What Every High-Performing Team Must Get Right

I’ve helped create this Build phase and have deployed it with multiple companies, which has proved to be a powerful framework.

These five areas are sequential. Each one builds on the last and must be approached in the right order:

1. Culture

2. Service

3. Growth

4. Finances

5. Systems

Jumping ahead or focusing on the later phases will minimize the effectiveness of your plan and, unfortunately, will end up looking like most other business plans.

The Big 5

The five categories encompass the specific areas of focus as you build your business. They provide a roadmap for creating your strategic plans, succession plans, and everything in between.

These elements feed into one another and are interconnected. By working on one, you support and amplify the others.

Culture: The Soil That Everything Grows From

Culture is the soil of your organization. If it’s dry, rocky, or neglected, nothing else will grow, no matter how much strategy you layer on top.

As a culture strategist, I’ve helped teams strengthen their culture for decades, and I believe there’s no more powerful growth engine than having a healthy team culture.

No matter how many systems or finances you have, it’s hard to create the momentum that leads to real growth without a solid culture in place.

Culture always comes first. Without the right culture, your company will always struggle to scale or perform to its potential.

Many companies mistakenly focus first on areas like finances and systems, the tech stack, the KPIs, etc. Although these are important, they’re secondary to building the right environment and having the right people running your organization.

Because culture is the soil, it must be fertile before planting any seeds of growth. Cultivate that soil, dig deeper, and start with the people who’ll ultimately drive the success of your business.

One question I sometimes get is, “Can you spend too much time focusing on your culture and people?”

The short answer is yes. It’s possible, but not likely.

Why? Because with all the responsibilities leaders carry, it’s usually very difficult for leaders to make consistent, meaningful time to connect with their team, even if they’re trying to. It’s not natural or easy for most leaders.

The leaders who ask me this question are often operating from a limited or outdated view of what it means to invest in culture and people.

My approach focuses on what team members really want: to be valued and find deep satisfaction in the work they do. You can’t over-invest in that, because the more you invest, the more the ROI will grow.

Service: Providing Value Through the Right People

Once you’ve built trust internally, your team becomes capable of creating trust externally.

At this point, we have the ability to provide excellent customer service because we’ve built a strong foundation of the right people and culture.

With the right people and the right culture in place, your service quality will improve, which creates a deeper connection with your customers.

This connection drives business. Great Service doesn’t just happen by chance.

Growth: The Natural Outcome of Culture and Service

Growth is what happens when culture and service align, and when your people are fully engaged in the mission.

Without these foundational elements, growth can be erratic, filled with spikes and drops, and inconsistencies that stunt the long-term success of your business. But when you have the right frameworks in place, growth becomes inevitable.

Finances: The Outcome of a Strong Foundation

Never start with finances. They’re the natural result of what you’re doing every day to serve your customers, grow your business, and foster a healthy work environment.

What excites people are the things that drive the numbers: culture, service, and growth. By focusing on these elements, the money flows in naturally.

Systems: Supporting Growth and Scale

Once you have your people, culture, growth, and finances in place, then you’re ready to invest in systems.

Systems come last. They should be in place to support your growth, not drive it.

Technology can help support behavior, but it doesn’t shape it.

Remember, technology and systems evolve over time. That’s why systems are a supporting player, not the main character.

If you want to take a more in-depth look at this process and learn how to implement it within your organization, feel free to reach out - I’d love to chat.

Lead Boldly,

~ MW

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