Organization Background
Founded in 1996, WEBIT Services specializes in providing secure, reliable, and efficient managed technology solutions for a wide range of businesses in the Chicago-land area.
Challenge
Before playing The Great Game of Business® (GGOB), WEBIT’s founder and President Eric Rieger were looking for help. “I didn’t feel like our team was fully engaged,” he says, “I also believed it was due to our top-down management style which didn’t give our team the full picture, nor did it empower anyone to make things better.”
Solution
When Rieger’s coach, Doug Diamond, suggested that he read Jack Stack’s book, it had an immediate impact since Rieger’s grandfather had worked down the road from International Harvester in Melrose Park, IL, the same company SRC® and GGOB spun out of. “I remember going with my father to pick my grandfather up from work. I know the area very well and the whole message and story of SRC and how they saved the company and turned things around really resonated with me” he says. Rieger guided his team to start playing GGOB in August 2016.
Results
While Rieger had some accounting experience from his college days, he admits that opening the books and teaching financial literacy through weekly huddles was the biggest eye-opener for both him and his team. Scoreboarding and High-Involvement Planning™ (HIP) in particular have had huge positive impacts on how the business is run. The team finished 2020 with the highest net profit percentage in company history.
“The Great Game of Business has affected the workplace culture engagement greatly, by teaching those who might not normally see into the company’s finances and teaches them what all goes into running a company and how they can help. Upon taking on my role as a line-item owner, I've gotten a deeper look into how the finances affect certain things and that it helps make sure everything is where it should be and to check with others that it is correct.”
~ Frank Errichiello, Junior Software Developer
Spotlight on the Pandemic
The last year has proven challenging for the WEBIT team. In particular, they were forced to deal with unexpected customer billing errors that derailed their forecasts and put a mental strain on the entire team. On a positive note, they opened up an exciting new opportunity with a local non-profit foundation that hired WEBIT to develop software to connect food-insecure people with food resources. That has since been adopted by the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Rieger says they are now in discussions with another organization, Feeding America, as well. “The net result is we’re going to spin a software company out of WEBIT which could have rapid growth that creates new jobs while focusing on helping to combat the food insecurity problem that has grown substantially since the start of the pandemic,” says Rieger. “I would have never expected this to happen, but it was made possible due to all the changes we made in our company back in 2016 that allowed this to come to fruition.”
MiniGame™ Spotlight
While the WEBIT team took quickly to playing MiniGames to address threats and weaknesses in the business—one game helped them get caught up on their documentation they create for their clients while another was targeted at identifying potential new hires—they admittedly struggled with playing successful games in 2020. Heading into 2021, they already have three different MiniGames running aimed at cleaning up data and processes.
“GGOB has been a great means to bring the company together and to share the responsibility to a common goal. The transparency that comes from GGOB is a great thing.”
~ Alex Fishel, Network Engineer
What’s Next
One of the priorities for Rieger is to sell part of the company to his employees through an ESOP in the coming year. That’s part of his long-term plan to reimagine the culture of his business. When WEBIT started playing The Game, for instance, they had nine employees. They now have a team of 25—but only three of those original employees remain. “GGOB has helped us attract people who want to be part of something bigger than themselves,” says Rieger. “It was that change that helped us not only survive but thrive during the pandemic. Had we not made that change in 2016, I can honestly say I do not doubt we would have been wiped out under those challenging circumstances.”
“GGOB has brought transparency and perspective to the team about the inner workings of our business and is regarded by many as valuable and educational. We find, as with most things, that individual engagement level varies, but overall is has become a common thread that binds the objectives of our team together.”
~ Tim Montague, COO
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