The Problem: Breaking Through the Ceiling of the Top 10%

If your business is in the top 10% of your industry, Congratulations! You’ve built something exceptional. You’ve got high-performing individuals, consistent execution, and the results to prove it.

But here’s the challenge: what got you to the top 10% won’t get you to the top 1%.

The difference between a top 10% business and a top 1% business isn’t about working harder or hiring more talent. It’s about something deeper: how your teams function.

Most businesses stay stuck in the top 10% because their success is built on high-performing workgroups, not high-performing teams. While workgroups are effective, they lack the synergy and agility needed to elevate a business into the top 1%.

Here’s the problem:

In high-performing workgroups, individual contributors work in parallel but rarely as a cohesive unit.
They focus on individual goals and results, not on the company’s long-term, strategic goals.
They often execute in silos, which creates blind spots and limits the organization’s ability to adapt, innovate, and scale.

If you want to reach the top 1%, you need more than individual brilliance. You need to create real teams – teams that don’t just execute tasks, but that amplify each other’s strengths to achieve exponential results.

Defining the Stages: From Workgroups to Real Teams

To understand the transition from the top 10% to the top 1%, it’s important to define the key stages of teaming:

High-Performing Workgroups → Parallel & Private Execution

Most top 10% businesses operate as highly performing workgroups.

These are groups of exceptional individuals who execute at a high level.
However, they work in parallel or private, largely focused on their own tasks and goals and not the visionary strategic plan.
Their performance depends on individual effort, and they execute well in silos—but this approach limits collaboration and synergy.

While workgroups can win big, they can’t sustain their success long-term.

Pseudo-Teams → The Transition & The Performance Dip

When an organization realizes the limitations of a workgroup, they often attempt to transition into a team structure. This transition creates pseudo-teams.

Pseudo-teams are groups that act like teams but don’t function like teams.
They hold meetings, talk about collaboration, and go through the motions of teamwork, but their efforts are surface-level and often unproductive.

This stage can lead to a temporary drop in performance, as individual contributors struggle to adjust to a new way of working. Instead of co-creating solutions, pseudo-teams often fall into:

Non-strategic meetings, where people simply share information.
Infighting, as contributors clash without a clear understanding of how to collaborate.
Homeostasis, where bad habits are reinforced, and no meaningful change occurs.
Lone Wolf Mindset, solely on their own tasks, unaware that their actions are part of a larger sequence of events driving success

Pseudo-teams feel frustrating and chaotic, but they’re a necessary step toward building real teams.

Real Teams → The Dynasty Effect

Real teams are what separate top 1% businesses from the rest.

They are agile, meaning they know when to shift responsibilities to the right person at the right time.
They are aligned with the company’s long-term strategic goals, not just individual results.
They amplify each other’s strengths, creating synergy that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

In real teams:

Ego takes a backseat to the greater good of the organization.
Individual contributors work dynamically, utilizing their strengths in service of a shared goal.
Teams become resilient, thriving even if one or more star players leave.

Real teams aren’t just successful—they are the foundation of business dynasties.

The Sports Metaphor: Why Teams Win, Not Just Players

Sports provide a powerful metaphor for understanding the journey from high-performing workgroups to real teams.

In sports, we often focus on individual contributors—the MVPs, the top scorers, and the stars who dominate headlines.

We hang their posters.
We collect their autographs.
We assume their raw talent can make or break a team.

But while star players are critical, they don’t guarantee victory. History has shown that simply stacking a team with the most expensive individual contributors doesn’t lead to sustained success.

Here’s why:

High-Performing Workgroups in Sports

In work groups, players operate in parallel or in silos, focusing on their own stats, goals, and performance.
These teams can win games, even championships, because of their raw talent.
However, they struggle to adapt and thrive under pressure. Success depends on individual brilliance, and when star players falter, the team collapses.

Pseudo-Teams in Sports

When a team realizes that raw talent isn’t enough, they often transition into pseudo-teams.

This happens when a new coach or coordinator is brought in to structure the team.
At first, there’s a drop in performance, as players adjust to working collaboratively.
Meetings, huddles, and discussions happen, but they lack critical thinking and co-creation.

In this stage, you’ll often see infighting and frustration, as players clash over roles and expectations. The team is going through the motions of teamwork, but they haven’t yet figured out how to function as a cohesive unit.

Real Teams in Sports

True dynasties—teams that dominate for years—are built on real teams.

These teams move beyond ego and focus entirely on the collective goal.
Individual contributors dynamically utilize each other’s strengths, creating synergy that allows the team to thrive even when one player is absent.
The focus shifts from individual achievement to team legacy.

In real teams, the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. This is the level of performance that separates good teams from great teams.

The ASCEND Program: Turning Workgroups Into Real Teams

Most businesses settle in the top 10%, but those that reach the top 1% are built on real teams.

The ASCEND program is designed to help leaders make this transition.

Here’s how it works:

Individual Executive Coaching

We focus on:

Executive presence Built on the API framework
Strategic decision-making at the highest level
Leadership Skills to work ON your business and not IN it

Team Coaching: The Core of the Program

Most companies struggle with teaming because they don’t understand it. Instead of real teams, they default to:

High-Performing Workgroups → Individuals working in parallel with intense goals but no collective strategy.
Pseudo-Teams → Meetings that are canceled often, filled with information-sharing that should be handled in emails, or worse—complaining sessions that reinforce bad habits.

ASCEND embeds within your existing team structures, helping leaders experience and build real teams in action.

Are You Ready to ASCEND?

The difference between a high-performing workgroup and a real team is the difference between a good company and an industry leader.

Most businesses never see this transformation—but those that do change everything.