As part of our ongoing commitment to living our B Corp values, we’d like to take a look at what Governance means to us and how we act on it on ongoing basis. As defined by Investopedia, ‘Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices and processes by which a firm is directed and controlled. Corporate governance essentially involves balancing the interests of a company's many stakeholders, such as shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the community.’
For us, transparency is one key factor in creating alignment of all team members and keeping our productivity high. We share top and bottom line budget and sales goals on a quarterly basis with the entire team. This creates a sense of inclusion and shared purpose. We’re all on the same page as far as our corporate goals as it relates to income and profitability. These goals are clearly tied to the most tangible benefits: abundance that allow us to support the community, invest in our people and tools, and to provide raises and bonuses to our team. These are easy and fun conversations to have when things are booming. However, when times are tight, when there’s a lull in the work, those conversations are far less fun. That said, I’ve found that if we’re transparent from the start, having the challenging conversations are easier and usually lead to some creative problem solving that includes the entire team.
Formal governance procedures can be easily overlooked in a small business setting because we’re focused on keeping clients happy. Our B Corp certification set benchmark scores that we can work to improve on a continual basis. If you’re interested in learning more about joining the ranks of the B Corp community, let’s talk. ben@cascadewebdev.com