Leadership Is Bumpy. So How Do You Get 1% Better?

One question I ask leaders all the time in coaching is this:

What could you do today that would make you 1% better as a leader than you were yesterday?

I stress that this isn’t about overhauling your leadership style or fixing everything that’s going on with your team. It’s about identifying just one small shift.

The reason I ask this question is because leadership rarely looks like the smooth upward progression people expect when they first step into it.

It’s messy. It’s uncertain. And most of the time you’re figuring it out while you’re doing it.

So instead of chasing perfect leadership, we look for small improvements that build sustainable capability over time.

One leader I’ve been working with recently realized that most of his team meetings were dominated by him speaking; giving updates or solving problems. Over time, his team had become dependent on him without anyone really noticing, and that was starting to impact decision-making and their confidence to handle things themselves.

When I asked him what 1% better might look like, he said he could probably ask more questions instead of jumping in with answers. So that became the experiment.

His only focus was to ask one more question than he gave answers in every meeting.

It didn’t feel like a big change at the time, but within a few weeks the dynamic in the room shifted. People started bringing ideas forward and team members were solving problems before escalating them. Ownership and accountability began to spread across the team instead of sitting with him.

Another client had a different challenge.

She had a manager on her team whose performance had started to slip, but she was avoiding the conversation because she didn’t want to damage the relationship.

Her 1% improvement wasn’t fixing the entire situation, it was simply starting the conversation earlier than she normally would have. Because of that, the issue was addressed before it turned into a much larger performance problem.

These are the kinds of changes that actually move leadership forward.

Not big declarations about becoming a better leader, but small shifts in behavior that build over time.

The reason this matters is because leadership is very rarely the smooth journey people imagine when they first step into the role.

Most leaders (myself included) go into management thinking progress will look like clearer strategy, better performance, and stronger teams year after year. In reality, leadership feels much closer to a very bumpy and winding road - much like people themselves.

People take steps forward and then fall back into old habits, managers gain confidence in one area while still struggling in another, high performers get promoted and realize the skills that made them successful before don’t automatically translate to leading people.

That’s the part of leadership most organizations don’t measure very well.

Leaders are usually evaluated through numbers - targets, revenue, delivery metrics, utilization. Those things matter, but they are outcomes. They don’t tell you much about whether leadership capability inside the organization is actually improving.

And leadership capability is what determines whether those results are sustainable for the long term, especially as the world of work continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

The leaders who build strong teams over time are rarely the ones chasing perfect performance. They’re the ones asking better questions.

Questions like:

• What could I do slightly differently today?

• Where could I step back instead of stepping in?

• What conversation have I been putting off that needs to happen?

Leadership might always feel a little bumpy, but if you’re getting even 1% better along the way, you’re probably doing more right than you think.

The leaders I work with aren’t trying to become perfect overnight. They’re trying to become more effective, more thoughtful, and more intentional over time, because that’s what actually builds strong teams and sustainable performance.

Small improvements gain momentum. In leadership, they always have.

If you’re leading a team right now, try asking yourself the same question:

What could I do today that would make me 1% better as a leader than I was yesterday?

And if you’re someone responsible for developing leaders inside your organization, this is exactly the work I spend my time doing.

Through coaching and leadership advisory, I help leaders step back from the pressure of day-to-day execution and focus on the small behavioral shifts that build stronger judgment, better teams, and more sustainable leadership capability over time.

Because leadership doesn’t improve through theory. It improves through practice, reflection, and the right questions.

If this resonates, I’d love to continue the conversation.