Why your company needs financial literacy training for successful open-book management. Have you ever watched a preschooler try to read a book? My youngest child has “read” me books since she was two – using only the pictures to come up with a story that might fit. My eight year old can pick up the same book and read it word-for-word. I would love to say it is because he is a super-genius, but the only difference between the two kids is education – he is literate because he has been taught to read. In business, we have to learn to read as well, except we don’t get colorful picture books. We get boring financial statements with the occasional highlighted section.

What can a truly engaged work huddle do for your Game play? There is tremendous excitement over the Great Game of Business when a company first begins to play The Game. The honeymoon phase usually lasts about as long as The Games are going well, but every once in a while, as a leader, you might be faced with some unengaged employees during your weekly huddles.

In our last post, we shared details from the methodology-focused tracks (Know & Teach the Rules, Follow the Action & Keep Score and Provide a Stake in the Outcome). Today, we'll continue to share highlights from the 22nd Annual Gathering of Games agenda by looking at the three featured tracks for the 2014 Conference.

We've all experienced it. We call the 1-800 support number only to experience numerous interchanges where we "order up" a solution to our problem via a multitude of automated commands... only to get disconnected or get denied service when we finally reach a real person.

The Annual Gathering of Games provides learning opportunities for beginner, intermediate and advanced Great Game® practitioners. We're able to bring you both new takes on foundational open-book practices as well as fresh ideas to take your Game to the next level by choosing speakers who are Great Game practitioners themselves.

“What does ‘accountability’ mean to you?” the facilitator asked the group of earnest managers, gathered to hear about the subject and hopefully apply it in daily work life.

Teaching employees how to read financial statements can be a daunting task. Everyone in your company has different levels of knowledge and experience with the numbers. It can be especially difficult when you have a seasonal workforce, like we do at Amy’s Ice Creams. We’ve been practicing open-book management since 2007; through the years, we’ve found that our favorite game shows have inspired us to make financial literacy training creative and fun.

Have you ever considered how open-book management can make the process of attracting top talent into your organization easier? What about employee retention? My company – Netmail, a 100+ employee company – has been practicing open-book for the better part of a decade. During that time, I’ve found that leveraging our transparent culture has significantly increased our ability to attract, acquire and retain top talent in our organization.

For 22 years, The Annual Gathering of Games has been the top resource for providing companies with educational sessions on open-book management, transparency, gamification, business & financial literacy, rewards & recognition, incentive programs, business planning and a slew of other topics that support the principles and practices of The Great Game of Business .

We're looking for reformed open-book management doubters, disbelievers, critics & skeptics to join us at the 2014 Annual Gathering of Games taking place September 3-5, 2014 in St. Louis, MO.