Sometimes as we’re wrapping up the year, it’s easy to drift into negativity. End-of-year evaluations tend to produce mixed finding — some areas show strong results, while others fall short.

It’s human nature to focus on what didn’t go as planned. Add in the stress and exhaustion of the holiday season, along with budget pressures and goal-setting for the year ahead, and it becomes even easier to miss all the good things that were accomplished over the past year.

This is why it’s powerful to end the year by collecting and sharing bright spots that occurred in 2025. 

Years ago when I worked at a hospital, I asked all department leaders to submit one or two positive things they had achieved during the year.

There were 52 leaders, so we ended up with a big list of about 100 accomplishments we shared with the entire organization. It turned out to be an incredibly uplifting experience. 

This is a great way to fulfill the 3-to-1 “positives-to-negatives” ratio that leaders need to strive for.

If you’re not familiar with it, here’s the point: It takes at least three positive interactions (compliments and praise) for each negative interaction (criticisms and complaints) for one person to feel good about another one.

A 2-to-1 “positive-to-negative” ratio creates a neutral feeling, and a 1-to-1 ratio actually creates a negative feeling. In fact, some studies suggest it’s 4:1 or even 5:1.

The point is, if we want our employees to feel good about us (and by extension, our organization), we need to look for as many opportunities as possible to send positive messages.

The bright spots exercise is a great way to avoid the “end-of-year spiral” and send people into the new year feeling hopeful about the future. You’re making deposits in what Stephen R. Covey calls the emotional bank account. This is especially crucial if it’s been a tough year! The more positive messages people hear, the more it helps rewire their brains for confidence and hope–and the more likely they are to achieve great things in the new year.

Try it yourself:

1. Ask your leaders to list at least one accomplishment that happened in 2025. Listing two accomplishments is even better. You might even open it up to the whole workforce. Give them a deadline.

2. Compile all the positives in a big list.

3. Send the list out to all employees with a heartfelt note: “Look at all we accomplished in 2025!”

And always be sure to express how grateful you are for them.

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Quint Studer is the author of 16 books on leadership in the workplace and the community. His book “Building a Vibrant Community” is a valuable resource for civic leaders, business owners, and all citizens who have a stake in building a community they can be proud to call home. He can be reached at Quint@QuintStuder.com.