Organization Background
imageOne is a 28-year-old company that provides managed print services, which includes sales and service for copiers, printers, scanners as well as supplies and software solutions.
“The Great Game of Business® (GGOB) has helped me to feel like I can be an agent of change in our business. I have so much gratitude for imageOne for allowing their team members to act as owners. Knowing that your thoughts and ideas matter makes a world of difference. When you feel that your input matters a job is no longer a job—it is a joyful gift.” ~ Holly Linton, Junior Accountant
Challenge
The company initially saw Great Game™ as a system that could help them reverse a scary financial slide where revenue and profit growth had gone negative. More recently, they’ve used the system to help overcome the slowdown in their sales pipeline and as a way to better connect and engage their team in where the business will go into the future.
Solution
Embrace the principles of GGOB, including teaching financial literacy company-wide, as a way to unite all employees to think and act like owners.
Results
The imageOne team has focused their Critical Number™ on net profit since they began playing the Great Game in 2015 as a way to better measure if they are on track to achieve their ten-year vision as well as their annual team member bonus plan. Not only did the team shatter their 2018 profit goal by more than $500,000, they also recognized that the company’s profits are up more than $900,000 since 2015. “Once our team understood the impact every single individual could have on our bottom line, they understood how much fun playing GGOB could be at the same time,” says Dube. “We have seen so much creativity and fun in MiniGames™, visuals, rewards, and huddle activities.”
“The balance sheet is the company’s thermometer. It lets you know whether you’re healthy or not. At every company meeting we go through our balance sheet. It has allowed our team to row in the same direction. It keeps our goals out in the open for everyone to share in and contribute effort towards. Once the goal is met it then allows the success that comes from it to be shared equally by the team. As the team becomes more invested in the success of our organization as measured by the balance sheet, it allows for a higher level of employee engagement, and the dedication to do the right thing for all involved. The byproduct of exceeding goals as a team is that it cuts through a ‘we’/’they’ mentality that can silo other organizations. GGOB is an amazing tool that has added new elements to the culture at imageOne. It adds definition to the areas of our business that might otherwise have been considered gray.” ~ Dan Driscoll, Michigan Tech Team Lead
MiniGame™ Spotlight:
Designating a MiniGame champion has helped keep the imageOne team motivated while also reminding everyone that MiniGames are great tools to solve business challenges. Their designated champion, Samantha, even created a MiniGame to create MiniGames! To make sure MiniGames are always top-of-mind for each department within the company, the imageOne team also has a highly visible MiniGame scorecard which highlights which teams have played a MiniGame each quarter.
“I feel it has unified and strengthened us and made dealing with challenges really fun. The use of MiniGames helps us creatively solve business challenges and sheds light on areas of the company that I may not have had an insight into. On a personal level, I am able to set and then break down larger financial goals with my children into smaller MiniGames, which they really enjoy. Right now we have a VR headset MiniGame going with my son, and I'm confident he's making the small changes he needs to reach his September deadline and win his Big Game! The GGOB experience is one that will stay with me for a lifetime. I am grateful!” ~ Tracey Iverson, Marketing Coordinator
What’s Next?
As an improvement goal for the coming year, Dube would like the team to get stronger at their line item ownership on the income statement—and to make sure that everyone feels like their voice is being heard. He’d also like to see how to make more mundane lines, like travel costs and general office purchases, more meaningful to the entire team. One experiment they’re beginning is to create committees of people to own a bucket of related line items as a way to spread the responsibility of finding new ways to report the stories behind those numbers among a team of people. “If people are part of the process they buy in,” says Dube. “It also gives the team more insight into the company as a whole and to think about other departments and how we work together as a team. That’s why GGOB is a transformational force. It’s not just changing your business, it’s changing lives for the better. It’s why we do this.”
“Playing MiniGames has brought so much energy and focus to everyday tasks that might have been otherwise overlooked. The GGOB has showed me how one small change in the way I do things every day can have such a large impact on our bottom line!” ~ Karla Stickney, Customer Care Representative
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