Early on, Gerhart identified that to be the best in the industry, we have to be the best to our employees.
In order to do this, we found we had to better support our frontline service people. A good service company stems from its employees and their dedication to represent the values of the company.
First and foremost, Gerhart encourages individuals in the company to focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses.
An employee that feels appreciated and valued does a better job for the customer.
The bottom line is – we found empowering our employees ultimately better serves our customers.
For example, Gerhart’s field service engineers are on the frontline of our customers. They need the best support we can give them.
That’s where Pete Fienemann comes in.
Throughout the past couple of years, Gerhart has changed its approach and company culture.
We took the initiative of implementing a Training Program, we call it “Gerhart 2.0”, that provides our field service technicians with the resources they need to succeed.
Since then, Pete has been dedicated to expanding and bettering the program.
He explains his role as Technical Training Service Manager as “… an interesting role – It’s rewarding now that I am teaching things to people that I’ve learned. It has a whole new feeling – when the student becomes the teacher. I find it exciting when a technician calls me on the phone and I have to put myself in their shoes and mind space to help them – it’s like I’m out in the field but I’m guiding someone. It allows me to be a mentor.”
Gerhart had established a mentor system within its culture for many years. Pete started his career at Gerhart in 2005, and praises the Gerhart mentor system.
He mentioned, “When I first started, I had a great mentor. He and I connected, we had the same mind in a way – and he would always push me to new and different things.”
Gerhart aims to push its employees to try new things every day. There is an array of diversity in our services and we give our technicians a path for professional and personal growth.
Pete, like many others, has taken a limitless path toward growth.
“There’s always something new you can learn at Gerhart. There’s always a different direction you can take… There are multiple paths a technician can take here and they’re not stuck doing just one thing. They can grow in an area they want to grow in.”
With goals of expanding Gerhart’s Training Program, it will be easier for new hires to learn more skills that will help them educate themselves in a field of their interest.
As the Technical Training Service Manager, Pete “[has] goals to create an advanced learning management system. Gerhart will become fluent in this and we are in the process of bettering it now.”
In particular, one goal we have met is our implementation of a direct line to in-house technical support. Like the mentor system, this provides technicians with an avenue of support, while being pushed and inspired by our team.
Self-development is important at Gerhart, and we want to give our employees the best resources to help them reach their goals.
With the prospering Training Program, Pete feels “technicians are excited to go to work after our training program. When I teach them something new or help them understand something they’ve been doing, it’s a feeling of gratitude.”
We want our employees to enjoy working at Gerhart. If we succeed, it will result in our customers enjoying their work from us.
Our customers expect the best, and they deserve the best. Pete says it perfectly – “Our customers expect great service from us. What we do to meet those expectations is we under-promise, overdeliver and then some.”
With that mindset, the future is limitless and bright for Gerhart.
In fact, Pete has aspirations for Gerhart to “[take] over the industry, the East Coast, and then the United States, and then the world. One scale at a time.”
With the best employees serving our customers, this dream may not be out of reach.
