As I walked on toward my own flight, it occurred to me that for many employee-owners, the language of financial reporting must not feel like home. Sitting in a meeting where the CFO is explaining the company’s finances must feel a bit like watching a lecture in another language, or perhaps it is even more foreign—it uses words we’ve all heard (but maybe in a way that doesn’t make sense) and, even worse, words we feel vaguely guilty for not fully understanding.
But here’s the thing: learning a foreign language isn’t easy, but it can be one of the most thrilling, affirming, human experiences we’ll ever have in our lives. My life is richer because I speak Czech, which has given me glimpses of life behind the Iron Curtain and opportunities like spontaneously joining a rural wedding in Ukraine.
The language of business is the same. When people understand it, they have their entry ticket to what Jack Stack famously labeled “the great game of business,” and that great game can be one of the most fulfilling experiences people will have as adults. I have four pieces of advice for helping people become fluent in the financial language they need to feel like informed insiders in the business.
1. Start with three key sentences: Every time anyone talks about the financial condition of the business, some people will struggle with understanding the basics, while others will be bored by the basics. So start the meeting with three sentences that everyone at the company needs to know. Then say them again. Then post them around your company. The people who are still learning the language of business will know that even if they don’t understand the rest, they’ve at least grasped the important part. (And be sure that for people ready to go beyond the basics, your company offers them a way to learn.)
2. Make it concrete: We’ve seen companies represent revenue as a dollar of coins that gets passed down a line on stage—the person representing payroll keeps some of the coins and passes the rest to someone representing materials costs and so on, but my favorite approach is to translate the P&L into things that people can control—number of the on-time deliveries, lower scrap rates, accurate pricing, etc.
3. Involve others: Education about how businesses work often falls to a CFO, but it works best when it is a team effort. A communications committee is a great messenger, but there are other creative approaches. Consider creating some business literacy training specifically for middle managers and supervisors so that they have the tools to confidently answer questions. Or, when the CFO gives all-staff presentations, you could literally have someone there to serve as an “interpreter” into simpler language. If the CFO presents in pure "accounting-ese" while the interpreter explains, the whole event is a learning experience—not just about company performance, but about the language of business.
4. Find the joy: The big message is to remember that learning the language of business makes life richer and more engaging. It is the language that describes the journey that everyone at the company is taking together. It describes the story of your business: the challenges and opportunities, the cliff-hangers, the triumphs. There is always plot development, always someone to celebrate, always an opportunity to do better. Speaking the language of business gives everyone a chance to stop being an extra in the story and to instead become a leading character.