Every year, like a little kid, I dread the passing of summer, but in recent years I’ve found a reason to look forward to what follows Labor Day, specifically the Annual Gathering of Games. It’s a special conference where I reconnect with old friends and learn something new – but this year’s Gathering was extra special for me.

When John Costello took the stage on the second day of the 27th Annual Gathering of Games conference, he had already won a bet with his wife, who happened to be in the audience. Costello, the CEO of Cherry’s Industrial, had wagered that it might only be a few minutes into his talk before he’d start crying. He was right. But the tears that Costello shed on stage—which then quickly spread among the 700 rapt audience members—weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of relief; freedom from a heavy burden that he had been carrying on his shoulders for years.

  As a practitioner of open-book management at an employee engagement software company, I have a unique front-row seat to the Great Game of Business®. I’ve seen the impact it has on our own employees’ engagement, as well as many of our customers’. As our friends at Great Game™ often share, organizations who subscribe to the open-book methodology have employee engagement levels that are three times higher than the national average. By tying the work employees are doing daily to the outcomes and success of the company, these leaders are giving employees more reasons to invest their full hearts and minds in their work.

At the 27th Annual Gathering of Games Conference, The Great Game of Business® will celebrate the 19th Great Game of Business All-Star Team. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business, and have demonstrated outstanding results. The inspiration for the All-Star Awards came from the pioneers of open-book management themselves. Great Game All-Stars not only practice The Game at a high level, they embody a spirit of generosity and a willingness to openly spread the word to help others succeed. That is the essence of the All-Star Awards! Here's your chance to check out the 2019 finalists and vote on your favorites for this year's All-Star People's Choice Award. 

I believe Evergreen™ businesses are the most important companies in our society today—successful, profitable, and lasting companies, those that positively impact their employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and most importantly, families. These companies are fueled by purpose, put people first, and are committed to continually growing to last 100 years—or more. In many Evergreen companies, GGOB plays an essential role in the competitive advantage that these businesses enjoy. 

I recently saw a semi-truck with a large arrow pointing towards the cab of the truck and this statement, “Our greatest asset sits 63 feet up here.” I have seen it before, but this time it struck me differently. I thought, Does the culture of that company support this statement or is it no more than a marketing slogan? Companies want to be “on top”, “cutting edge”, “innovative”. The question is: Does the culture support the cutting edge marketing? It’s great to have a catchphrase or some values on the wall, however, it is not easy to lead a group of people every day, month, and year after year. It’s not easy to lead the pack and in fact I am going to say DON’T lead the pack.  Lead yourself first. Any great coach will tell you to know your team, but do you know yourself, who you are, and why you do what you do?

As business leaders, we care deeply about employee engagement, but we can’t operationalize a culture of engagement by ourselves. Without a strategy for scaling it across the business, it’s tough to move the needle. As my own business has grown, I’ve realized that the best thing we can do for our employees is to focus on the top two or three actions that will have the greatest impact—and hold our people-leaders or “trusted lieutenants” accountable as owners of those initiatives.

We all know the fundamental building blocks of the Great Game of Business®: 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? Two common choices include cash bonuses and equity sharing. Many owners, especially those new to the Game, are skittish about sharing equity with employees. They can’t always put their finger on why it makes them nervous, but the reality is that using equity interests can be a great way to provide a stake in the outcome to your associates.

How does someone take three conservative intellectual property businesses with very traditional cultures and transform them into an engaged, high-performing business?  To compound the challenge, we were now publicly listed and were moving the business from a partnership model to complete transparency. The Great Game of Business® helped us to overcome these challenges, culturally transform our business, and achieve both improved engagement and financial results. In the process, we learned four important lessons:

You just can’t find good help these days!  If you're like me, you've heard this saying and have likely said it yourself a thousand times! It has been so difficult and discouraging to find the right employees to hire in our company that, for about two years, I all but refused to grow my business. Growth meant I would have to hire and train new employees just to have them leave once we started seeing some real return from this new employee. And after twenty-five years of business, I did not want to continue fighting the with many millennials—often trouble with work ethic and frequent job-hoping. I had a choice: keep suffering or find a solution. So, I made it my mission to discover the real issue and determine a solution!

You’ve likely experienced people who occupy leadership positions and people who are leaders. There’s quite a difference. People who only occupy the position use power to get what they think is needed. Their use of questions often includes blame or demands control. Perhaps you’ve heard this one: “Don’t you agree, or is there something you didn’t understand?” People who are true leaders do the opposite. They ask questions to get people thinking about and owning the results of their work and the collective results of the company.

“Engagement” has become such a huge buzzword in our society that some CEOs and managers no longer even want to talk about it! But don’t be fooled—this topic isn’t going anywhere. With research organization Gallup reporting that a staggering 87% of employees worldwide are not engaged in the workplace… we have our work cut out for us.