DAYTON, Ohio — After decades of building a successful engineering firm in Dayton, the leaders of HEAPY felt as if they hit a plateau. Their projects still met expectations, but there was little connection to the clients or even between departments. CEO Mark Brumfield said it seemed no one at HEAPY really remembered what made them successful in the first place.
That’s when the company turned to the nonprofit business consulting firm Aileron and started coming up with a new strategy they say prepared them well for the unexpected challenges they would face come 2020.
Brumfield meets with some of his engineers at HEAPY
“We were struggling,” Brumfield said. “It really challenged us to ask ourselves, ‘What do we want to be now and what do we want to be in the future?’”
In 2015, he found himself, along with fellow executives in Wes Gipe’s class, focusing on communication and according to their instructor, the team’s gone on to be one of his biggest success stories.
“I have a really special place in my heart for the HEAPY guys,” Gipe said. “These guys have consistently made more difficult decisions to make the progress that they wanted to make than many of the others that I get to work with.”
HEAPY dove headfirst, adopting more collaborative practices they said has served them well, particularly over the past two years.
“Engineers, we like routine. We like to be efficient. We like to do the same things over and over again, but the pandemic has really disrupted that,” Brumfield said.
In the beginning, the challenge was finding ways to work remotely and keep everyone connected. They found a renewed focus on collaborative meetings ensured projects continued to move smoothly with all of the engineers and their clients on the same page.
“We’d check in and see how is everything going and what is everyone needing,” Brumfield said.
Gipe teaches a class at Aileron
Then as things began to reopen, the challenges shifted to supply chain disruptions and shifts within the labor force. Brumfield said communication can’t fix that but it can help clients understand the issues, manage their expectations and give engineers a chance to look for answers rather than blame.
“It’s about having those upfront discussions and then talking about the what-ifs and what can we do to mitigate it,” he said. “Let’s try to offset that at the very beginning and if we need to order something right now but the project isn’t going to be here for another year or two, let’s go ahead and do those things.”
In 2021, Aileron marked 25 years helping businesses overcome challenges like this, starting in Dayton and growing to serve clients nationwide.
Joni Fedders, Aileron’s President said the past two years served as a crossroads for their organization as they had to help their clients, many new and suddenly seeking advice, to cope with the same sudden shifts Aileron faced itself.
“We saw a lot of change with what our customers were going through and the support they needed,” she said.
Fedders said the instructors focused on serving as a “trusted friend.”
“Which means somebody who shows up and listens, helps you process, gives you honest feedback and creates a confidential environment,” she said.
It’s also been important Fedders said to leave the door open. She said companies can’t get overwhelmed working to change too quickly. She said it’s more prudent for them to limit their scope and accept they may need help down the road and that’s OK.
“Running a business is a lifetime journey; it’s not like we ever hit a finish line,” she said. “Running a business three years ago is different from running the same business now and it’s different than it will be three years from now, so you have to keep working at it.”
As for making those changes, Gipe said the needs are different for every business though many seem to fall into the same strategic traps.
Gipe plans out a lesson
For example at HEAPY, they realized for decades, the company fostered a culture of heroes, a work culture that prioritized individual excellence but seemed to undervalue collaboration.
“They didn’t spend a lot of time talking to one another because of this culture,” Gipe said.
It wasn’t the environment Gipe said that would produce happy workers in the long-term, and in order to keep HEAPY competitive, the company needed to help its workers feel fulfilled.
“We want to come to work smiling. We want to hear people whistling when they come through the door instead of just showing up here to make a paycheck,” he said.
While changing a workplace culture often takes hard work, Gipe said years after HEAPY began, he can see it paying off.
“You walk through the front door of that place and I can tell you the energy today feels completely different,” he said.
It’s the kind of energy Brumfield hopes will keep HEAPY thriving in Dayton for another 75 years, and the kind of energy Fedders wants to see in every company Aileron sees.
“It’s really neat to drive up and down 75 like you do and see the billboards of the companies that are thriving and then see how much they do for the community,” she said. “See that they’re successful see that they’re sustaining and celebrating 50 years in business or 30 years in business or 10 years in business.”
