It’s often hard for businesses to break away from the old ways of doing business. ‘Why fix what’s not broken?’ they say. While this old paradigm works to an extent, it’s the businesses that break free from the mold, the ones that blaze new ground in employee relationships and communication that take the most risk and at the same time, achieve the most success.
The Pfeil Innovation Center strives to create a new way of thinking for businesses and their employees to think and communicate by developing innovation as a core competency, and allowing businesses and organizations to become a more effective and dynamic business as a result.
“We’ve had many organizations from across Indiana and out of state come to visit our innovation center and have received value from their time spent here, we call them our Innovation Rock Stars” says Pfeil Innovation Center Sales Representative Rob Koehler. “We’re here to help you learn the steps towards innovation and how to apply it to your organization.”
Eric Wozniak of Hiler Industries has been through the Pfeil Innovation Center Program with several other colleagues and has felt the strong benefits it has brought to the workplace.
“Initially we were not sure what to expect from the Pfeil Innovation Center,” says Wozniak. “We were skeptical at first but soon began to realize this was a continual improvement program that could be applied to Hiler Industries. The program worked for us.”
However after experiencing only the first day at the Pfeil Innovation Center, it provided a far different experience than initially expected leaving Wozniak and other thoroughly impressed.
“The Pfeil Center does a great job providing real world examples of innovative ideas. Starbuck’s was an example of a company that justifies the cost of its coffee through added value/experience such as free wifi, comfortable seating, nice music & lighting and high quality coffee on top of that. The Starbuck’s focus on the customer experience made us ask, how can we improve the experience for our employees? Using the Pfeil Innovation Center’s methodology, Hiler Industries made employee engagement our focus.”
Mindy McIntire, Director of Marketing at Transhield, Inc. has experienced a similar positive experience with Pfeil’s Innovation program, citing the renewed outlook at how employees communicate and how the company interacts with one another. “We were open to taking a leap of faith and try something new to allow our management teams to develop new ways of thinking and building teams,” says McIntire. “Our management team went through the program first and after talking about all the new ideas and new ways of thinking it created, we decided to send everyone in the company through the same program.”
“We’ve had organizations come through multiple times with multiple levels of each organization going through the program,” says Koehler. “This kind of innovation is something all employees can benefit from.”
While Pfeil’s main goal is to teach creative competency in the workplace, it’s not something that comes from a rigid set of rules or steps, but rather an idea that can work differently for different kinds of businesses and organizations.
“We are building a camaraderie with employees,” says Koehler. “We are building an idea that can be used in multiple ways and is fluid and functional enough for different people.”
Both Hiler and Transhield have applied the ideas given to them from Pfeil and have used it to create a more dynamic workplace with great results.
“We have created our own innovation room to encourage the focus of employee engagement. The room has been used for innovation meetings, hosting customers and even used to host the Pfeil Center when they took their show on the road.”
“Pfeil has allowed us to think about what we want to implement for the benefit of everyone,” says McIntire. “After creating our new break room with the ideas from Pfeil, we have a whole new sense of community that has opened up dialog with everyone in our company and bridged the communication gap.”
While taking on a new way of thinking for an entire organization or company may seem daunting, both Wozniak and McIntire have found that wanting to innovate and wanting to tackle new ideas begins with a first step and that first step is faith.
“It really is a leap of faith but one that is necessary and for us, was very well worth it,” says McIntire. “At the time we didn’t know what to expect but we took that leap with a desire to bring something new and it worked out.”
“For me it’s worth it in every way,” says Wozniak.” The initial investment is minimal. Only 2 days for $150 per person. There is nothing to lose and so much to gain.”
“We’re bringing new ideas forward, we’re teaching these groups how to build and innovate specifically to their needs,” says Koehler. “We want to harness a culture that is exciting and fun, we want people who go to work excited and ready to listen to new and innovative ideas.”