Last week Leading Team Australia celebrated our 25th year in business, a significant milestone. Our model has been tested across all industries, team dynamics and with all types of leaders. It got me thinking about how many businesses I have personally had the privilege of working with, in addition to the many clients stories and case studies over the last 25 years in sport, business, education and community organisations. One pattern has always stood out: sustained success doesn’t come from physical, technical or tactical effort alone. Those things matter—but they’re not what holds performance together over the long term. The real energy that sustains high performance comes from somewhere deeper and more emotional. And neuroscience helps explain why.
Dopamine: The Fuel of the Pursuit
Has anyone in your team ever come across like they are motivated from within? Like their intrinsic motivation has been cultivated from a secret recipe? Have you ever felt more compelled to continue one thing rather than an other? Have you ever really interrogated why?
About 25 years ago when Leading Teams was founded, I had commenced my Bachelor of Education (Physical Education) degree. During these early lectures and tutorials we learnt about energy what it takes to endure even the toughest challenges….. I’ve always been fascinated by stories of resilience and overcoming challenges and have gravitated towards those stories in my pursuit to understand the links between resilience and purpose. I remember years ago our co- founder Ray McLean in one of our early training sessions saying a quote that has stuck with me….. “Those with the most invested will be the last to surrender”. So here’s my short take on why purpose is pivotal in high performance teams.
The Cultural Trap: Confusing Purpose With Outcomes
A flaw I see in many team cultures is that their “purpose” is actually just a strategic outcome dressed up as purpose.
• “Become number one in the world.”
• “Win the premiership.”
• “Achieve X market share.”
These outcomes are important. They give direction. But when a team ties its purpose solely to an outcome, they create a cliff. Once the outcome is achieved, motivation often falls away—because the dopamine system has nothing left to chase. Our dopamine system is anticipatory. We actually receive the biggest dopamine bursts in the pursuit of a goal, not when we achieve it. And those bursts are even stronger when the outcome is uncertain, not guaranteed.
This is why teams and individuals can feel strangely flat immediately after a major event or performance. The win, the title, the ranking—once it’s in the bag—dopamine drops, and so can motivation
Why High-Performing Teams Need a Common Purpose
Sustainable success requires something bigger than rankings, titles or metrics.
A true purpose speaks to identity, connection and contribution—it gives meaning beyond the scoreboard.
When a team has a common purpose:
• motivation is steadier and less volatile
• individuals feel emotionally invested
• performance becomes repeatable, not accidental
• success becomes something they express, not something they chase
What I See After 10 Years Facilitating with Leading Teams
The teams that sustain success aren’t the ones with the best resources or the most talent. Sure resources and talent get you in the arena. But staying there that’s another whole new ballgame. (If you want further reading on this I love “The Gold Mine Effect by Rasmus Ankersen or “Belonging by Owen Eastwood ) The teams that survive and thrive over a sustained period really:
• Know why they exist beyond winning
• Reward, Model and challenge the behaviours they agree to (agreed behavioural framework in action)
• Hold each other accountable with relationships build on mutual trust respect
• Stay connected to something meaningful, even when results fluctuate
When purpose is clear and lived daily, the dopamine system has a constant source of energy. Teams stay hungry—not desperate—and performance becomes a natural extension of who they are, not just what they do.
To test whether you teams purpose is really (fit for purpose) ask everyone in your team to answer this question. Why does the team exist?
