Treating People Well AND Running a Successful Business

A healthy work culture has always been important to Eric Rieger, founder of and Visionary for WEBIT Services. 

Eric founded WEBIT Services in 1996 after leaving a software company that he said treated its clients and employees poorly. He vowed to do things differently in his own business. 

But it wasn’t as easy as he’d imagined. Initially, Eric worried more about making payroll and staying in business for another week. As the business grew and he added “real” employees, he knew he needed help. 

Vision 

Eric was introduced to EOS®  when a new hire brought it with them from a previous employer. At first, he was resistant to reading Traction. 

As someone with dyslexia, Eric often has trouble understanding the message in a piece of text. Thankfully, he found the audiobook version and decided to listen to the book, allowing its message to sink in more quickly. He liked the concepts but had a hard time putting them into practice. 

Then Eric listened to Get a Grip and began to understand how EOS could work in a company. And he finally understood the difference between a Visionary and an Integrator™. And Eric was a classic Visionary.

That’s when the switch flipped. Eric realized he needed to change. He also realized the organization needed an expert to help them efficiently implement EOS in WEBIT Services.  

Eric contacted EOS Worldwide, asking to be matched with an EOS Implementer® who met the company’s specific criteria. As a mission-focused organization, WEBIT Services needed a coach who understood their values… and their particular flavor of dysfunction. Eric was introduced to Expert EOS Implementer™ Paul Detlefs. 

“We did our 90 Minute Meeting with Paul, and it was off to the races from there,” Eric said. “He helped us get everyone on the same page and learn how to put true problems on the table to discuss.” 

Traction® 

Once WebIT Services started working with an EOS Implementer, they realized they didn’t have a structure or plan despite having “run” on EOS for over a year. 

“We were doing our own version of the Level 10 Meeting™, which was really just a weekly meeting where we voiced complaints,” Eric said. “We had to learn what the IDS® portion of the meeting was supposed to look like.”

Eric said it took a while to get everybody in the organization on the same page, and there had been some turnover. As part of the growth process, he said they started to discover people who were not the right fit for the organization. Some self-selected out, while others needed to be let go. 

Eric said that today employees are more engaged. Everyone believes in EOS and the direction of the company, including the transition into an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). 

By putting processes and planning in place, the organization intentionally attracts and retains the right people to their growing population. Now, Eric is only involved in the final interview stages, where he shares the company’s vision with the candidate.  

Healthy

Perhaps the biggest change is in the structure of WEBIT, which has given the company stability while sheltering the team from all of Eric’s brilliant Visionary ideas as they occur to him. 

“Before EOS, I didn’t have a filter for my crazy ideas,” Eric said. “Left unchecked, I was causing chaos in the company. Now we have a structure where I put my crazy ideas into a shared folder to discuss at the right time.”

Eric said they also decided to add only a handful of new clients at a time for controlled growth. Most of this growth happened in their software division, which won the Chicago Innovation Award for Social Impact in 2022 as part of their efforts to connect food resources with food-insecure people.

By carefully avoiding taking on projects beyond their capacity, WEBIT Services avoided just hiring warm bodies. Instead, they’ve committed to an international culture of the Right People in the Right Seats. 

They’re also pickier about their clients. The organization developed an ideal client profile. In addition, when meeting a potential client, they ask them how they run their business. 

“If there’s chaos in a potential client’s company, that will get introduced into our world,” Eric said. “And we’ve made too much progress to go back.”