Humans are social animals. We like to socialize. There is some part of our DNA that fans the flame of that desire—the need to be part of a group. There are exceptions to this rule, and every individual is a unique specimen (I will elaborate on these two points later). But at large, we all want to be part of a pack. To drive my point home, I will use the armed forces as an example (Disclaimer: I have served in the forces). Ancient Romans used this very concept and built their legions on top of it. They did fantastically, to be honest; the military aided the rise of Roman civilization from a small settlement to the capital of an empire governing an area covering over five million sq. km at its peak. All this was achieved over a period of 800 years. Interesting fact: one of its offshoots was the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire, which continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 CE.

Esprit de corps is one of the key driving forces of any army/militia in the world. And when used accurately with precision, this factor can get you results. Yes, superior technology may tilt the scales of war in your favor in some cases, but over time rivals catch up. And when two opponents are on similar grounds, the more motivated group will take home the prize.

So, in a nutshell, a team should not only be focused on technology but also on developing a culture that brings cohesiveness, a sense of purpose, and promotes holistic growth of an individual.

In the forces, leaders have the luxury of time, an abundance of training resources at their disposal, and years of experience (filled with case studies) of training the troops. These are my assumptions: You and a couple of other founders realized a common dream and got a good kickstart. Now you want to develop into something big, and you need to expand your team. These are my recommendations:

(a) Just Cause: Reason ~ The most important factor, imho. All team members must believe in their hearts that the cause they work for is just. Not only then can they give their 100%, but they will also be able to innovate and find solutions by thinking out of the box.

How to achieve ~ Know thyself, know thy troops.

Know Thyself ~ To become a leader, you have to face yourself first. A leader has to be comfortable in his own skin and know his strengths and limitations. You cannot ask your team to do something that you yourself do not believe in (When you expect your soldier to die for you, he expects the same from you). Develop a habit of reading (a must). Be open to change and learning new things. Once you are aware of yourself and your surroundings, you know your vision and goal. It is time to assemble the team.

Know Thy Troops ~ Spend time with your team in getting to know them, sometimes in environments outside of work. You cannot understand a personality which took twenty-odd years in the making in one day. Discuss their strengths and weaknesses with them; you will be surprised how people see themselves. Observe what makes them unique. Encourage their hobbies. Identify who is suitable for what role. BE FAIR AND JUST. Favoritism breeds resentment, and resentment leads to catastrophe. When you are building a team to fulfill your dreams, you cannot be someone whom the team resents. Make them realize your dream and promote the ones who make that dream theirs.

Now, not everyone is a team player. On rare occasions, a team might get a member with an eccentric personality. And if such a person can greatly enhance the efficacy and share the workload without affecting other team members, let them be. Do not try to change them or force things that might adversely affect their morale. If their eccentricity is not resented by the team, just let them shine on their own in their own skin.

(b) Vision and Mission Statement: A clear mission statement and shared vision give every team member direction and focus. When those guiding statements are paired with a workplace culture committed to fairness and justice, employee engagement, trust, and performance improve. Teams that operate within clear ethical and legal boundaries and feel that decisions are made transparently and equitably become more resilient, more committed, and ultimately more effective.

Mission / Vision Must Be Lived, Not Just Written ~ To have real impact, mission and vision must be communicated frequently, integrated into performance evaluations, decisions, strategy, and leadership behavior. If people don’t see consistency, clarity alone won’t move engagement much.

Multiple Dimensions of Justice Matter

• Distributive justice: fairness of outcomes (e.g., pay, promotion)

• Procedural justice: fairness of decision-making processes

• Interactional justice: respectful treatment, quality of interpersonal interactions

• Informational justice: transparency and clear information about decisions

A policy of “fair and just” needs to cover all these dimensions, not only the outcomes.

Engagement as a Bridge ~ Engagement is a key mediating variable: justice + mission clarity → higher engagement → lower turnover, better extra-role behavior, better well-being. So policies and leadership should aim to build engagement (e.g., through participation, feedback, recognition).

Role Clarity / Goal Clarity Is Crucial ~ People perform better when they know what is expected of them and how their work contributes to larger goals. Clear vision/mission + clarity of roles reduce ambiguity, conflict, and wasted effort.

Consistency & Culture Reinforcement ~ If mission, justice, and values are inconsistent (e.g., leaders violate fairness, or mission is disconnected from actual practices), then trust erodes. Employee perceptions of hypocrisy are particularly damaging. Thus leadership behavior, HR processes, and communication need to align with stated values.

Measurement & Feedback Loops ~ Regular measurement is helpful (engagement surveys, justice perception surveys, turnover intention metrics). Use data to detect where justice is lacking, or mission/role clarity is low, and act.

(c) Team Building and Rewards: Rewards for going above and beyond should be timely and meaningful. Team-building activities, such as indoor or outdoor games, can be organized and encouraged, but not imposed. These activities should be conducted during office hours and not at the expense of employees’ weekends. If leaders want to build a world-class team, they must identify and implement the most effective team-building activities that bring out the best in their people.

The team will spend 38 hours (more or less) of their life in the office every week. Make them feel that they belong there, that they are part of the bigger picture. If they look forward to coming to work, you as a leader have achieved something rare. Encourage healthy competition, as humans love achievements, and nurture those interactions that promote growth.

Think like this: To win a championship, you need a champion team. To do all this, the team needs to be given the best equipment and environment. From the time a member joins your team to the time they leave, they should have undergone professional and personal growth. They should feel that they have grown in service and that their time with you was worthwhile.

Humans are social animals. We like to socialize. There is some part of our DNA that fans the flame of that desire—the need to be part of a group. There are exceptions to this rule, and every individual is a unique specimen (I will elaborate on these two points later). But at large, we all want to be part of a pack. To drive my point home, I will use the armed forces as an example (Disclaimer: I have served in the forces). Ancient Romans used this very concept and built their legions on top of it. They did fantastically, to be honest; the military aided the rise of Roman civilization from a small settlement to the capital of an empire governing an area covering over five million sq. km at its peak. All this was achieved over a period of 800 years. Interesting fact: one of its offshoots was the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire, which continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 CE.

Esprit de corps is one of the key driving forces of any army/militia in the world. And when used accurately with precision, this factor can get you results. Yes, superior technology may tilt the scales of war in your favor in some cases, but over time rivals catch up. And when two opponents are on similar grounds, the more motivated group will take home the prize.

So, in a nutshell, a team should not only be focused on technology but also on developing a culture that brings cohesiveness, a sense of purpose, and promotes holistic growth of an individual.

In the forces, leaders have the luxury of time, an abundance of training resources at their disposal, and years of experience (filled with case studies) of training the troops. These are my assumptions: You and a couple of other founders realized a common dream and got a good kickstart. Now you want to develop into something big, and you need to expand your team. These are my recommendations:

(a) Just Cause: Reason ~ The most important factor, imho. All team members must believe in their hearts that the cause they work for is just. Not only then can they give their 100%, but they will also be able to innovate and find solutions by thinking out of the box.

How to achieve ~ Know thyself, know thy troops.

Know Thyself ~ To become a leader, you have to face yourself first. A leader has to be comfortable in his own skin and know his strengths and limitations. You cannot ask your team to do something that you yourself do not believe in (When you expect your soldier to die for you, he expects the same from you). Develop a habit of reading (a must). Be open to change and learning new things. Once you are aware of yourself and your surroundings, you know your vision and goal. It is time to assemble the team.

Know Thy Troops ~ Spend time with your team in getting to know them, sometimes in environments outside of work. You cannot understand a personality which took twenty-odd years in the making in one day. Discuss their strengths and weaknesses with them; you will be surprised how people see themselves. Observe what makes them unique. Encourage their hobbies. Identify who is suitable for what role. BE FAIR AND JUST. Favoritism breeds resentment, and resentment leads to catastrophe. When you are building a team to fulfill your dreams, you cannot be someone whom the team resents. Make them realize your dream and promote the ones who make that dream theirs.

Now, not everyone is a team player. On rare occasions, a team might get a member with an eccentric personality. And if such a person can greatly enhance the efficacy and share the workload without affecting other team members, let them be. Do not try to change them or force things that might adversely affect their morale. If their eccentricity is not resented by the team, just let them shine on their own in their own skin.

(b) Vision and Mission Statement: A clear mission statement and shared vision give every team member direction and focus. When those guiding statements are paired with a workplace culture committed to fairness and justice, employee engagement, trust, and performance improve. Teams that operate within clear ethical and legal boundaries and feel that decisions are made transparently and equitably become more resilient, more committed, and ultimately more effective.

Mission / Vision Must Be Lived, Not Just Written ~ To have real impact, mission and vision must be communicated frequently, integrated into performance evaluations, decisions, strategy, and leadership behavior. If people don’t see consistency, clarity alone won’t move engagement much.

Multiple Dimensions of Justice Matter

• Distributive justice: fairness of outcomes (e.g., pay, promotion)

• Procedural justice: fairness of decision-making processes

• Interactional justice: respectful treatment, quality of interpersonal interactions

• Informational justice: transparency and clear information about decisions

A policy of “fair and just” needs to cover all these dimensions, not only the outcomes.

Engagement as a Bridge ~ Engagement is a key mediating variable: justice + mission clarity → higher engagement → lower turnover, better extra-role behavior, better well-being. So policies and leadership should aim to build engagement (e.g., through participation, feedback, recognition).

Role Clarity / Goal Clarity Is Crucial ~ People perform better when they know what is expected of them and how their work contributes to larger goals. Clear vision/mission + clarity of roles reduce ambiguity, conflict, and wasted effort.

Consistency & Culture Reinforcement ~ If mission, justice, and values are inconsistent (e.g., leaders violate fairness, or mission is disconnected from actual practices), then trust erodes. Employee perceptions of hypocrisy are particularly damaging. Thus leadership behavior, HR processes, and communication need to align with stated values.

Measurement & Feedback Loops ~ Regular measurement is helpful (engagement surveys, justice perception surveys, turnover intention metrics). Use data to detect where justice is lacking, or mission/role clarity is low, and act.

(c) Team Building and Rewards: Rewards for going above and beyond should be timely and meaningful. Team-building activities, such as indoor or outdoor games, can be organized and encouraged, but not imposed. These activities should be conducted during office hours and not at the expense of employees’ weekends. If leaders want to build a world-class team, they must identify and implement the most effective team-building activities that bring out the best in their people.

The team will spend 38 hours (more or less) of their life in the office every week. Make them feel that they belong there, that they are part of the bigger picture. If they look forward to coming to work, you as a leader have achieved something rare. Encourage healthy competition, as humans love achievements, and nurture those interactions that promote growth.

Think like this: To win a championship, you need a champion team. To do all this, the team needs to be given the best equipment and environment. From the time a member joins your team to the time they leave, they should have undergone professional and personal growth. They should feel that they have grown in service and that their time with you was worthwhile.