For example, when I discuss long-term financial health with independent schools, we invariably focus on "the leadership team": head of school, business officer, senior leadership team and trustees. But this team alone does not "own" the issue. In faculty and other staff members, most schools have a large untapped source of expertise that can not only help with the financial sustainability imperative of our time, but will be more loyal, engaged, entrepreneurial and effective in return.
Earlier this month, the Harvard Business Review Blog Network got my attention with "Share Your Financials to Engage Employees." According to Bill Fotsch and John Case, understanding an organization’s financials creates ownership among staff and reinforces their ability to support and advance the organization beyond their individual space or role. It reminded me of a conversation I had with a "millennial" on the NBOA staff. After a budget briefing, she told me "At my last job, financials were a big secret. It made me wonder what they were hiding."
Naturally, staff who distrust an organization are unlikely to use their best thinking to support it. On the other hand, financial transparency breeds trust and engenders a culture with a shared obligation to safeguard organizational resources. Write Fotsch and Cates: "It’s surprisingly easy to generate this kind of engagement among employees when you make the economics of the business come alive by sharing some key financial numbers. It’s an open-book approach. People begin to watch these indicators. Then they figure out how to move them in the right direction."
Isn’t that exactly what we want and need from our collective faculty and staff at a time when resource decisions so profoundly impact our ability to deliver our mission?
This summer, think about how you will present your school’s financials when faculty and staff return to campus. What indicators can you share that will make them "players" on your team? How will you use the open-book approach to ignite the very best financial thinking from your employees—and to keep them contributing to the continued success of your school?
Open the books!
From Bottomline, June 17, 2014
