PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY-Does Your Company Share Its Financial Data?

In this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY I’m asking the question:

Does Your Company Share Its Financial Data?

Is your firm one that has an open book policy and readily shares the financial health of the business? Or, perhaps, if they do share financial data, maybe it’s only a small portion or sanitized version or reality.

Open or Closed Book

I’ve worked at several companies, none of which shared much, if any, financial data. One reason why those companies kept closed books was because they didn’t want the employees to see the finances when times were good. In some respects, that’s understandable. I have been on both sides of the employee/employer paradigm. I now know that when I was an employee I didn’t understand what my bosses went through on a weekly basis to keep the ship moving in the right direction, to pay the employees and to pay all of the bills. As an employer, you fear that in keeping open books all an employee will see is revenue and not all the bills that chip away at those revenues, leaving little if any left over for you the boss.

There is no wrong answer here. Whatever you decide to do as an employer, whether it’s to keep open books or closed books, you have to do what is right for you and your company. However, I think your business can grow and be more robust, cultivating more knowledgeable and business savvy personnel, with some form of an open book system.

A Light to Find Your Way

The answer may be found somewhere in the middle. One strategy I’ve used is to have open books, but instead of laying out all of the financial nitty-gritty for all to see, I used a system based on a select few factors and percentages calculated from the financial data. This allows for business metrics, comparisons, and analysis without having to bare your soul. I think this leads to business intelligence.

Look forward to an article on the subject of open books and business metrics for professional land surveyors. In the meantime, please cast your vote in this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY and leave comments letting us know if you’ve worked for an open books company and what worked, or didn’t work.

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PS: Even the smallest light in a dark tunnel may shine enough light to find your way!

This Professional Land Surveyor Survey has been brought to you by EricColburn.com, The Professional Land Surveyor Source.