you and the unit?

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    1. The reallotment of time helped me spend more time visiting soldiers and the commanders I supported. Listening to the needs of soldiers and commanders was important in order to formulate the right plans.

      Regarding the Afghanistan and Iraq comment, my personal opinion is that those issues were caused by civilian leaders, including Congress, not the general officers leading those wars. The Armed Forces will always do their job well, but it’s up to civilian leaders and Congress to provide a transition plan from combat operations to civilian governance once all military goals are achieved. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen very well. Politics sometimes get in the way, as they did during Vietnam.

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  2. Quick wins are the best, aren’t they? Those small changes that somehow make everything feel a lot easier without needing a ton of effort. Whether it’s cutting out pointless meetings or finding little things to improve each week, it’s all about building momentum and making life less stressful. I’ve started doing this at work—just fixing one thing at a time. Last week, I simplified how we handle expense reports, and honestly, it’s already made a huge difference.

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  3. Wonderful approach and such a great hack system you’ve developed. You gave so much in cutting out the extra meetings. You must have been well loved.
    And this goes without saying.. ha!
    “The good thing is that I can skip some of those articles and find something awesome, like the one I read yesterday about the benefits of asking employees what most infuriates them.”💗

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    1. Thank you, Cindy. I always did my best to support my soldiers and their families. I hated the politics in the Army, which is probably one of the reasons I’m not a General. By the way, those stretching exercises you recommended before getting out of bed in the morning are quick wins in my book too. They’re giving me the extra boost I need to start the day.

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  4. I love your quick wins approach. And it’s grounded on listening – even more powerful.

    I hadn’t thought about it in personal life like your example of short fiction book. But I think I’ve adopted it with the OHIO (only handle it once) approach. If I touch something that I can get done in 2 minutes or less, I finish the task before moving on instead of just pushing it around.

    Great post, Edward!

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    1. First time hearing about the OHIO approach, but it seems similar to the 2-minute rule from David Allen’s Getting Things Done, which I used a lot when I was working. Those 2 minute or less tasks are definitely quick wins. Thank you for sharing the OHIO approach, Wynne.

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  5. Great post. I have a feeling you scored major brownie points with your coworkers and their families cutting down on meetings! Well done. Currently I am renewing my habit of reading for half an hour before bed. I’m finishing books more quickly and getting to bed earlier. Double win!

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    1. Phone calls… OMG, how quickly people forget the efficiency of a simple call. Too many times, I’ve heard: “Sir, I’m still waiting for a response to an email I sent three days ago.” Really! 🤦🏻‍♂️

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  8. When I was in nursing management, I found that the most quick wins happened when I worked alongside my coworkers … never asking or requiring them to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself. Now, in retirement, early morning exercise definitely has a huge payoff. I start my power walks before sunrise. There’s just something about greeting the new day with gratitude as the sun comes up that sets my motivation and energy level for the entire day. I power walk for 50 minutes to an hour and this gives me time to enjoy nature, think about anything and everything without interruption, and plan my day. I’d highly recommend early morning exercise to anyone.

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    1. Excellent, Terry. Thank you for sharing your morning routine. I completely agree that encountering nature in the morning sets a great pace for the rest of the day. I really liked what you said about your management style: “never asking or requiring them to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself.” It’s so important for leaders to do that.

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  9. I liked the practical example you gave of how simplification brought personal relief among your staff. Simplicity is that powerful. Prioritizing what’s really important and dismissing the unnecessary burdens is truly beneficial. And, of course, this is halfway to the small wins, which, as you said, bring motivation and even efficiency. I enjoy reading, Edward, and I came to the conclusion that I need to work more on my quick wins, for I feel motivation lacking lately! Thank you for this; I truly appreciate it! Lots of light and blessings, my friend; have a peaceful day*

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    2. When I first discovered that I could read articles about weightlifting online, I tried to squeeze way too many exercises into my routines, making everything very complicated because I also had to make sure any given muscle had enough rest. I was driving myself crazy and decided I just had to go back to making it simple and focusing on the basics, which basic exercises for every good reasons.

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  10. Five areas to improve! That’s what I started doing. I let AI process what I am doing, and set weekly goals for next steps in the progress of things. They are just baby steps, but taking each one in series produces a lot of headway! I am really enjoying making so much progress so quickly! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thank you, Kathleen. Using AI to assist with the process is a great idea. I might need to experiment with that to see what feedback I receive. In some areas, taking baby steps is a wise decision. They allow you to engage in new things at a pace where you can assess progress and adjust without worrying about failure or losing motivation.

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  12. Wonderful and thoughtful post, Edward. First of all, your reference to the Economist reminded me that we haven’t gotten ours for a few weeks because of the Canada Post strike. You’re right, there are always interesting articles to read. Secondly, it sounds like we have/had similar management styles, trying to involve everyone and bring out their strengths. Quick wins? Maybe like at work all those years ago now, completing the items on my to-do list that can be accomplished and get checked off quickly is my way of getting the day off to a good start.

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    1. Post strike? I hope it gets resolved quickly so you can get The Economist and all those Amazon packages (if Amazon uses the post, as in the U.S.). I’m glad that we have/had similar styles. I think that’s the best approach, and involving the team gives them a sense of ownership, which is so important for an organization.

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  13. Great minds! I just posted a comment earlier today about reading more books next year! Yes, I focus on quick wins daily here. It may be one thing or several but caring for my older husband (who had a stroke in 2022), as well as prioritizing my self care and writing, and spending time with family (now that we live next door to my daughter and our granddaughters), takes all my time.

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  15. Hi Edward, thank you for this interesting post. I my career in technical audit and assurance, I also prepare all my own slides and talking points (unlike my colleagues). I also try to avoid meetings which are a complete blight in my world. Endless long and repetitive meetings 🫣

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    1. Thank you, Robbie. I really hate meetings where bosses talk about unimportant things, which are often repetitive, just as you said. I think sometimes leaders conduct meetings simply because they feel it’s an obligation due to their position.

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  16. When I moved into higher education administration, our Vice President for Academic Affairs was a retired Marine colonel. He used the methods you describe, and his people, myself included, would have walked through fire for him.

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  17. This is an interesting article, and I am sure you were a fabulous leader, Edward. You care about people first. My undergraduate degree was in management and leadership. We learned that employees value a job by how they are valued more so than salary.

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    1. Thank you, Mary. I did the best I could as a leader. You are absolutely right about your last statement—job satisfaction depends on how employees are treated, not only with respect to salary but also through other benefits such as time off, workload, training opportunities, and more. Most importantly, it depends on employees knowing they are a valuable part of the team and that their contributions are taken seriously.

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