I’ve worked with people who absolutely love their jobs. And I’ve worked in offices where people couldn’t wait to quit, and toxic negativity was the norm.

What makes the difference?

I think about this a lot. When it comes to designing my business, I don’t want to just build a money-making machine. I want to build a company that improves my life and the lives of my employees.

In this post, I’ll share seven key principles that have positively impacted our culture at Knapsack.

Let’s go!

1. Have a mission that matters

At Knapsack our mission is to “Create the world’s best web design experience.” I’m excited about this mission! Our whole team is excited about this mission!

It matters to us because thousands of business owners go through the typical web design process and have a bad time. They use words like “painful” and “nightmare”.

We want to fix that! And we know that making website design painless and enjoyable will tangibly make our customer’s lives better.

Think about this:

What motivates you as a business owner is totally different than what motivates your team.

The hard truth is that your team doesn’t care about your revenue goals. They probably get paid the same either way. What they want is to do something at work that actually matters. It’s up to you to figure out a mission that is meaningful to you and your team and makes a real impact on the world.

2. Put your team first

Here’s a question – When you buy a new computer for the office are you always the one who always gets the newest one? Or does it go to the person who needs it most?

When you’re creating a vacation policy are you trying to get away with giving your employees the fewest vacation days possible without them complaining? Or are you thinking about what’s best for the wellbeing of your people?

It’s not wrong to enjoy the benefits of business ownership. And you have to be smart financially. But you can do that in a way that is human. A way that puts your team first.

Remember this – When your people know that you have their back, they’ll have yours too.

Instead of thinking of yourself as the boss, try thinking of yourself as a coach that has the best interests of your team in mind. Serve them by giving the best tools and processes so they can succeed at work.

3. Give feedback often

When I first became a team leader back at my corporate job, it was hard. I did not like giving negative feedback to people. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. Eventually I realized that when you don’t give people feedback, they miss an opportunity to get better. That doesn’t hurt just you. It hurts them.

Giving honest feedback is actually the kind thing to do. Give people feedback on what they can do better.

When you give feedback, you can do it in a positive and constructive way. Tell them what you’ve observed, what you want them to improve, and give them the tools and resources to get better. Show them that you’re betting on them and that they can get even better at what they do.

I recommend doing a pre-scheduled quarterly check-in with each of your team members so that you make it part of your regular routine to give feedback. This can help you get started if you don’t feel comfortable giving feedback yet.

4. Be emotionally in touch

To be a good leader, you need to know how the people on your team really feel.

The people on your team are humans, not robots. Robots will do what they’re told no matter what, but humans are different.

Good employees will usually do what is asked of them, but even the best will burn out if their work doesn’t line up with their values and skills, or is too much for them to handle.

That’s why you need to really know how your employees feel about their jobs, your company, and the future of their career. When you know how they really feel and what they value most in life, you can make small adjustments to their jobs that can make a big difference to their happiness.

Check out my podcast episode “Are you emotionally intelligent?” for more on this topic.

5. Trust your people

You need to be able to fully trust your team to get their work done when it needs to get done.

I’ve talked with many business owners who don’t trust their people. They’re always wondering whether they’re really working from home.

Let me be clear – It is important to set standards of what’s acceptable and not acceptable to do on company time. And I think it’s smart to set up a transparent, accountable environment where everyone knows what everyone else is working on and it’s not tempting to slip into lethargy.

But once you’ve done that, you need to trust your people to do their work and get it done on time unless they give you reason to do otherwise.

If you trust an employee and treat them like an adult, a good employee will appreciate that trust and will act like a responsible adult. If you treat an employee like a child, you’re teaching them that you don’t expect much from them and it will naturally make them want to act like a child.

6. Welcome feedback

When you’re an employee, it can be discouraging to see problems arise that you know could be fixed, only for them to be ignored by your boss. It’s downright depressing.

If you don’t take the feedback of you team seriously, you’re teaching them that they can’t make things better, and that you don’t really care. Eventually they’ll give up.

Here’s the truth – Your people have great ideas. Often they might have better ideas than you since they’re on the front lines of your business and see the problems that customers have first-hand.

What you need is a system that will help you gather your team’s problems and ideas and evaluate them so you can innovate relentlessly.

Imagine – Instead of feeling depressed and frustrated, your team will feel hopeful and empowered.

At Knapsack the whole team posts ideas and problems that come up throughout the week to an internal Slack channel and we discuss each one as a team every Friday. This way we can evaluate each one and take action if needed.

If you’re interested in learning more about this process, just download our free guide to The Friday Habit System.

7. Correct problems quickly

If you notice someone doing something on your team that doesn’t feel quite right - in other words, it’s contrary to the culture you want - address it immediately.

Have you heard the saying “Your culture is what you tolerate”?

I think that’s true. If you allow toxic negativity to happen, that’s going to be your culture. If you allow your team to badmouth your clients, that’s going to be your culture.

However, if you call it out immediately and put a stop to it before it gets out of hand, you’re doing your team a service. You’re protecting the thriving team culture that makes your company a great place to work.

Remember – Your own behavior as a leader is the most important influence on the culture of your company.

Now go be a leader that others want to follow!