In an open-book company, we keep score in order to simply and consistently inform the players if they are winning or losing, and who is accountable. Check out these tips from Great Game Coach, Dave Scholten,  for measuring the right results to maximize The Game at your business.

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.

I might have raised a few eyebrows this past September when I gave my speech at the 26th Gathering of Games in Dallas. I talked about how we were now fighting a war for talent and that, thanks to retiring Baby Boomers and a hot economy, we now face a critical shortage of people. Without people, we will not be able to keep growing the business by taking advantage of the opportunities ahead of us. It’s our belief that by the year 2020, the companies with the best people will dominate their markets. In my speech, I explained that the Critical Number™ for our business for 2019 was going to be “people.” I thought that some members of the audience started to think they were at the wrong conference. (Was this some kind of HR seminar?)

Attracting and retaining talent is expensive. Period. As a Great Game player, you get it - every dollar counts. You also understand that The Great Game of Business is about money and people. So, how about using technology to save you and your team valuable time, and reduce costs in Human Resources? With it taking an average of 40 days and over $4,000 to make a hire and an average cost of $30,000 for losing a good hire, securing qualified talent in a competitive market is no doubt pricey. Investing in digital tools is a great chance to reduce these costs and save time when attracting and retaining talent.

  Attracting and retaining top talent is the #1 challenge most businesses face in today's competitive marketplace.  Organizations that practice OBM (open-book management) have a major competitive edge that they should use to their advantage in all recruiting efforts.  

  Unemployment is under 4%, the lowest it has been in 10 years, and today’s talent market is a lot more competitive. Is your talent strategy ready? Don’t let the best candidates fall into the laps of your competitors. Instead, up your game to become and remain an employer of choice. Here are three impact areas that will elevate your employer brand to attract and retain top talent:

  You have probably heard the cliche, "People want to buy from people they know, like and trust." Undoubtedly, you could change that to employees want to work for companies they know, like and trust. Let's have a discussion about attracting talent and employee retention.  As growth consultants, we witness companies intensively focus on acquiring new customers and put far less emphasis on customer retention or workforce engagement. These businesses are ignoring critical economic drivers of success. It is essential to establish a People+People Plan to create a positive brand experience for all stakeholders. So how do you build a brand reputation that attracts both customers and employees?  

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.

  There’s a big elephant in the room business owners need to start looking at if they haven’t already: the looming workforce shortage. While the media seemed to focus solely on the lack of jobs in recent years, the real story that’s going to impact businesses of all kinds in the coming years is the shortage of workers caused by the constant stream of Baby Boomers leaving the workforce. But what can those businesses that are already feeling the pain do about attracting new talent? Just as importantly, how can they better engage and retain the employees they already have?

This is the second in our series of weekly blogs on the Annual Gathering of Games, the world's largest conference on open-book management.  This year marks the 26th anniversary of the event, which attracts business leaders from companies of all sizes, in all industries, from all over the world, who recognize that they can transform their businesses by valuing and elevating their greatest resource: their employees.  These articles are written by Great Game employees to highlight some of the highest rated sessions at the 2017 conference.  We hope to give you a flavor of the content-rich sessions that can be found at The Gathering of Games.  Click the link below to hear the entire audio recording from this breakout session. 

    This is NOT a regurgitation of the obvious reasons great employees stay. Because great employees show up, deliver results and consistently go above and beyond to support the company, they could easily jump ship for a better job offer, or, if bold enough, strike out on their own. But they don't.

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.