The Invisible Hand - Gainsharing, a marvelous system of management that allows work to become a creative and fulfilling exercise for the benefit of the company, the customer and the employee.

What if each member of a company was not only allowed to but actually encouraged to, take ownership of the processes and employ their full capacity to make it successful?

Leaders who would like for their human resources to embrace the same passion for the company that they do would be well advised to take a page out of Adam Smiths remarkable book, “The Wealth of Nations.” This writing is considered by many as the manifesto of Capitalism and, most interestingly, it was published in the year 1776 – that date ring any bells??

The Scotsman, Adam Smith, said, and I paraphrase, that the true beauty of capitalism is captured in the strivings of each individual member or family for their own well being collectively acting as an “invisible hand” drawing all of society to a better future.

Now, with that thought in mind, would not the same principle apply to the members of a collective endeavor, say, a company? What if each member of a company was not only allowed to but actually encouraged to, take ownership of the processes and employ their full capacity to make it successful (something progressive companies encourage)? What if each member was also able to share in the gains resulting from such total involvement (something very, very few companies do)?

What would the performance of your organization be if everyone cared as much about its’ success as you do? They want to, they can and they will if you only give them the chance and allow them to share in the gains of working together.

I am not suggesting that you, the owner(s), who bear the burden of the bad times simply share the good times (profit sharing). I am talking about beating historical performance, the good years and the bad years, and reaching new performance highs. When new highs are reached the resulting gains are shared.

The average executive’s compensation is a function of how well the organization is doing. If it is doing poorly-base pay, if it is doing well-base pay plus bonus-if it is doing really well-base pay plus bonus plus company car-if it is doing stunningly well-base pay plus bonus plus company car plus country club membership, plus stock options.

The average workers compensation is a function of elementary mathematics and bears ZERO correlation to the performance of the company. If it is doing poorly-base pay, if it is doing well-base pay, if it is doing really well-base pay, if it is doing stunningly well-base pay plus a holiday turkey.

Let’s go back to another “what if.” What if each and every individual on the payroll had a solid competitive base rate AND a chance to make a monthly bonus if collective performance exceeds historical standards?

Well, how do you do that? Fortunately there is a process with over 70 years of history that allows you to open that door. It’s simple, however it takes courage and a deeply held belief that the human resource is far more capable than most organizations realize.

If this brief article interests you I encourage you to explore the world of gainsharing. It is a marvelous system of management that allows work to become a creative and fulfilling exercise for the benefit of the company, the customer and the employee. It’s not just a win-win, it’s a win-win-win!

More information, from many different sources, is available on our website www.issgainshare.com.