Sustaining high-performance in platform teams

It is hard to pinpoint the best title for Frank Cuiuli, as he is a man who wears an abundance of hats. From humble beginnings as a child in an Italian middle income home, the martial arts professional, turned entrepreneurial tech expert, and Certified (and lauded) NeuroPhysics Therapist is now not a jack of all trades, but a master of them all too. 

Spotting a gap in the tier 2 Salesforce ecosystem, Frank co-founded and is now CEO of thriving digital services company 8Squad.  Doubling their metrics and employees during Covid – Frank clearly knows how to ensure performance under difficult circumstances. 

“Disruption is a mantra of the tech industry” Frank tells me. “But I saw disruption from a health perspective. What it does to families and communities.”  Frank’s time working as a rehabilitation therapist has undoubtedly rubbed off on his approach to leadership. 

While Frank strives for excellence in all aspects of life, his commitment to holistic wellbeing is what he believes is the key to success. Instead of purely pursuing innovation, which can become the tunnel-visioned goal of many in the tech space, Frank asked how he could leverage innovation, but in a matter that serves humanity.

This human centric approach to running a business is what separates his practices from the rest. 

“There are layers upon layers in the conversation surrounding sustainable high performance. The first step to achieving sustainability is a high degree of self-awareness”. 

Frank’s lens of health expert and business leader culminates in an incredibly unique insight into performance sustainability. 

“A person’s embodied state - how they are showing up to work physically – is a key factor in achieving sustainability.” Frank’s leadership style ensures that a person’s awareness of their physical movement, sleep patterns, diet and stress management habits are everyday business practices. This high level of self-awareness means that when faced with a difficult decision, your team is not merely going to choose the most straightforward option. This prioritisation of health may lead to greater innovation as people feel mentally and physically equipped to take risks and put in hard work. 

Frank also asserts that a spiritual sort of self-awareness is the next domain for people to audit. “A person’s belief system and their biases also influence how a situation occurs to them.” Essential in the journey toward self-awareness, Frank knows that coaching people to understand who they are and what drives their decisions will lead to a more comprehensive approach to business and work. 

Lastly, systems of knowledge and the skills needed to complete daily work is the final aspect of sustainable performance, which Frank argues is what most businesses are doing well already. But therein lies a problem: this emphasis on learning purely utilitarian knowledge is what may be holding your business back. 

Successfully balancing these three domains manifests in a culture which nurtures sustainable performance. Culture, to Frank, is the core of the business. 

“Culture is an expression of language that emerges through conversation. It is important to have one that is based on the same common language that your employees use.” 

Is your business culture holistic? Do your employees speak the same cultural language? Does your team know that you prioritise their mental and physical wellbeing? If Frank’s success has taught us anything, it is asking these questions and prompting self-reflection could go a very long way.