Recent statistics report that only around one third of UK employees are actively engaged at work with over 64% considering that they have more to offer in skills and talent than they are currently demonstrating. This is a tragic waste in terms of potential, productivity and wellbeing! Imagine if everyone in your business were to think, act and feel as if they were the owner. How would this affect their behaviours and motivation levels? We need to move beyond simply “engaging” employees and instead aim for a “high involvement culture” where information, power and rewards are shared with everyone.

Over 30 years ago, Jack Stack, along with 12 of his colleagues bought out a failing division of International Harvester in the US and called the new company SRC Holdings. He quickly discovered that traditional management practices wouldn’t help turn the company around quickly enough and experimented instead with a different way of working. He reckoned that business has all the elements of a game; teams, rules, scores and results and used this as a means of educating employees on how the company made money. He called this methodology the Great Game of Business (GGOB) and SRC Holdings used this to tap into the enthusiasm, intelligence and creativity of their employees.

Although employee owned, the management team discovered that simply giving employees shares doesn’t make them think and act like owners but sharing financials with them and helping them to understand them does! The key is for employees to understand how the company really makes money so that they can identify with the overall business. This methodology also works in companies that aren’t employee owned as long as employees are able to share in the rewards through a well-designed bonus scheme.

Find out more about the GGOB at Great Game UK or come along to our free event at Stellar Europe in Irvine, Ayrshire on 28th April when you can hear how this business has experienced a turnaround in their financial performance as a result of implementing the GGOB and how mini games are used throughout the business to capitalise on opportunities or address an issue.

Just think how much more successful your company would be if everyone understood how profit is made!