In 1983, International Harvester was in deep financial trouble. Jack Stack and his fellow managers at the company’s engine remanufacturing facility in Springfield, Missouri, were scrambling to protect 119 jobs at the plant. Fast forward 36 years and SRC is struggling to find enough people to sustain the business over the long term.

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.

(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.