Culture is King | A High-Performance Team Series Article

Business leaders should value culture overall. If your employees feel valued, they are engaged, their performance goes up and this results in a superior level of service to your customers. This is a quote, but no quotation marks required. Anyone who has worked under me has probably heard me say this countless times in some kind of form, but the end messaging stays the same, and I truly believe in the weight of the impact a positive culture can have on your team and your business. Let's go through some of the concepts we have found most effective in fostering a positive team culture.

Hire and Promote the Right People

Now that my quote is out of the way, let's go back to the pro's, the author of two brilliant books and host of one of the most successful podcasts in history, Steven Bartlett. In Steven's second book, The Diary of a CEO - The 33 Laws of Business & Life (add this book to your reading list or Audible queue now!), he presents a very simple but effective framework to use as a filter when looking to hire or promote someone.

"If everyone in the business had the same values, attitude, and level of talent as this person, would the bar be raised, maintained or lowered?"

If it is raised, hire/promote the person, if it is maintained, do not promote/ but if a candidate, you can still hire (if you require someone at this level). If it is lowered, do not hire / if the person is in your team, you must performance manage them before they negatively impact the culture you are building.

Empower Your People

We believe the number one reason that good people leave jobs is that they feel they are not growing or there is no progression in their current role. Now.. not everyone can be promoted, there may not even be a second layer of management in your business, but people that feel empowered, trusted and are adding feathers to their cap (New Knowledge or Skills), tend to remain loyal and more importantly engaged.

As business owners, we tend to try to do everything ourselves. "I am the only one who will do it right", sound familiar? The problem with this philosophy is one person can only do so much and it will naturally restrict your business's ability to grow.

The best leaders empower their team, trust them to take the lead on that project, and offer guidance along the way. The best way to learn is by doing something, followed by repetition.

Once you elevate your team to the level where you can confidently place your trust in them delivering the desired outcome, your job as a highly effective leader turns to removing roadblocks and bureaucracy, to enable your team to get the job done.

People mentor the way that they were mentored, and this creates a powerful compounding effect in your business. One of the mentors that had the biggest impact on my development, once trusted me on taking the 'first pass' on a quarterly report that was going up to the Executive Leadership Group. I understood the opportunity I had, and the importance of the task was

not lost on me. I wrote the best report of my life! then I returned it to my manager and mentor and we had a meeting. He reviewed it and ran through and made some minor tweaks and changes and explained the reason he was making those changes. He didn't say I did something the wrong way, but he clearly explained to me why the changes enhanced the overall report. I walked out of that meeting feeling like I could do anything, my motivation was the highest it had ever been in my career and that motivation stayed with me and drove the results of my work. I have repeated this concept countless times with people that I am

mentoring. If it is a task that the team appreciate the significance of to the business, empower someone to take the first pass, you will still have opportunity to get it to the level you want, before submitting, but watch this activity significantly impact the confidence and level of motivation that employee has. It will pay dividends, we promise.

Promptly Address Performance Issues

In his book, master coach Ivan Cleary reflects on a pivotal moment in the Penrith Panthers’ journey to becoming one of the greatest teams in NRL history. Ahead of the 2020 season, Cleary and his coaching staff made the bold decision to release five quality, contracted players—despite their strong performances—because they didn’t align with the culture Penrith was determined to build. This move wasn’t taken lightly; it tied up over $1 million in salary cap space, which ultimately went to players at rival clubs. Cleary recalls the uncertainty that followed: “We’d lost some experienced and well-performing players. How were we going to compete? A good football team needs everyone fit, uninjured, and playing well. But the real strength of the team lies in how the players connect—in a word, your

culture.”

By placing culture above all else, Cleary laid the foundation for sustained success. Penrith reached the 2020 grand final, falling to Melbourne Storm, but what followed was historic: four consecutive premierships from 2021 to 2024. Even as the Panthers lost star players each year to lucrative offers elsewhere, their unwavering commitment to culture kept them dominant.

This philosophy etched Penrith into the record books as one of the greatest NRL teams ever—and proved that the defining factor wasn’t talent alone, but a culture built on connection, resilience, and shared purpose.

If a member of your team is under performing and this is unaddressed for a length of time, your culture will star slowly trending down, but it will be trending down at an increasing pace and generally at some point results in (almost) irreparable damage to your team culture. Ask yourself, or remember back to when you were an employee, if another member of the team was lazy and not nearly working as hard as the rest of the team, but were treated the exact same and paid the exact same, how inspired would you be? Most small to medium business's don't have HR departments and I am not a lawyer, or do I hold a degree in human resources, I have educated myself and gained valuable experience

throughout my career journey, and I highly recommend you do the same. Before

undertaking performance management, understand the relevant act, legislation, industry award to ensure you are approaching the matter in a compliant manner, that will not lead to legal issues like a general protections claim or unfair dismissal.

But we have witnessed first hand the detrimental effect that not addressing a performance issue can have on your culture, and by extension your business. Poor culture can be compared to a cancer and it can sometimes start slowly, and sometimes aggressively spread to all areas of your business.

Disclaimer:

This information is provided for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a qualified legal professional.

Celebrate Wins as a Team

Did you notice at the top of this list there is no mention of taking your entire team to the bar and putting on a tab, or taking everyone to a nice restaurant for dinner. This can also make a positive impact but it holds very little intrinsic value in the long run.

The person you shouted beers and a steak, every Friday afternoon will still leave if they feel that their is no growth or progression in their role.

It is important to celebrate your wins though! Win a big contract? A team lunch could be a good idea. Have a small win, broadcast it in an email company wide and highlight the efforts of those that delivered the project. Celebration does not always have to break the bank. Sometimes the feeling of being acknowledged is all employees are looking for.

Our other key recommendation is only to celebrate wins as a team. There are multiple studies we have read that highlight the negative impact that financial incentives or gifts (holidays etc) can have when only offered only to the winner of a competition (for example, most sales). Imagine what happens to the emotions of the 90% of your team once the 10% have surged to an insurmountable lead.

Like our ideas? Let's connect, send us an email at startyourjourney@skylineco.com.au to learn more about our professional development workshops and business consulting.