Organizations begin with leaders putting many components in place as they take a product to market. However, leaders must establish five critical building blocks aimed at setting up an organization for success. Without them, an organization will struggle to grow and achieve a healthy culture. These components are values (having a clear identity), purpose (finding the why), people (the right team in the right roles), partnerships (like-minded companies to collaborate), and planning (the necessary steps to realize the mission).

Values

Values are the moral compass of an organization, laying the foundation upon which everything else is built. Whether explicitly identified or not, your organization carries them in the behaviors and traits of the people who comprise it. Identifying those values, however, is only half the battle; they should be the drivers of every conversation.

In my last Forbes article, “The Importance of Values-Centric Leadership,” I discussed how leaders in an organization are responsible for moving values from the wall into the boardroom, day-to-day operations, and every conversation in the company. The most effective way to realize values is through a leadership team that embodies and weaves them into meetings with the staff and conversations with clients or prospective employees.

Yes, values should be physically on display, but the most enduring and powerful impact is attained through leaders who embody the values that define the organization.

Purpose

A growing organization needs to articulate its purpose — its why — behind everything it does. Without a clear raison d’etre, an organization will struggle to define its mission (i.e., what its vision is and how it plans to accomplish it). With a clear why, what, and how, an organization can define its value proposition, which differentiates its offering from the competition.

In contrast, a company that does not have a clear purpose will struggle to identify its value proposition and will always find it difficult to hone in on whom it is best equipped to serve. In Start With Why, Simon Sinek says, “All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year.” A purpose-driven organization has a clear identity; it knows who its ideal client is and how to best help them face their toughest challenges because it knows its why, what, and how.

People

Values should be the benchmark used as a measure of fit when considering those who become part of your organization. As you grow, those you interview should remind you of the people on your team who display those values daily. A candidate without similarities to your existing team is a red flag. Companies that place a person’s experience or skills above values alignment do so at their peril and create a culture where ego is king.

A leader owns the career of those they lead, and coaching someone with a values misalignment is virtually impossible. As you coach and grow each person who makes up your organization, they need to feel empowered to contribute and feel the responsibility of making the mission a reality. When you hire based on values, you will find that growing someone’s career will be a joy, not a burden; a privilege, not a to-do. A company that assembles a team that is values-based and purpose-driven grows people exponentially, promotes from within, and finds it easy to attract excellent talent.

Partnerships

Much like when hiring people on your team, it is important to look for value alignment when establishing business partnerships. It might seem counterintuitive to focus on ensuring that both companies are aligned on values before moving to competencies, but in my experience, this pays dividends in the end.

 I have had the pleasure of working with companies that interviewed me as a client to ensure both companies were aligned on culture and values. It is very easy to find a company that can provide a team of excellent developers, but it is a different matter altogether to partner with a company whose team will embody your values, culture, and work ethic as they help you take a product to market. When the vendor tries to protect their culture by ensuring their client is a good fit, you are on the road to cultural alignment and a long-lasting partnership.

Planning

A long-term plan should turn your mission into reality. Everything you work on today, this week, this month, this quarter, and this year should carry this question with it: How is what we are working on right now supporting and helping the organization execute its long-term plan?

If the answer is not clear, then you might not be focusing on the right things. If what you are working on today does not support that long-term plan, it does not support your mission and is a distraction. Leaders must hold themselves accountable for staying focused on what helps realize the long-term plan. Leaders who constantly change what is mission-critical create confusion, add friction, and deplete the organization of energy. Leaders with a laser-like focus on the plan that makes the mission a reality inspire the rest of the organization to remain focused on their respective goals. Everything — from the day-to-day stuff to yearly goals — is a building block in executing the plan and realizing the mission.

A company that embodies its values, places the right people in the right seats, maintains a clear purpose, establishes successful partnerships, and has the plan to realize its mission can achieve anything. This company is powerful because it knows itself and its values and how to build the right team with a clear purpose and direction to make its mission a reality.

Originally published at forbes.com