by Jack Guarnieri, PinballSales.com & ShuffleAlley.com

Good News: Your Business is Flat

Yow's business? That's a loaded question for sure. If you dare to ask a good friend, be prepared to hear a short answer if business is good. If business is bad, that will be another story. I have heard both lately from people in our industry. How can that be?

Maybe it's that time again to re-engineer your business. Are you thinking about getting out or buying up a competitor? What about just "staying the course" - we all see how that works. The RePlay blog has been filled with comments about the state of the industry. I especially like what Joe Pankus said in RePlay recently, "It's the quick eating the slow and not the big gobbling up the small."

Some companies consolidated and merged to become stronger and bigger. Some rose like a pyramid so that the people on top became isolated from the people on the bottom. Over time, those on the top forget what happens on the bottom. When business shifts, the movement is felt at the bottom, and the pyramid collapses under the weight.

The ideal structure of your company should be flat where everyone working is together on the same level. They can see, feel, communicate and understand the same things at the same time. With all of the methods of communication today, that is possible despite geographical distances. Amazingly, though, I still talk to key employees at companies who have no access to email.

In a flattened structure, no single employee is any better than another - even the owner. But everyone must follow the Three Cs, meaning each employee must Contribute, Communicate and have a goal in Common.

To contribute is not just showing up for work. It means that every employee should be encouraged to contribute ideas, talents and their experience. The value of an employee's contribution to the company is priceless. If you make your employees feel appreciated, they will contribute and help grow the company. Constructive criticism should not be construed as being too critical. Instead, it should be welcomed and weighed on the merits. No person and no company can do everything at 100% all of the time so there is always room for change and improvement.

Communication is a real buzzword in business these days. The practice of it, however, is often underused and misunderstood. It starts every morning when you walk into your place of business. Start every morning by greeting every employee. If it is a big company, perhaps greet a different department every day. Take the time to talk with your employees. That does not include barking orders at them but exchanging small talk, asking how they are doing and asking what can be done better in the company. Take time to listen and not just hear what they are saying. Take notes if necessary. Your employees want to know what you are thinking. They want to know what is going on, if the company is going in the right direction. Compliment them, encourage them and nurture them. Get them ongoing training and invest in them. They will then feel closer to the company.

If you find yourself closing your office door, ask yourself why. Are there that many secrets inside your company? If closing your door is an escape from your job, then you need to find another job or change the way you work. If your company keeps changing company policy or if you foster a culture of secrets, this will breed mistrust among employees and will lead to trouble. Treating employees on a need-to-know basis went out with Sputnik. Employees today are a lot smarter, and they can figure things out anyway. Even in our shrinking industry, they have choices about whether to stay or leave.

If necessary, remove every office door from its hinges. That will change the culture of secrets and gossip, which brings no money to the bottom line. Put your efforts toward building a team of people who work together and feel good about working with each other. (For more on how to make this happen, check out last month's RePlay article on team building, based on a recent AMOA Notre Dame session.)

If employees feel ownership and know that what they do has a direct effect on the profitability of the company, they will begin to forge a common goal. That team will unite to work for the common good of the company because the benefits will reward the employees' combined efforts. Is the only thing your employees have in common the fact that they all run out the door at 5 p.m.?

Do your employees take every sick or vacation day - squeezing everything they can from the place where they work? If they feel unappreciated they could be stealing everything from time to pencils or more to make up for what they believe they are owed. In my company, there is no sick-day policy. The rule is that if you are sick, stay home so you don't get everyone else sick. You still get paid, and you will get a chance to see a doctor or stay home and rest up. I have employees that over a period of five years have taken two or three sick days, total.

There are many advantages to having and keeping a company small. Growing is always a temptation, but if you want to expand there will be growing pains. If you do not have the right people, you cannot grow. A wise man in this industry told me that he would not open multiple offices. His dad told him that whatever he could make in his office, they would manage to lose in the other office(s) because he could not be in two places at once. The right people make the difference.

It's easy to give advice, but I try to live these things in my small company. If one person sneezes, everyone hears it. Most times we all work together having fun, but there is always one overriding, mutual goal - to make our customers as happy as we are.

So, how's business?

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