Top-Notch Performance Culture: A Top-Down Commitment

Company culture has become a major emphasis for businesses today, and rightly so. Your company is defined by its norms, values and behaviors, and when everyone shares and supports those values, the team is more effective. A performance culture takes this a step further, by focusing on achieving measurable results and rewarding employees for achieving them.

Most successful companies emphasize accountability, continuous improvement, and high standards, but in a performance culture they are deeply embedded. Employees are empowered to take ownership of their roles, understand how their contributions impact the company’s success, and are consistently motivated to grow.

In a sign shop, like mine, Signarama Troy/Metro Detriot, this results in a team that embraces efficiency, precision and customer satisfaction. Whether it’s meeting production deadlines, ensuring perfect print quality or executing flawless installations, a performance culture sets expectations that every team member is accountable for excellence. More importantly, it creates an atmosphere where people thrive by learning, improving and being rewarded for their contributions.

Performance culture is a daily priority, and it must come from the top down.

Leadership and Training

Training and development start at the top. The leadership team must set the tone by actively investing in their own growth. When leaders commit to developing themselves, they create opportunities for their teams to do the same. This is why Signarama promotes company-paid training initiatives and celebrates employees who go the extra mile. Over the past 27 years, our incentive plans have evolved as our company has grown. Today, we ensure that every employee has a performance-based incentive tied to metrics that highlight the direct impact they have on their department or the company. These incentive plans reinforce the idea that performance matters and that effort is recognized and rewarded.

Training isn’t just about skill-building – it’s about mindset. A well-trained employee is more confident, engaged and productive. By making ongoing education a core value, you cultivate a team that doesn’t just show up, but shows up ready to perform at a high level.

How you set up a key performance indicators (KPI)-based incentive program depends on you and your team; there are no hard-and-fast rules. Some employees can operate on KPIs specific to their output and success. Others, especially those in leadership roles, may prefer team-based incentive structures. This dual approach ensures that both individual excellence and teamwork are encouraged and celebrated.

Putting KPIs to Work

We’ve built our entire business model on recruiting, hiring, training and rewarding high performers. We discuss this commitment daily, celebrate achievements on social media and take pride in fostering an environment of accountability and success.

At your company, we track 10-15 KPIs daily, across our four main departments: local projects, national clients, production and installation. Each KPI is carefully developed, vetted and adjusted as needed to ensure it aligns with overall business objectives.

Some of the KPIs we track include:
• Production Efficiency: Measures the speed and accuracy of projects completed.
• Customer Satisfaction: Monitored through Google reviews and client feedback.
• Installation Success Rate: Tracks completed installations done without errors or delays.
• Sales Conversion Rate: Evaluates how effectively leads turn into signed projects.
• On-Time Delivery: Ensures we consistently meet promised deadlines.
These KPIs are more than just numbers – they are tools that help us identify strengths, uncover areas for improvement, and guide team discussions.

Continuous Improvement: A Never-Ending Process

A successful performance culture is not a one-time initiative but an ongoing process of refinement and growth. It should have a short list of improvement areas and consistently focus on one to three of them each month. As the visionary of your company, you should make it your job to push both the leadership team and frontline employees to stay accountable to each other – not just during peak production times, but year-round.

By consistently reinforcing high standards, you eliminate the perception that performance expectations only matter when things are hectic. Instead, work to create a culture where excellence is the norm, not the exception.

Maintaining high standards is a fundamental part of our company culture. We relish being known as high performers in our industry. Just as positivity fuels strong workplace morale, a reputation for excellence builds customer trust and loyalty.

Our clients frequently mention in reviews that they love working with a team that values accountability and gets things done right the first time. Many of our five-star Google Reviews highlight our organization, communication and attention to detail – all of which stem from our commitment to KPIs and daily performance tracking.

But there are challenges to establishing a performance culture. One of the biggest is dealing with lower-performing staff who resist accountability. It’s common to see employees push back against KPI tracking, often because they fear it will be used as a punitive measure. Therefore, you should emphasize from day one that KPIs exist to help employees grow, not to punish them.

Clear, open communication is essential. When new team members understand that KPI tracking is a tool for success, not a trap for failure, they are more likely to embrace it. Tailor your expectations based on an employee’s role and tenure, ensuring fairness and relevance.

Taking the First Step: Just Start

If you’re looking to build a performance culture in your sign shop, start small. Choose one KPI in each area of your business and grow from there. As your team becomes comfortable with performance tracking, gradually introduce more metrics.

Avoid overwhelming employees with excessive reporting—focus on meaningful KPIs that drive real improvements. Remember, the key to success is consistency. By making performance a daily conversation rather than an occasional initiative, you’ll foster a culture where accountability, growth, and excellence become second nature.

Whatever you do, just start. The sooner you commit to building a performance culture, the sooner you’ll see its benefits in productivity, team morale, and customer satisfaction.