What does it really mean to create a high-performance culture? We throw around terms like “culture,” “high-performing teams,” and “accountability” all the time, but often without fully grasping what lies beneath them. Let’s explore this topic. I will share insights from working with global teams and diving into the tools and frameworks that help make culture measurable and actionable. Here is the throughline: understanding yourself and your own personality style is a critical building block of high-performance culture.
What Is Culture—Really?
At its core, culture is human. It’s the vibe you feel when you walk into a room or log onto a team meeting. But underneath the surface, it’s a shared agreement: “Here’s what we value, here’s how we behave, and here’s what we’re striving to achieve together.” Culture is built on two things:
- What we stand for — our values. Our values are our non-negotiables, guide our decisions, and are very personal. We might not all prioritize every single organizational value all the time in our personal lives, AND we need to behave in ways that live up to these values in our professional lives.
- What we get — our outcomes. Most of us are paid to get results. Our professional culture can’t be just defined by how we want to behave. We are also measured by what we create.
When those align, you’re cultivating culture. When they don’t, confusion and disengagement creep in.
Defining High-Performance Culture
A high-performance culture is where people live to their full potential and have a positive human experience doing it. That means teams aren’t just checking boxes or hitting numbers—they’re thriving. They’re connected, growing, and enjoying the journey together.
But here’s the catch: It’s not enough to be nice. It’s not enough to hit KPIs. High performance is both/and, not either/or. You need results and a human-centered experience.
The Missing Link: Knowing Yourself
One of the most overlooked ingredients in building a high-performance culture? Understanding your own personality style. What are your natural tendencies? When might you NEED to act out of character? It’s tempting to jump to org charts, strategies, or goals, but the truth is: people create culture, and self-aware people create intentional culture.
When you understand your own style—your motivators, communication preferences, stress responses, and strengths—you’re better equipped to:
- Build meaningful relationships
- Navigate conflict without eroding trust
- Make values-based decisions
- Ask for what you need (like clarity or feedback)
- Take initiative in ways that feel authentic to you
- Play to your strengths
- Find support in areas that don’t come naturally to you
That kind of self-awareness fosters the trust, respect, and communication that high-performance cultures demand.
When you understand others’ style – you can meet people where they are at, communicate in the most effective ways, and quite frankly, you will see them in very new, and helpful ways. PrinciplesYou can help you get started for free with 1:1 comparisons, or unlock its full potential with PrinciplesUs for teams and organizations.
Operationalizing Culture: Frameworks, Values & Behavior
High-performing cultures don’t just happen—they’re built with intention. You need three things:
- A structured framework – Think strategic plans, regular development conversations, and goal setting.
- Clear, lived values – Not just on the wall, but in your decisions and day-to-day behaviors.
- Behavioral accountability – Agreed-upon habits and commitments that reinforce both performance and respect.
A core value in one of my businesses is, “You are the weather.” That means our staff and customers set the tone through their energy and attitude. When we lead with respect, build community, and show up consistently, everything flows from that. I need to bring the best of me, and be aware of my ‘shadow side’, or ‘growth areas’, that might harm our ‘weather system’, often very unintentionally. The more I understand myself and those around me, the more effectively and intentionally I can live that organizational core value.
Measuring What Matters
Leadership coaches often use culture assessment tools in addition to personality style assessments (psychometrics). We can actually measure both the human experience and performance drivers. Here are a few examples of what we look at. Do you notice how correlated these operational elements are with human behavior? How we show up with each other determines the weather.
Human Experience Elements:
- Psychological safety – Can I be myself, and speak up, without fear it will be used against me?
- Meaning in work – Can I align my own values, dreams, and interests with this work?
- Enjoyment and connection – Do we build strong and healthy relationships while striving for performance-based outputs?
Performance Elements:
- Clarity – Do I know what’s expected?
- Growth – Am I developing as I go?
- Teamwork – Do we collaborate while living our values?
- Feedback & Recognition – Am I seen, heard, and improving?
- Accountability – Are we all holding each other to what we said we’d do?
These diagnostics aren’t just surveys—they’re maps to guide development and pinpoint where to invest time and energy, and they ALL come back to human behaviour.
High Performance Starts With You
Want your team to perform at a high level and love being there? Start with you.
Know your style. Understand your default preferences. Know when you might need to ‘act out of character’. Live your values. Ask for what you need. Give real-time feedback. Model respect.
If you can show up that way, your team will too. And the culture you build together won’t just support performance—it will fuel it.
Final Thought
Culture is built in moments. 2 minute or 2 second interactions. If you’re striving for high performance, don’t skip the work of understanding yourself. It’s the foundation of every strong culture and every great team.
Thanks for reading, and keep leading with curiosity.
Nate Leslie is a Certified Principles Coach and Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Leadership Trainer at Leslie Leadership, www.nateleslie.ca
