About seven years ago, as I was shifting to the CEO role at Performance Contracting Group (PCG), the leadership team read and discussed Jim Collins’ Turning the Flywheel during a strategic planning retreat. The book struck a chord for many of us, and we began to imagine what, exactly, PCG’s own flywheel might look like, and how it could keep turning faster over time.

We worked through this question over the next couple of years and created our Flywheel. First, we had to define it. We articulated six interconnected elements: people, high-performing teams, operational excellence, relationships, responsible growth, and purpose. As our leaders rolled out the concept internally, they found themselves confronting another, separate challenge at the same time: how to continue fueling growth in a company where local leaders were incentivized primarily around annual operating performance.