1. As a business owner, never assume that informal socializing with employees is good enough. You must regularly meet one-on-one with your employees in a professional, confidential environment where true sharing is encouraged and rewarded. Additionally, I learned that employees that seem to get along socially do not necessarily respect one another professionally.

2. Take action quickly.

3. If your company is out of alignment, listen to your employees and let them know you are listening by sharing their suggestions with the whole company.

4. Get advice from other entrepreneurs. I was fortunate to have co-founded a group of 18 founders of high-growth startups called Starve Ups and received a lot of trusted advice from the trenches. Additionally, I am part of another group of advertising agency owners called Agency Owner Roundtable which is run through the Portland Advertising Federation. Both of these groups gave me pointers of real-world experiences on employee advice, branding advice, and strategic direction that I couldn’t get anywhere else.

5. You think you’ve delegated and given up a lot of control of your company, but you haven’t. If you want your company to soar, embrace delegation on every level and truly give key pieces of control to your employees. The Process Team is a result of this.

Bonus: Celebrate success when it happens.