Get In The Game is the must-have companion book to The Great Game of Business. Authors Rich Armstrong and Steve Baker provide a practical field guide on how to apply the principles of The Game in your business to create rapid financial results and lasting cultural change.
In my last book recommendation, I shared with you the core principles of The Great Game of Business. Check it out here if you missed it. At the heart of Jack Stack’s and Bo Burlingham’s breakthrough work is open-book management and the team being equipped with business understanding, the power to act, and incentives to win as a team.
Get In the Game is about the implementation of these principles. It’s a very practical book that is about understanding the various steps that are needed to create a totally transformed organisation, from the ‘command and tell’ kind of leadership to ‘centred and compassionate’ leadership.
First it’s about starting with the right leadership. Have we got the right organisation at exco and middle management level? And are they focusing first on why we need to transform? What is the purpose of, and compelling reason for, transformation?
Then it’s about teaching the rest of the organisation about numbers and focusing on the critical numbers, right drivers and meaningful KPIs in the organisation. It also gives great examples on how to get early buy-in from team by creating mini-games. We’ve had a successful implementation of a short-term, mini-game focusing on specific targets with one common goal for the whole organisation. The plan was implemented within a variance of 1.5% of the forecast. This stuff works!
From an employee engagement perspective, it lastly looks at how we get team members to have a stake in the outcome, the final principle of The Game. It gives various examples on how to do that and also looks at different approaches to engagement and communication on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis across organisations and functions.
This is simply a must-have if you are keen to lead differently and cultivate an organisation equipped to thrive, while mastering both people and profit.
To find out more information about this book, visit Amazon HERE, or even better, order your copy at your local bookstore.
If you want employees to think and act like an owner, you must treat employees like owners. You must involve them in the business much like owners are involved. That is how you sow the seeds of true engagement and create an ownership culture.
Ann’s Favourite Quote From Get In the Game by Rich Armstrong and Steve Baker