Soar to Success April 2020

Open Your Books to Increase Employee Engagement By Lisa Ryan L eadership transparency is a big deal when it comes to creating a culture of engagement in the workplace. One of the best ways to do this is by sharing your books with your employees. I know what you’re thinking. There is NOWAY we’re going to let our employees see the “behind the scenes” of my company. That is NONE of their business. Well, in a few words, “yes, it is.” Face it. Your employees believe that your company and your leadership team is making gazillions of dollars each year. The only time they ever really hear about finances is when times are tough, and cutbacks need to bemade. It’s nowonder they don’t believe you. By sharing the “real story” in good times and inbad times, you’ll close the gap that exists betweenownershipand theworkforce. I recently interviewed the CEO of a large air conditioning contracting company. He went to open book leadership years ago. When he first introduced the concept, his leadership team fought him tooth and nail over the idea. He persisted and little by little they started to share. The initial reaction fromthe employeeswas “Thank you somuch for trusting us enough to showus the numbers.” Their company growth has skyrocketed, and their turnover is extremely low. He’s also found that because his employees know how tough it really is to make money in a business