We often hear it, “You need to give people a sense of ownership—the feeling that they are being treated as if they are an owner, even if they aren’t.” A sense of ownership can include input into decisions on how the job is done, open-book management, meetings with the boss, celebrations of wins, and other techniques well known to Great Game players. But is a sense of ownership enough? 

  (reprinted with permission from NCEO.org) ESOPs can be an ideal business transition solution for many business owners, providing a way to preserve their legacy with employees and the community, get a fair price, retain a role in the company if they like, and get unmatched tax benefits in the process. But while ESOPs are not right for many companies, over the years, we at the NCEO have heard a lot of unconvincing or downright incorrect reasons not to do an ESOP. Unfortunately, too many business owners decide not to do an ESOP based on these bogus rationales. Here at the NCEO, our goal is not to convince anyone to implement an ESOP but to help people make a well-informed, sensible decision. With that in mind, below is a list of twelve reasons you might have heard about why not to do an ESOP that are just wrong, followed by seven very legitimate ones.

We all know the fundamental building blocks of the Great Game: Know and teach the rules Follow the action and keep score Provide a stake in the outcome When it comes to that third step – providing a stake in the outcome – what’s the best way to do that?  There are really just two choices: cash bonuses; or equity sharing.

From April 11–14, the Great Game of Business team will hit the road for Minneapolis, MN, for the NCEO 2016 Employee Ownership Conference.

Nearly every day, a business owner makes the personal decision to retire. That’s an easy decision to reach in principle. But what about the specifics? The concrete plan? Figuring that out can be overwhelming.

  We’ve seen countless articles on why managers and business leaders need to focus on engaging employees–not only is it generally an important predictor of company performance–but it leads to stronger communication, higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, and increased productivity and profitability. These benefits are widely recognized in organizations running open-book management systems; they encourage higher levels of engagement by their very nature.

Coming up on April 21-23, 2015, the Great Game of Business team will hit the road for Denver, Colorado, for the National Center for Employee Ownership’s annual Employee Ownership Conference. The NCEO Employee Ownership Conference is the premiere gathering on employee ownership, and the NCEO’s annual conference provides an ideal opportunity to learn, network and share knowledge with others in the employee ownership world.

Argent Tape & Label (ATL) is a manufacturer in Plymouth, Michigan, which produces pressure-sensitive labels used by industrial customers in the automotive, pharmaceutical and consumer industries.  Business Challenges Lynn Perenic was a teacher, where she taught elementary education and then special education at the high school level for a total of 20 years, before she ever contemplated becoming an entrepreneur. But after her husband talked about closing ATL, which he had purchased back in 1995, because of its poor performance, Perenic stepped in to try and save the business. But with just three associates and virtually no customers, she had a difficult task ahead of her.

Don't miss the largest ESOP conference in the world! The Great Game of Business will be there to share how we use open-book management to drive amazing results in our company ESOP. 2013 Las Vegas ESOP Conference & Trade Show: November 13 & 14, 2014 | Cesars Palace 

A Stake in the Outcome: Should You Consider an ESOP? Maybe so, if it kills two birds with one stone. It’s fundamental: to play the Great Game successfully, employees need to have a stake in the outcome.  Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine why they would go to all the extra trouble to help the company boost its performance.  But what’s the best way to provide that?

Should you sell your company? It’s a question many business owners will eventually face. But just as vexing might be the added notion of: whom should you sell your business to? One alternative that continues to gain in popularity is to sell your business to an ESOP, or employee stock ownership plan. It’s estimated that there are now some 11,500 ESOPs operating today, which account for some 13.7 million participants – or 10% of the entire U.S. workforce.

Recently, we sat down with Frank Shipper, a Professor of Management in the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, to discuss his ongoing research and findings on open-book companies, such as our team here at SRC. Dr. Shipper, who specializes in researching employee ownership and culture, figures he first heard about Jack Stack and SRC more than 20 years ago. He knew right away that SRC was doing something special; similar to what other employee-centric companies he had studied (like Lincoln Electric, Herman Miller, W. L. Gore & Associates, and Atlas Container Corporation) were doing. “The difference is that SRC has developed an business operating system that can turnaround a gritty/dirty blue-collar firm,” says Shipper. “They went from the brink of bankruptcy to a level of success that would embarrass many high-tech firms.”