It hit me a few weeks ago while looking at my new speeding ticket
It hit me a few weeks ago while looking at my new speeding ticket. On my weekly drive to the peninsula for my EIR gig, I’d consistently shaved about 8 minutes off the ETA by going, as the kind officer put it.... “considerably” over the limit.
It felt like a good idea.
I mean, I made it on time every week.
Until I didn’t.
The ticket, the fine, and being late for a meeting made it quite clear: that 'faster time' wasn't a reliable baseline, it was an unsustainable risk I was taking each week, and eventually, the odds caught up.
Too many teams treat business 'wins' with a similar mindset. They see a positive outcome that might have stemmed from risky processes or unsustainable efforts, and implicitly assume it's repeatable or just 'how things are,' rather than thinking about if sound strategy and repeatable processes were the true drivers.
That's not continuous improvement; it's mistaking good fortune for good practice. If there’s one thing we know about luck, it isn’t persistent.
For many, continuous improvement sits in one of two boxes: the urgent scramble after something breaks, or the quarterly ritual that ticks the compliance box.
Looking at improvement this way leaves out a massive area for growth - systematically dissecting your successes.
Not all wins are created equal.
Some are luck (like my multi-week successful speeding streak). Some are last-minute heroics. And some are the result of well thought out, repeatable processes.
Understanding the difference makes all the difference. When you analyze a win, you're not just self congratulating, you're asking: What truly drove this positive outcome?
Was it a fluke, or our well-oiled machine?
How much of this can we replicate and scale, versus what was a one-off effort or an unsustainable risk?
What can we learn from this specific success to elevate our everyday operations?
This is how you make every day and every process, fundamentally better than it was, continuously. It shifts improvement from a reactive chore or compliance mandate to a proactive and ingrained cultural value.
The aim is an environment where 'improvement' isn't a scheduled event, but a part of how we operate. Where the curiosity to understand 'why', for wins as much as for the "oops", becomes second nature.
Try encouraging your teams this week to look at one recent, significant 'win.' Instead of only celebrating, dig in and ask: 'What made this possible, and how do we ensure those strengths are our default rather relying on luck or heroics?'
Learn from my 'commute optimization' tactic - today’s unexamined wins can easily be tomorrow's preventable losses.