Ask Tom Diamond (pictured at left) about the secret to his award-winning chili, and he’s quick with an answer: It’s made with all fresh ingredients. Nothing comes from a can.
Diamond, an engineer in the metal department at Cleveland-based Garland Company Inc., is the two-time champion of the company’s chili cook-off.
For years he’s been refining the recipe at home, experimenting with flavors such as cinnamon and brown sugar and finding the right cook time for the fresh filet mignon.
And that’s the point at Garland, an employee-owned manufacturer of commercial roofing: New ideas and experimentation are critical.
So Garland hosts a slew of companywide events, everything from ice cream socials to Halloween costume parties to service projects, for employees across departments to engage in social and team-building activities.
During the chili cook-off, 15 to 20 people make chili, 10 bring sides, and a panel of judges gets involved in the tasting, Diamond says.
“They set aside the whole day,” he says. “People come in the morning and plug in their Crock-Pots, and you see them running in and out of the conference room. Work never stops, so we always have to make sure the work gets done.” In fact, the events are as much about fostering innovation and collaboration as they are about fun, says Dick DeBacco, the company’s CEO emeritus.
Collaboration has always been a core value at the company, which was originally owned by the Wise family. DeBacco and several other salespeople purchased Garland in 1974 and infused the now 115-year-old company with new ideas and talent.
“In those days, the company was still small, and it was not uncommon to see one of my partners chewing the fat with the guys in the plant or brainstorming ideas for new products with our chief researcher,” DeBacco says. “That kind of cross-pollination is more difficult to achieve as a company grows larger, but without it, innovation ceases to exist.”
That’s why the company takes time to pull departments together to create new ideas.
Garland’s department of innovation, for example, which has been working on sustainable technologies more than 10 years, has sparked a similar enthusiasm in the operations department, DeBacco says. “We’ve got our guys in the plant actively looking for ways to become more efficient,” he says.
Last year, the company made eco-friendly updates to its facilities in Cleveland, including installing motion sensing lighting, replacing insulation and adding infrared heaters to its manufacturing processes. That way they are saving money for the company and helping the environment at the same time. “Innovation is contagious, but to catch it, you’ve got to be in close proximity to other innovators,” DeBacco says.
So innovation may have more to do with themed Halloween parties, anything from Wizard of Oz to Fruit of the Loom, than what meets the eye.
“It takes a lot of goofy ideas before you come up with the great ones,” DeBacco says. “Dressing up for Halloween, playing games out in the parking lot — these kinds of activities allow us to be goofy with each other. That makes for a more comfortable environment where you can try and occasionally fail until you hit the ideas that work.”
Diamond, who says he has formed many close friends at work through events like the chili cook-off, says that Garland is unique from most other companies he has worked for during his career. “[The events] give us a break from the day-to-day activities to get to know each other better,” he says. “We have very close knit communities.”