You asked and we've answered! In this blog series, our experienced Great Game coaches answer questions directly from the open-book community. What is the best coaching tip you have for companies just starting to practice the Great Game of Business? Be sure the CEO is fully bought in, directly involved, is a main cheerleader, sets the example, and ensures that all involved (especially 100& of the leadership team) are enrolled and on board. Period! Create a solid communication and business literacy training process via a weekly Huddle rhythm.

Employee engagement is a hot topic as business owners are focusing on attracting and retaining top talent. How are you going to invest in your employees this year and keep them engaged? As an employer, are you up to par with what your staff is looking for? According to this survey from CareerBuilder, employees are saying they want to get ahead in their career and utilize more training, but aren't offered educational opportunities to learn the skills needed to do so: Only 32% of employees are satisfied with the opportunities for career advancement. 58% think their company does not offer enough opportunities to learn new skills and help them move up in their career. If offered, 73% of employees whose companies do not currently offer educational opportunities or workshops outside of work hours say they would be likely to participate if they were available. Developing Your Workforce is an Investment...Here's Why! Employees want to learn, grow, and contribute to the success of the organization. Have you considered training your employees in these areas?

If you have implemented The Great Game of Business® and are making progress in your company, you might be wondering what the next step is. How do you sustain The Game and keep your team engaged in the long-run? Here are some tips and tools to keep your current staff energized, and bring new employees up to speed on your Great Game™ culture and practices:

Giving employees equity is one thing. Getting employees to think and act like owners is an entirely different story. That’s why SRC Holdings Corporation has an Ownership Culture Committee (OCC) responsible for challenging each company to stay true to the principles and practices of The Game and spreading the culture of ownership to every employee in the SRC family of companies. With two major changes in leadership, a dip in the core business, and no sales manager, SRC Logistics, a division of SRC, knew 2019 would hold its challenges. In order to meet their annual plan and the metrics they needed to have a successful business year, their five-member Ownership Culture Committee helped facilitate MiniGames™ across all departments, provide educational trainings, promote cost savings and revenue opportunities, and ultimately close the gaps and have a successful 2019 year. Here’s how SRC Logistics turned their year around:

At the 27th Annual Gathering of Games Conference, The Great Game of Business® will celebrate the 19th Great Game of Business All-Star Team. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business, and have demonstrated outstanding results. The inspiration for the All-Star Awards came from the pioneers of open-book management themselves. Great Game All-Stars not only practice The Game at a high level, they embody a spirit of generosity and a willingness to openly spread the word to help others succeed. That is the essence of the All-Star Awards! Here's your chance to check out the 2019 finalists and vote on your favorites for this year's All-Star People's Choice Award.

Looking for some MiniGame™ inspiration? A MiniGame is a targeted day-to-day improvement challenge aimed at correcting a weakness or pursuing an opportunity in your company. We've got three examples from our the 2019 Great Game All-Star Team demonstrating how they took advantage of opportunities and found solutions to their efficiency problems in these MiniGames:

Are you ready to introduce Great Game™ to your employees? Reading the book as a group is a great way to establish the concepts of the Great Game of Business® with your staff, whether your company is new in implementing open-book management, introducing new hires to The Game, or refreshing your Great Game knowledge.

In order to get the most out of your MiniGame™, it's essential to clearly communicate all elements of the MiniGame to the players to ensure that everyone is on the same page, has a line of sight toward the goal, can easily tell if they're winning or losing, and who's accountable. GUY Engineering, a professional services firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, presented an excellent example of a MiniGame at the "Show Me Your MiniGame" session at the 26th Annual Gathering of Games. Their MiniGame hits all the essential MiniGame elements: establishing a specific, timely, achievable goal through a MiniGame, making the information available for everyone, motivating their team with fun and memorable prizes, and rallying everyone around the goal to achieve results.

At the Gathering of Games conference each year, the open-book community honors and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business®, and demonstrated outstanding results. We are excited to celebrate the 19th Annual All-Star Award Team. This team of All-Stars represents the companies who stand out as the best of the best in open-book management:

Essential Ingredients was founded in May 1996 in Augusta, GA. This cosmetic chemical and supply distributor has been 100% employee-owned since 2011, after a long history of keeping the financial information and challenges locked away for only management to see. There was one problem: the employees had never had any input or understanding of the company financials, and the financial downturn that followed the ESOP launch proved it. Although an ESOP is a great way to give associates a stake in the outcome® of the company, is a sense of ownership enough? Essential Ingredients quickly learned that an employee culture and ownership mindset among the employees may be even more impactful. The Great Game™ has been the turning point that helped all EI associates think and act like the owners they are and see tremendous results impacting revenue growth, the company's ownership culture, savings equating to more than $750K in sales, and earned EI a spot on the 2018 All-Star Team.