Purpose – This paper aims to discuss how organizations can benefit from empowering employees to understand and develop their own personal foundations to create a stronger organizational platform from which to develop a successful business.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper is the view of the author and is based on methodologies developed over a number years and used in a corporate training program.

Findings – With businesses and organizations subjected to increasing amounts of pressure, maintaining positive performance becomes more challenging. The impact on some employees of increased pressure can lead to stress and the creation of negative workplace environments which can impact an entire company or organization. Peoples own personal foundations start to crumble when pressure becomes excessive. By educating people to understand what their foundations consist of, how they have been created and how they impact their own performance you can empower people with techniques to strengthen their foundations.

Originality/value – This paper provides insights and guidance in how to enable employees to function at their optimum levels consistently.

Business improvement, Business performance, Corporate strategy, Employee development