Building an high-performing team requires a strategic, ongoing investment in understanding Working Styles - awareness of how people think, act, and collaborate.

A high-performance team is not built on ambition alone. Building a high-performing team is forged in the fires of intentionality, understanding, and constant effort. Too many leaders make the fatal mistake of assuming that throwing talented people together will naturally yield results. What they fail to recognize is that talent without alignment is chaos. Teams that do not understand each other’s working styles breed inefficiency, frustration, and inevitable friction that can erode even the best-laid plans. The most dangerous thing a founder or CEO can do is let the gears grind until dysfunction has grown too loud to ignore.

Building an unstoppable team demands more than occasional attention. It requires a strategic, ongoing investment in understanding how people think, act, and collaborate. This is about understanding the mindset of each team member as well as the collective team itself. DISC and Driving Forces (TriMetrix® HD) offer a powerful framework for this understanding, enabling leaders to identify how each team member approaches tasks, interacts with others, and makes decisions. It is not a tool to be dusted off once a year at an offsite or when dysfunction becomes unbearable; it must become part of your leadership DNA. Anything less is a decision to accept mediocrity.

The Drama of Disregard: What Happens When You Neglect Working Styles

Imagine a company with strong revenue growth potential but plagued by internal tensions. Quite frankly - this is the reality. Most teams and companies are successful in spite of their dysfunction. Most teams have meetings that are inefficient, missed deadlines , and frustrated high performers. It is not that people lack skills or motivation—far from it. What people lack is awareness and understanding. A Dominant (D) personality is pushing relentlessly for rapid results, cutting through conversations like a bulldozer, while a Steady (S) team member resents the pace and feels steamrolled. And the high D speaks in a pattern that is essentially the opposite of that desired by the high S. Meanwhile, an Influencer (I) craves social interaction and collaboration, but the Conscientious (C) personality, laser-focused on details, grows irritated by what they view as unnecessary chatter.

The tension escalates. Productivity plummets. The team becomes trapped in a cycle of friction, unable to align. This drama is inevitable when leaders do not invest in understanding their team’s unique working styles. The friction will not dissipate on its own; it will only intensify until something breaks. The consequences of this neglect are clear: high turnover, declining performance, and missed opportunities.

DISC: The Playbook for Strategic Teambuilding

At the heart of every successful team lies an intricate balance of working styles, and DISC provides the blueprint for navigating these complexities. Founders and CEOs who understand how to leverage DISC can shape a team where friction becomes productive tension, pushing everyone toward a shared goal rather than away from it. A high-level DISC breakdown follows: 

• Dominance (D) types thrive on solving problems and overcoming obstacles. They are the drivers, moving swiftly to execute. But unchecked, their assertiveness can bulldoze quieter voices, causing resentment.

• Influence (I) types are people-focused and thrive on interaction. They can energize a team with their enthusiasm, but without structure, their ideas can become scattered.

• Steadiness (S) types value loyalty and stability. They are the glue that holds a team together, but they can struggle in fast-paced environments if they do not feel heard or appreciated.

• Conscientiousness (C) types are methodical, detail-oriented, and precision-driven. They ensure things are done right, but their need for accuracy can clash with faster-moving team members.

When leaders take the time to understand and leverage these dynamics, teams become aligned, and friction becomes fuel. Leaders who ignore this, or worse, leave it to chance, find themselves watching their team’s potential disintegrate into inefficiency and discord.

Driving Forces: The Catalyst for Unleashing Team Potential

Beyond behavior, leaders must also understand what motivates their team. The DISC framework helps explain how a person acts, but Driving Forces explain why. These are the hidden motivations - engines behind every decision, every action, every choice made in the business world. Failing to align people with their Driving Forces is a recipe for burnout and disengagement.

Some team members are motivated by the collaborative process, thriving on group achievements, while others are driven by commanding control and individual success. If a leader misaligns these forces, putting a collaborative person in a role where they feel isolated or a commanding person in a strongly-collaborative setting, the friction will be palpable. The same applies to Knowledge, Utility, and every other Driving Force that shapes the way individuals engage with their work.

The Cost of Failing to Act: A Path to Mediocrity

Leaders who fail to harness these powerful tools are not just making a small oversight; they are choosing a trajectory toward mediocrity. There is no middle ground here. The consequences of neglecting the dynamics of your team’s working styles are real and measurable: high turnover, low engagement, and missed growth opportunities.

Some founders will continue to roll the dice, reminding themselves of the time they do not have hoping talent will self-correct. They will put off addressing team dynamics until it is too late. These are the leaders who wake up one day to find their company stagnating, with top talent heading for the exit door. Others will choose a different path—the path of intentionality. They will dig deep, invest in understanding their team’s DISC styles and Driving Forces, and create an environment where people not only perform but thrive.

Take Bold, Decisive Action

The choice is clear. Build a team where every member understands themselves and each other's working styles, where friction is transformed into momentum. Or ignore it and watch mediocrity seep into every corner of the organization. There is no try. There is only doing—or failing.

Founders, CEOs, and leaders committed to playing-to-win do not leave team dynamics to chance. Quite the opposite... They make the bold, decisive choice to invest in their people, not just once a year at an offsite, but every day. They build teams that are not just capable, but unstoppable.

The only question is: will you? Choose carefully. Your success depends on it.

Chris Young is a Trusted Advisor To Founders / CEOs | Certified Scaling Up Coach | Builder of People, Leaders, Teams & Economic Moats | Strategist and proud founder of The Rainmaker Group.