TL;DR ► High-performing teams generate 21-58% more profit. Use the 4-Factor audit below to spot weak layers, shore up accountability, and watch your margins jump.
Or skip right to the gold and sign up for our May 28th free webinar at 12 PM EST on building an all A-Player team.
🏎️ Why This Matters
Running a company with a mediocre team feels like driving a race car with the parking brake half-on. Revenue red-lines, culture overheats, and you’re stuck in the pit lane holding the wrench.
Teams drive companies. It’s just that simple.
If you have a great one, you outperform. If you have a bad one you under perform.
📊 The Profit Gap (Read & Gasp)
We all know a high-performing team is important but when you look at the stats it’s undeniable.
📈 Stat | Source |
|---|---|
Companies with highly engaged teams have 21% higher profitability & 18% higher productivity | Gallup, 2024 |
A-Players are up to 400% more productive on complex tasks | HBR, The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses |
The top quartile of effective teams produce 2.5× more revenue per employee | McKinsey, 2023 |
When orgs are highly aligned they experience 58% faster growth & 72% higher profitability | Deloitte, 2022 |
Upgrading even one brittle layer pays for itself—fast.
I don’t think those stats even account for some of the biggest costs of poorly performing team members. They can hold small companies like yours back for years.
🏔️ The Gorge Principle
Picture a mountain gorge: geological layers stacked in neat bands.
Your org chart is the same—each level of talent supports everything above it. When a frontline layer erodes, every tier tumbles into the gap.
Directors micromanage entry-level work, strategic projects stall, and momentum dies.
I hear this all the time from the owners I coach: “I feel like I’m doing their job for them.”
Lesson: Shoring up the base is the fastest route back to altitude.
The solution isn’t another fluffy annual review—it’s an x-ray of performance, potential, and values. Here’s how.
🎯 Define the Finish Line (Outputs > Job Descriptions)
Before you do anything. You need to know what you’re aiming for. You need more than an org chart. You need an accountability chart.
For every key role define:
Key Outputs → What tangible deliverables is this person responsible for (e.g., qualified demos/week)?
Outcomes → What results does this position produce (x level of revenue, y% of gross margin, happy employees)?
KPIs → Now start looking at measures that can correlate with the outcome you want. These are the key performance indicators you need to monitor (customer satisfaction score, new leads, etc.).
Roles & Responsibilities → Now for the traditional part. What are the roles and responsibilities for this position? Knowing the outputs, outcomes, and KPIs should make the roles and responsibilities easier to define and more comprehensive.
Now you know what you need from each position and how to measure it. If success isn’t measurable, the miss is on you—not the employee.
🔍 The 4-Factor Team Audit
Now it’s time to do the audit. At Owner Institute we use a four factor model that brings together all the best team evaluation techniques we found over the years.
Rate each person on these first three factors and then ask yourself the key question.
Factor | Question | Rating H / M / L |
|---|---|---|
Current Performance | Did they hit the defined outputs and outcomes in the last 90 days? | |
Future Potential | Could they rock a role 2 levels up in 18 months? | |
Values Alignment | Do they live your values when nobody’s watching? | |
Enthusiastic Rehire? | If you could go back to the original decision (or sin) would you rehire this person with no reservations? (Y/N) |
All Highs → Promote & protect.
A Few Mediums → Develop a coaching plan particularly if they are high on potential and values.
Lots of Lows → Replace—this week, not next quarter.
😰 Now the Hard Part
Once you have the results, the hard part is taking action. We know employees aren’t going to work out but we don’t want to face up to it so we delay.
Maybe it’ll get better?
Maybe, but can your small biz afford to wait?
Maybe if they report to someone else?
That’s just shuffling the problem around, not solving it.
Come up with a plan and make it happen.
🔓 Unlock A-Team Performance in 60 Minutes
In this Free 60-minute live masterclass you’ll steal the exact playbook I used to build an all A-Player team. You’ll:
Pinpoint your hidden “people-tax.”
Apply the 4-factor scorecard to your team.
Learn to harness the power of AI to make all of this easier. Use our custom built GPTs that focus on creating accountability charts, team evaluations, and performance coaching.
That’s a playbook that can turn any roster into a high-performing, profit-driving machine.
I’m capping the webinar at 25 people so we can keep it hands on.
Claim your free seat while they last 👉
Want to learn more about building real owner independence and wealth? Check out our programs at ownerinstitute.com.