Owning any dispensary, cultivation facility or production facility in the cannabis industry turns out to be a lot more than many investors and owners originally bargain for.  Seriously, ask a cannabis business owner in a state that has been legalized and well-regulated (so…not California) and they will tell you that they knew there would be obstacles, but there were more than they prepared for.  

Owning a cannabis business makes you part of a social movement.  It makes you a part of social change.  Everything you do is judged harsher because this is an industry people are skeptical about.  Keeping your team content and thriving in an ever changing and sometimes turbulent industry is a giant challenge.  Here are 5 things you can do with your personal morale, to enhance your team morale:

Stay up to date on the industry on a national level, if not international

• Know what’s up in markets outside of your own. Customers and clients constantly have questions about what it’s like in other states and you need to be able to provide them with that information in order to gain respect as an expert in your field.
• You can only effectively lead your staff in navigating the industry if you know the state of the industry on a national level.

Thoroughly educate staff

• Don’t expect your staff to know everything they need to know just because they consume the product.
• Be continually educating and promoting the use of research.
• Be active in making learning part of the work environment, don’t expect employees to do everything on their own.
• Create leaders, not just employees:  With such a new industry, the workplace doubles as an educational institution.  You are creating the leaders of the industry.
• Appreciate the fact that you have some of the most passionate staff members of any industry.  Cannabis industry workers are excited to be part of the industry, they are hopeful about the future and they love the product.  Don’t kill this, feed it.  Feeding it will only improve your business culturally and financially.

Keep cannabis culture alive

• One of the best things about cannabis is its social, compassionate and laid back culture.  Of course it is best to make the industry increasingly sophisticated but be careful to not suck the life out of it.
• I have met with numerous business men who have now decided to enter the cannabis industry and are frustrated with how “purist” people in the industry are.  Listen, you are here to improve upon what exists in the cannabis space thus far, not to demolish and rebuild.  Don’t smash the culture.  Learn about it, understand it and then figure out how to integrate it into your ultimate success plan.

Integrity in operations

• The state of the industry is in your hands.  Breaking the stigma of cannabis is in your hands.  Running your business with integrity is imperative to break the idea that cannabis is criminal and shady.  
• Take pride in compliance. Follow the rules so well that it pushes innovation and shows the world that cannabis businesses are not simply street dealers with fancy storefronts and cool equipment.

Strive to be the standard, not to simply meet industry standard

• Industry standard in a primitive industry means very little.  Things have to continue moving forward and up for the industry to successfully establish a respectable reputation.
• Be flexible and open to doing things differently, and doing things better than they have done before.