.png)
When the leadership team asked us a year and a half ago to lead Venturity’s Great Game journey, we weren’t sure what to expect. As a group, we all had visions of success, but also threads of trepidation because a lot of the success was riding on our shoulders. This was a huge responsibility and required us to stretch our own leadership and team-building skills.
We knew at the beginning that we would be responsible for leading the entire Venturity team in the Great Game of Business® and helping to set and continue the overall direction. We spent hours every week in those initial months understanding the Great Game and creating it for Venturity. What we didn’t realize at the time was the powerful impact the Great Game of Business would have on the culture of our organization overall, and how this would translate into much more than financial success.
To some extent, it’s impossible to fully understand how the Great Game of Business could change a company. Sure, we all read the book, heard success stories, and were being coached by Wayne Whitesell, but we had to live it to completely understand it.
In keeping with our team approach, we thought the best way to bring our collective experiences to life would be to have each of us on the Venturity Experience Team (VET), formerly known as the Design Team, share one lesson from the Great Game that has been especially meaningful for us.
- “As we’ve moved through this journey, The Game has morphed into every aspect of our business. While we thought that we would be focused on only our Critical Number™ in business, we’ve realized there are so many other ways that we can help our business evolve through playing.” – Shelly Strother, controller
- “Venturity’s values, which we call Passions, have always been core to our business. Now with the VET, we’re able to align our recommendations and tie them directly to our Passions and support our Mission.” – Hannah Merworth, staff accountant
- “We’ve found that no problem is outside the scope of The Game. While this isn’t how we originally saw things working, it’s been a game changer. We now have a process that all of Venturity can use to solve organizational challenges. We’ve even started using the scoreboard to help us solve problems outside of the goals we were originally focused on in The Game.” – Mark Mikhail, assistant controller
- “I feel passionately about The Game and love the structure it brings to our decision-making. We encourage the entire Venturity team to never miss a Huddle, and if they do miss to watch the recording. Issues are brought to Reporting Teams (everyone in the company is assigned to a reporting team) for discussion and idea generation in order to bring about change. While the numbers help drive our decisions, we’ve also found it’s important to be flexible and make changes when necessary to stay aligned with our goals.” – Dustin Whitley, controller
- “Being on this journey and seeing the impact that each team member can have on the success of our business has been fantastic. When we finally realized the impact the Design Team was having on the culture of Venturity, we wanted to put more meaning behind the name of our team. Changing the Design Team name to the Venturity Experience Team was another step forward in tying our financial success to our people and culture.” – Melissa Turbiak, assistant controller
- “Being part of the VET is one of the things I love most about my job. In my day to day work, I know I’m having a positive impact on my clients by helping them run their businesses more efficiently. With the VET I’m able to do the same for our own company by looking strategically at how we can achieve the firm’s goals and by helping to formulate and facilitate solutions to those challenges. It’s awesome to see the direct correlation my work is having on our business, the added value I can provide to my clients, and the personal development I’m receiving through The Game.” – Shanna Morris, controller
- “Along with the financial scoreboard, that’s always present in our office, we’ve also recently developed a success board that gives us direction on maximizing emotional success as well as financial success. It also links The Game to our Mission and Passions. These tools are important reminders and mechanisms for the continued evolution of our culture and business.” - Michelle Gardner, CFO
What the entire Venturity team has found is that playing the Great Game of Business isn’t just about financial success. It’s offered us the opportunity to become a more cohesive team emotionally, which has strengthened our culture, and given us a common language for addressing all the challenges that come with a growing firm.
The biggest surprise, but also one of the most impactful, is that the Great Game has helped us develop the conscience of our culture, thus helping us to remain true to our Passions.
To learn more about Venturity's GGOB journey, visit their offices and see a live team-led huddle, register for Venturity's pre-conference practitioner workshop Growing with the Game at this year's Annual Gathering of Games.
Other Articles You Might Like:
