Your Leadership in Full Bloom: How to Find and Replicate Your Bright Spots

When are you at your best as a leader?

It’s a simple question but most people pause when they hear it.

We’re used to thinking about what’s not working. Where the pressure is. What needs fixing next.

Over time, that becomes the default. And the work starts to feel heavier than it should.

But there’s a better place to start.

Spring has a way of reminding us of something simple. The trees that looked bare a few weeks ago weren’t broken. They were just waiting for the right conditions.

Leadership works the same way.

Every leader I’ve worked with, from frontline managers to experienced executives, has moments where they’re at their best. They’re clear, steady, and effective. Conversations flow. Decisions feel grounded. Their team feels the difference.

But most leaders can’t easily point to those moments.

That pause matters.

Because once you can name your best moments, your bright spots, you can stop hoping they happen and start creating the conditions for them on purpose.

Why bright spots matter more than fixing weaknesses

A lot of leadership development focuses on gaps, what’s missing, what needs improvement.

That approach isn’t wrong.

But it’s not where most leaders see the fastest progress.

What we’ve seen across different organizations and industries is this:

The leaders who grow the fastest spend more time understanding what already works for them and then doing more of it.

That doesn’t mean ignoring weaknesses. It means being intentional about where your energy goes.

When you build from a bright spot, you can expand it. You can involve your team. You can create consistency.

When you focus only on weaknesses, you’re usually just trying to get back to baseline.

This idea sits at the center of how we approach leadership development: start with what’s already working, then build from there.

The Bright Spots Audit (15 minutes)

This is a simple exercise but it tends to stick.

Set aside 15 minutes. Grab a notebook if you can, and work through this:

1. Name three moments (4 minutes)

Think about the last 90 days. Write down three specific moments where you felt at your best as a leader.

Not general time periods, actual moments.

• A conversation that landed.

• A meeting that went differently.

• A decision you handled well.

Be specific.

2. Map the conditions (4 minutes)

For each moment, ask:

• What was going on around me?

• What made this situation challenging?

• Who was involved or supporting me?

Sometimes the details here are what unlock the insight.

3. Look for patterns (4 minutes)

Step back and look across the three moments.

What shows up more than once?

It might be:

• Having time to think before a conversation

• Working through something complex with an engaged team

• Being in a smaller, more connected group

• Building something new instead of maintaining something

This is your sweet spot, the conditions where you tend to do your best work.

4. Make one small change (3 minutes)

Look at your calendar for next week.

Where can you create one more moment like that?

Not a full redesign. Just one adjustment:

• Add prep time before an important conversation

• Shift a meeting to a time when you’re sharper

• Pull someone in earlier for input

• Say no to something that pulls you out of that space

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s awareness and a small shift you can control.

Bring this into your team

In your next 1:1, try asking:

“What’s one moment recently where you felt like you were doing your best work?”

Then listen.

Don’t jump in to fix or interpret. Just pay attention.

You’ll start to see patterns, what helps people perform at their best, where the team is already strong, and what might be worth building on.

And often, those patterns connect back to things you influence as a leader.

A few things to keep in mind

• Your best moments aren’t random, there’s usually a pattern behind them

• Growth doesn’t always come from fixing what’s wrong, it often comes from doing more of what’s already working

• Small, intentional changes tend to stick more than big resets

Where this shows up in the bigger picture

This idea doesn’t just apply to individuals.

It’s the same approach we take when working with teams and organizations, especially during moments of change or planning.

Instead of starting from scratch, we look at what’s already working, understand why, and build from there.

That’s a big part of how we approach strategic planning with leadership teams. Not just asking “what’s next,” but grounding that conversation in what’s already strong and worth scaling.

Start here

If you’re looking to feel more consistent in your leadership, start with the audit above.

If you’re leading a team heading into a new phase or planning cycle, the same principle applies, just at a larger scale.

Either way, the goal is the same:

Create more of the conditions where good work already happens.