In today’s competitive business world, company success is often limited by a lack of employee engagement and accountability. But what if every employee understood how the company made money—and their role in it? The Great Game of Business (GGOB), a unique approach to business management founded by Jack Stack, offers companies a powerful system to bring transparency, engagement, and a sense of ownership to every team member. This is exactly the culture that Jeff Brannon, owner of Integrity Blinds & Shutters, wanted to bring to his company.
But what is The Great Game of Business? At its core, The Great Game of Business is about educating employees on the company’s financials and showing them how they impact its success. It teaches everyone in the company how the business generates profit, how it uses resources, and how each individual’s role affects the bottom line. Instead of treating finances as a mystery, GGOB promotes a culture of transparency and financial literacy, aiming to turn employees into business partners who work toward shared goals.
GGOB Launch at Integrity
Once Integrity made the decision to go forward with GGOB, a GGOB business consultant met with Integrity’s design team—a small group of Integrity employees that represented different divisions of our company. The design team learned about financial literacy, reviewed our company’s financial documents, and learned how to forecast each category of our company’s finances. They also evaluated factors that affect our finances and crafted a plan to implement GGOB for each team member at Integrity.
Integrity’s full GGOB launch involved a day of learning, training, and team building. Our GGOB business consultant, Jeff Brannon, and the design team did an excellent job of educating and training the rest of our team on the ins and outs of this system. Nothing draws a company together more than every single employee looking into the nitty gritty details of our company’s finances with the shared goal of saving money and increasing the bottom line!
Moving Forward with GGOB at Integrity
Team huddles over each line of Integrity’s finances now happen weekly. Certain employees have ownership of a line item and are required to report either expenditures or income received. They also help in forecasting numbers for their line item for monthly reports. On top of this, we discuss what aspect of our business is impacted by each line item. This often leads to discussion on ways we can be more cost efficient.
One way that the founders of GGOB encourage companies to implement cost saving practices is through mini games. A mini game is focused on a very specific area of our business operations where there is a potential for saving money. Mini games are usually formed by smaller teams of employees who are working toward the same goal. Each of these games have goals, a theme, and progress rewards. They have been very successful in helping our team reduce costs by becoming more efficient in our day to day operations. As Jami Duncan from our design team said, “Who knew financial literacy could be fun?”
The Benefits of GGOB
Why would a business owner like Jeff Brannon use his company’s resources and time on something like The Great Game of Business?
1. Financial Transparency Builds Trust and Engagement
One of the most powerful aspects of The Great Game of Business is its emphasis on financial transparency. By teaching employees about the company’s finances, they understand the real costs of operations, the impact of their work, and the company’s financial health. This transparency helps build a sense of trust across all levels as everyone sees the same numbers and knows where the company stands.
Transparency also drives engagement, as employees become active participants in the company’s financial well-being. Instead of working in the dark, employees see their contributions and can actively help the company reach its goals.
2. Increased Employee Motivation and Sense of Ownership
When employees are equipped with financial insights, they feel more like business partners than just workers. GGOB creates an environment where employees feel a sense of ownership, which directly impacts their motivation. Knowing that their efforts make a difference, employees are motivated to innovate, increase efficiency, and take pride in their work.
3. Enhanced Collaboration and Communication
GGOB facilitates collaboration across departments through regular team meetings where employees track financial goals, discuss progress, and address challenges together. By keeping everyone in the loop, GGOB fosters an environment where departments support each other in pursuit of the company’s overall financial objectives.
This approach also improves communication by removing any walls that often divide departments. Everyone is encouraged to share ideas and contribute to solutions, knowing that their efforts are part of a larger goal.
4. Accountability and Shared Responsibility
One of the greatest benefits of The Great Game of Business is the shift in accountability. Rather than solely resting on top management, accountability becomes a shared responsibility. Each employee is responsible for their contributions to the financial outcomes, which encourages them to be proactive problem-solvers.
By tracking finances openly, employees can directly see how their performance impacts the business. With GGOB, employees no longer wait for managers to fix issues; they take ownership and tackle challenges as they arise.
5. A Culture of Performance-Driven Success
GGOB adds an element of gamification to goal-setting, making achieving financial goals exciting and rewarding for employees. Scoreboards, mini-games, and incentives keep everyone motivated and engaged in hitting targets. By creating specific, measurable goals tied to the company’s financial success, GGOB drives a high-performance culture that fuels continual improvement.
6. Sustained Long-Term Growth
A well-executed GGOB approach leads to long-term business growth by cultivating financially savvy, engaged, and motivated employees who contribute actively to the company’s success. Companies that adopt GGOB often find themselves experiencing steady growth and profitability, as each employee feels invested in the outcome.
The management at Integrity has shown how much they care for their employees by investing the company’s time and money into GGOB. It gives each associate an opportunity to grow in financial literacy as well as gain from a designated bonus system. The benefits of this program will not only impact the growth of this company, but also the life of each employee.
