The Great Game of Business Blog

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PRESS RELEASE: The Great Game of Business to Partner with ITR Economics

The Great Game of Business and ITR Economics are partnering to bring the insights and guidance of ITR Economics’ Industry Reports to The Great Game of Business practitioners.
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4 Best Practices for Employee Engagement

While the percentage of engaged employees in the US is higher than it has ever been, according to Gallup more than 50% of employees are unengaged: “they may be generally satisfied but are not cognitively and emotionally connected to their work and workplace; they will usually show up to work and do the minimum required but will quickly leave their company for a slightly better offer.” What’s worse—13% are actively disengaged employees who, in addition to being poor performers who exerted minimal effort, are four times more likely to leave their organization than the average employee.
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Communicate, Track, and Reward

I Quit The numbers speak for themselves. In October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the quit rates hit 2.9% in August 2021 - an all-time high since data was first collected in December 2000. Leisure and hospitality have been hit the hardest at 6.4%, followed by business and professional services at 3.7%.
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3 Essential Steps to Get Buy-In from Your Entire Company

“If people don’t participate, they don’t buy in. If they don’t buy in, they don’t commit. If they don’t commit, they don’t deliver!” These words can be found on page 348 of The Great Game of Business. What a simple yet powerful statement. Businesses, small and large, struggle with employees delivering on their metrics. Maybe it’s not a delivery problem, but a buy-in problem. According to Great Place to Work, Employees who find their job to have “special meaning: this is not ‘just a job’” are 4 times more likely to give extra to the company 11 times more committed to stay 14 times more likely to look forward to coming to work How can you give special meaning to their job? Get their buy-in on the plan.
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Top 6 Great Game No-Nos

Top Six Great Game No-Nos: What NOT to do if you (really) want to play The Game During the time that we’ve been helping others implement The Great Game of Business, we’ve seen the ups and downs and are often surprised by the number of people who are “fair-weather Great Gamers”, meaning they have passion and intent to play The Great Game of Business®, but are missing the mark in one or more areas. Here are the top six (because five just wasn’t enough) Great Game No-nos:
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A Contingency Plan Template for Business

If you’re an owner, president, or leader in your company, anticipating setbacks or failures isn’t an easy task. Even if you can foresee these unfortunate circumstances, developing a strategic plan may not be on the top of your to-do list. What’s your “Plan B” if you lose a big client or a client needs you to increase your support significantly? What happens during difficult times when the economy takes a downturn? Do you know what you would do if a critical team member were to leave during a busy season? If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that your business can’t wait until that moment occurs to find out.
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Do Financial Incentives Really Engage Employees?

I once had a conversation about how people get confused between “killer apps” and “the operating system.” For example: Business people get terribly frustrated when the latest management program or tool they’ve turned to doesn’t bring about lasting change. We always point out that great programs like Lean, Total Quality Management or the “Best Customer Service Plan Ever” are great apps – all super-effective tools that don’t build great companies all on their own.
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Make Staff Meetings More Effective: Stop Meeting, Start Huddling

Even if you feel you have your staff meetings down to a science, you may still struggle with keeping your employees engaged, informed and focused on the company’s goals. One of the biggest challenges in business today isn’t planning or even strategy; it’s the ability to execute company goals. Why? Many companies fail to consistently and openly discuss their wins and losses.
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4 Easy Strategies to Communicate Financials so Employees Can Understand

When it comes to financial literacy, it may seem overwhelming for those who don’t have a background in accounting or business. At first, nearly anything you say about the financials will sound absolutely foreign. So what can you do to break down this communication barrier? There are a number of techniques you can use when communicating the numbers to ensure everyone is on the same page. Here are four strategies to improve communication about financials with your employees:
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How SRC is Using The Game to Tackle its Critical Number: People

Most companies these days are struggling to find enough people to chase all the opportunities in front of them. SRC, the birthplace of the Great Game of Business®, is no exception. Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings, understands that if SRC is going to be successful in the long run, it needs to become a better competitor in the “War for Talent.” One way to do so is for SRC to leverage The Great Game of Business methodology to create a line of sight where everyone inside the organization is focused on that goal. By making people their Critical Number, this is no longer just a problem for the human resource department to overcome: it becomes the focus for the entire company.
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About The Great Game of Business

Our approach to running a company was developed to help close one of the biggest gaps in business: the gap between managers and employees. We call our open-book approach The Great Game of Business. What lies at the heart of The Game is a very simple proposition: The best, most efficient, most profitable way to operate a business is to give everybody in the company a voice in saying how the company is run and a stake in the outcome. Let us teach you how to develop a culture of ownership, where employees think, act and feel like owners.