The best way to teach and preach service is to share financial information with employees because we know that open book management is motivational for employees.

Topic for Discussion: What financial information should be shared with employees?

Answer: All of it. You don't have to expose salaries earned by individuals but you can show the total dollars going out in salaries and benefits.

It is very common for employees to know what the sales are, but most employees don't know what it costs to run a business. Some owners assume that the employees won't understand the financials. In reality, when employees see how much it really costs to run a business, they are surprised and have greater respect for the owner.

For example, if an employee is earning $30,000 a year in salary, just the required employment taxes paid to the Federal Government for that employee will be an additional $10,000 or more. That employee only sees what is in the paycheck and forgets the employer must pay the additional $10,000. Employees are shocked to see the cost of a lease, insurance, utilities, advertising, telephones, etc.

To learn how to run your company with open-book management techniques, study Jack Stack's book, "The Great Game of Business."

You think about it: Do you need to deploy open book management?