Peter Drucker is credited with saying, "culture eats strategy for breakfast". Even in today’s tech driven economy, a company’s human capital is still the most powerful potential competitive advantage. Great work culture is incredibly hard to build and even harder to maintain. Usually, workplace culture is measured in terms of employee engagement. The cultures I admire most built their employee engagement around these strategies below:

The best, most successful companies feature highly participatory cultures in which employees routinely identify problems and share and implement ideas. High engagement cultures take a lot of work—the right information, the right team structure, management commitment, training time, and more. But a key factor that is often overlooked is the need to create a safe environment in which people feel comfortable dealing with conflict, taking risks, and trying new ideas. This blog talks about why this matters and how to get there. 

Fear. It can control any situation, including situations in the workplace. Fear of making mistakes, fear of criticism, fear of losing credibility to your peers and superiors, fear of feeling unprepared.... these all inhibit creativity and prevent what Dallan Guzinski calls "psychological safety," a feeling of safety allowing individuals to be comfortable  contributing ideas and feedback. Based on his experience working as Director of Culture and Engagement at The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), Dallan introduces ways to build trust among your team and and more effectively solve serious workplace problems through classic improv techniques. 

When you hear the words “cheap and easy”, you might not automatically think of rewarding and recognizing the folks on your team. However, that’s exactly what your employee recognition program should be: an affordable, habitual pattern. While there is value to an occasional blow-out celebration, your employees will feel just as appreciated with frequent, small reminders that they are important. Take a look at some of these super-simple ways to show appreciation to your employees and improve workplace culture.

  What puts the-best-of-the-best in open-book management above the rest when it comes to an engaging workplace culture? We've asked this year's All-Stars how they have transformed their businesses to create a top-notch culture that promotes engagement and accountability throughout the entire organization. Check out what they said below!

At the 26th Annual Gathering of Games, we had the opportunity to host Gregg Stebben from ForbesBooks Radio as he interviewed participants from this year's conference. In this interview he highlights Kiolbassa Smoked Meats, a Texas company that has passed down traditional techniques three generations to current President, Michael Kiolbassa. Check out his interview below!

At the 26th Annual Gathering of Games, we had the opportunity to host Gregg Stebben from ForbesBooks Radio as he interviewed participants from this year's conference. Check out his interview with our 2018 Keynote Speaker, Ann Rhoades.    A Sneak Peak: What's Included in the Podcast Ann Rhoades' background with companies including Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, DoubleTree Hotel, and PF Chang's. Ann's experiences that led to her book, Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture that Outperforms the Competition. Ann's role in the People Department at Southwest Airlines, and how the Great Game was implemented at the company with the help of Jack Stack. The powerful impact of Great Game practices at Southwest and how they saved 15% in healthcare costs.  Her role as a founding executive at People Ink,  formed in 1999 to create  organizational cultures based on values and performance. Bridging the gap for women in leadership. The Great Game of Business and Millennials- a generation speaking up about what employees have wanted all along.

  The Gut+Science Podcast, hosted by Nikki Lewallen, features the nation's greatest leaders as they cut to the core of people-first cultures and ask CEOs how they are redefining employee engagement. Gut+Science recently featured The Great Game of Business' President, Rich Armstrong, as he discusses playing the Great Game, employee engagement, "gamifying" business and more.  Check out the full podcast below! Sneak Peek- What's Included in the Podcast: Definition of open-book management: four components The concept of "gamifying" business Business and the elements of a game Is every financial detail shared in OBM? Do company culture and employee engagement impact profitability? Education- who, how often, and how to educate through this process Common skills and values found in Great Game leaders Cross-departmental alignment MiniGames™ Lightning round- learn about Rich Armstrong  

Is talent your Critical Number™? While most of us focus on revenue or profit, Jack Stack took the stage at this year’s Gathering of Games and announced that hiring top talent was this year's important focus at SRC. The Great Game of Business Community embraces the idea that its both Money and People that drive results. As Great Game practitioners, I believe we are the coolest companies to work for in the world! However, most of us are just not telling that story to potential employees.

  Many of our favorite funny celebrities got their start in comedy with the famous improvisational theater group Second City in Chicago, Illinois. The rules for improv turn out to be great guidelines for anyone involved in various types of team-based work. Using the rules to improvisational comedy may seem like a strange way to improve your culture and business, but the foundations of effective improv are also the foundations for effective communication and teamwork: creativity and innovative thinking, active listening, open communication, trust, reciprocity, engagement, effective leadership, responding to mistakes or failures ... the list goes on.

  If you are just getting started with The Great Game of Business, let me begin by saying that last year I was you:  sitting in the audience at The Gathering of Games, at the beginning of our Great Game journey.   Fast forward a year, and we are a 2018 All-Star Rookie of the Year finalist.

Everybody loves a great story. So what’s yours? The benefits of good storytelling ripple out from gaining exposure to new customers, partners, and even employees—all of whom may be inspired to join your cause. Your story should be part of your brand and, at a minimum, be part of your website. But you don’t have to stop there. You can also use your story to connect with the media, or as an internal tool to help on-board new employees to help them understand what your company culture is all about.