It’s become apparent that we celebrated the end of the pandemic a little early. Believe me, I was one of the first people who couldn’t wait to rip my mask off. I hate wearing them. You can imagine the sense of relief I felt when I finally got my second shot. Then, as the COVID numbers dropped, and dropped some more, we could finally take our masks off. It seemed like we had really turned the corner on this thing.
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As a grandfather to eleven beautiful grandchildren, I spend a lot of weekends out on the soccer and baseball fields watching these kids tear around. I think that’s why a scene from the movie Parental Guidance, starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, continues to stick with me. Billy, who plays a professional baseball announcer, is sitting in the stands, watching his grandson pitch for his Little League baseball team. The grandson rears back and throws a pitch, and the hitter swings and misses. Billy is ecstatic as he calls out, “Strike one!” Then, as the hitter swings through the second pitch, Billy yells out, “Strike two!” Now he’s really excited as the third pitch comes in, and, as the batter misses yet again, Billy stands up and calls, “Strike three! Yer outta there!” But nobody else seems to notice as the pitcher, catcher, and umpire all get back into position. That’s when Billy calls out to the umpire, “Hey, Blue, three strikes! He’s out!”
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Surveys show that employees don’t usually participate in The Great Game of Business® until they feel comfortable with the numbers and with the whole idea of the GGOB. Fortunately, there are plenty of other ways to quickly build a sense of excitement and a feeling of empowerment within your organization. What is Employee Empowerment? It relies on a single core principle: giving employees the right resources, whether it's financial literacy education, hands-on training, or new tools, to make accurate decisions on behalf of the company. Benefits of Employee Empowerment Improved workplace culture. Heightened productivity. Better quality work. Organization-wide engagement. Here are 5 tips that will get your employees engaged and empowered:
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Do you feel like your leadership team is finally ready to take the leap and open the books? But, you're worried some of your team aren't as enthusiastic as you hoped they would be? If you’re ready to start sharing your financial and operational information with employees, but you get the sense they’re just not ready yet, there could be some very logical – and common – reasons why. Today we discuss the top four reasons employees aren't ready to jump on the open-book management bandwagon. Maybe there's one or two that apply to your team.
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Imagine a number, that if identified, would represent the single most important thing in your life; the one thing that would change everything. Whoa. That would indeed be awesome. But there’s more to it than that. There’s myth and magic that surrounds what we call the Critical Number™—that one operational or financial metric that represents a weakness or vulnerability that impacts the long-term security of the business. This clearly defined, company-wide goal will indeed change your business. And yes, it will change your life. But the Critical Number is not magic.
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If you’re like most business leaders, you’re always looking for ways to educate, empower and engage your employees. Want proof? Studies show that 90 percent of leaders think an engagement strategy will have an impact on business success. The only problem? Barely 25 percent of them have a strategy for implementing it.
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Learning about open-book management is one thing; putting it into practice is quite another. Because it’s such a big business strategy change, many business owners are hesitant to take the plunge. To help you envision how to get started with open-book management (OBM), here’s a Q&A with a real-life practitioner who recently implemented OBM at her company:
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“We need to sell more stuff!” “If only the sales team was on a plan, we would be hitting our profit numbers and making bonuses!” Do you ever hear this chatter in your company? When our bottom line profits are not up to par, we all have a tendency to first focus on the top line. When in reality, there are all kinds of opportunities internally to boost profits. In most companies, additional profits are slipping through the cracks every day.
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When I think about all of the times I’ve been hired for various jobs over the course of my life, I have the benefit of 20-20 hindsight to see the enormous impact that training had on my success (or failure) in each job. Although I’ve now worked for Zingerman’s almost seven years, I still remember going through the hiring and orientation process, most particularly as a seasonal, temporary employee at Zingerman’s Mail Order. In fact, my experience at Mail Order is a big part of the reason that I wanted to stick around after that fast-paced, fun, and all-too-brief holiday season!
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Playing The Great Game of Business can be a real rush, especially in the beginning. It’s a new concept for most people, so there’s an initial excitement when everyone is first figuring out how this all works. But the romance can fade, and if it does, The Game can become just another routine office chore. How can you tell if the romance is fading? There are four obvious danger signs. Individually, they can just be one or two people being grumpy, but collectively, they can signal that people are starting to take The Game for granted. So here’s what you need to be wary of:
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