…very small perturbations at the start may lead to avalanches. (Pascale, Millemann et al. 2000)
The notion of bright spots has been about for over 20 years. Originally, it had the not so snappy title of ‘positive deviance’ (Pascale, Millemann et al. 2000); bright spots is definitely a better way to remember it! The principle of the tool is straightforward – find what is working well and amplify it.
In using the bright spots approach you look for successes and determine the factors that are making the difference. They may be small things so you need to look carefully. The important thing we have learnt in using the bright spots method is that you can physically show people examples of things that are working, it is not a purely conceptual change strategy approach.
For example, imagine if you ran five projects and four didn’t go as well as planned but one went very well. You could focus on the four projects and think about how to fix them, but that would probably feel pretty daunting. Instead, you could change your focus and ask of the one project ‘where did it all go right?.’
You don’t necessarily have to confine yourself to your own project or organisation you can also look for bright spots outside of your current space, consider:
- Other sectors
- Other strategy groups
- Different times
- Different phases in a relevant process e.g. customer journeys
- Complementary areas
Once you start looking you’ll find all sorts of examples.
The benefits
If you or your team have a tendency to be very problem focused, exploring your bright spots can help change mindsets and approaches. It is also a good way of acknowledging and celebrating achievements. It is a very practical approach that can appeal to the pragmatists on your team. Bright spots are positively toned and allow you to build from a position of strength. They also provide acknowledgement of capabilities and expertise.
Understanding bright spots has informed the development of Alchemy’s Small Change™ approach because it shows that small changes can make a big difference.
The challenges
Unearthing bright spots may single out particular individuals who are doing well in your team. This needs to be handled sensitively to ensure they don’t feel unnecessarily exposed or that others become resentful. Probably the biggest challenge is time and ensuring that your analysis of what has worked is thorough and as accurate as possible.
Ease of use
In order to use it effectively you need to identify the things that have made the difference, test whether they can be replicated and gain commitment to expanding the approach.
Including this tool
We have included bright spots in our toolkit because it has a focus on researching what is working well and innovating from that point rather than creating a long list of what is going wrong which can be a very demotivating starting point.
The full tool can be found in the toolkits or by clicking here.
References
Pascale, R. T., et al. (2000). Surfing the edge of chaos: The new art and science of management, Crown Publishers New York, NY.