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Pitch It! – Transforming Our Business

By Jennifer Chernishenko, Administrative Assistant at Integrated Sustainability

Above Quote by Jeffery Baumgartner
Above Quote by Jeffery Baumgartner

You’re a thinker. Innovative, practical and motivated. Your company gives you the chance to create your dream, business-enhancing project or service. What do you do?

This is exactly what Integrated Sustainability asked its staff to ponder. Last month, Integrated Sustainability held a Pitch It contest where staff was invited to create a short business pitch and present it to judges and coworkers. Ideas were wide ranging and included both internal and external project and service ideas.

Oksana Kielbasinski, Director, Sustainability and Risk, came up with the idea, and driving thought leadership among staff was a major motivator behind it. As an employee-based company invested in continuous improvement and innovation, this contest is just another way Integrated Sustainability’s staff actively participates in growing the company.

So what’s next?

The top three winners of the inaugural Pitch It contest (two chosen by executive judges and one by staff) are now in the process of developing a mini-business plan for their pitch. The plans will be reviewed and evaluated by executive judges for their ability to meet the following selection criteria:

  • Benefit Brand/Reputation: to demonstrate industry leadership, transform business methods for the better, enhance reputation
  • Benefit the Bottom Line: to have a 0-3 year payback period with good profits, enable market entry, reduce current costs
  • Benefit to Employees: to inspire creative thinking, create opportunity for new skill and leadership development, increase job satisfaction and moral

Once the winning pitch is chosen, the winners will be given the chance to execute their idea. The contest was a great success, with staff enthusiastically brainstorming and pitching ideas.

“I could not be more thrilled with the level of participation and enthusiasm for the event. The Integrated Sustainability team is a creative, innovative and spirited group of individuals and events such as this give us another outlet to showcase our capabilities,” states Oksana. The number of creative ideas and the excitement around the contest made it easy for Integrated Sustainability to decide to hold the contest on a quarterly basis.

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