Testimonials

Eager to take things to the next level in our organization. We retained Giombetti Associates to strengthen the existing leadership team and attract other high performers to our organization through their screening process. In less than one year, we have seen remarkable improvements in individual and team performance.

—Rocco Falcone, President and CEO: Rocky’s Ace Hardware

I highly recommend the services and programs of Giombetti Associates. Our experience with them has been a very successful and prosperous partnership over the last 8 years. We’ve had over 300 individuals utilize their assessment, training and development services with great results. During our engagement with them, we believe they’ve had a direct impact on our company’s bottom line. Since 2001, our revenue has grown from $350 million to over $1.1 billion this past year. They’ve helped us to understand and cultivate the best we have in our people, and it has proven to be well worth the investment.

The culture of our company, Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS), is something we take very seriously. It is critical for those partners we engage to understand and realize it’s not just what our people do that makes us successful, but that they do so by growing, developing and reaching their potential which matters most to us. Giombetti Associates has developed an innate understanding of ADS as a company. They’ve helped our people realize what they need to work on along with providing the tools and training that mesh with our company’s core values and culture, which is why it has been such a positive experience for us.

In these very challenging economic times, we can’t afford to make mistakes with our most important asset – our people. If we’re not investing in their growth and development, they’re going to go somewhere else and get it. Our employees take pride in what they learn from Giombetti, and their approach to what they do for us and how they do it has helped us to hire, retain and develop top performers.  We’ve leveraged several of Giombetti’s services including:

• Pre – Employment Assessments

The majority of our critical new hires are assessed by Giombetti before they’re offered a position. Giombetti’s assessment feedback provides us with an objective perspective which has helped us to improve our hiring rates over the years. It also helps us to identify potential areas of improvement in those we do hire so we’re already aware of what we can help them work on.

• Leadership Development

Every year, we have dozens of our high-potential employees participate in Giombetti’s Performance Dynamics training. This has helped them develop their leadership, management and interpersonal skills to the point where many of them have become top managers leading different organizations and initiatives within our company.

Since our initial engagement with Giombetti, they have become a true partner – one that knows what they’re talking about and is able to customize and implement truly beneficial and successful programs and training. We have employees who will tell you that it has changed their lives for the better, both personally and professionally. And, it has genuinely boosted employee morale because they see our investment in their future by providing opportunities for growth and development. We are a better company for having worked with Giombetti Associates.

—Erick Piscopo, Director: Human Resources: Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.

Hey guys,

I wanted to take a few days to reflect and absorb the training and see how some of the suggestions and realizations from last week played out once I was back in “the real world”, before sending this email to you. I won’t lie and tell you that I did not come into this training with a certain amount of skepticism. I have done a few of these types of things over my career before and quite frankly, I thought they were a great way for the people presenting to make a living. I mean, you get to stand up in front of a room full of people and tell them how to be a better (fill in the blank here), and how to contribute to their companies in a more effective manner. And get payed for it!

A few things that I observed to help make this a different dynamic are as follows.

1. You all sat at the same level as us.
   • There wasn’t any feeling of this being a PRESENTATION. It truly felt like a discussion. Which I’m sure was by design. It made it so comfortable to actually share thoughts and ideas. It’s much easier to check out when you are being “talked to”.
     1. I have tried to be mindful of my body language and positioning when I have had discussions with team members, co-workers, or family.
2. You allowed us to have different goals.
   • What I mean by this is, you allowed us to have different end games for this training. I know some of the team wanted to try to reach problem employees or be a better manager, while some others wanted to focus on how to be a better husband, father or friend. As well as the evolution of that goal. Some of the statements about the takeaways at the end were not in line with what they thought they would get out of it.
     1. No names, but several folks that said they wanted to be a better manager or better leader at the end talked about not being real or open with personal relationships versus the professional aspect. I think the correlation between who you are outside of work, as a person, and who your team thinks you are was eye opening. At least it was to me!!
     2. I have made a concerted effort to try to make sure that I am sensitive to the fact that different people want/need different things. And that’s OK!
3. You were real!
   • This is huge for me. I like to think that I have a pretty good B.S. meter and the minute the needle starts to move; I tend to shut down and just get through the interaction as quickly and painlessly as possible.
     1. From the second we came in, you all had big smiles and warm invite
     2. You shared personal stories that left you out there, vulnerable. This helped me be real and open.

I can’t tell you how much warmth and genuine compassion I felt from all of you during the training. I know my goodwill score is 96, which I’m sure contributes to me being a bit sappy at times, but I was a bit surprised that I got emotional in a room full of strangers when I talked about how I want to make things better with my family. I know that is a direct result of the environment that you ALL built over the course of the 3 days.

Not to keep going on, but I wanted to share a couple things that I have already done differently that I know was appreciated, even though nobody said a word. The first was as my family sat down for our weekly board game night, I made sure that I was the one to make sure that everyone had drinks, snacks whatever we needed before we started. That has always just been handled by Michelle, my wife. There is NO reason that she needs to be the last one to sit down, even if she doesn’t complain. Another thing is we were going to the grocery store and I turned the radio station to the one that my family likes. The world stopped for a minute…LOL . I despise 95% of the music on “their” station! I mean how can you go wrong with listening to Boston or Van Morrison??? But in that moment of pain and despair of listening to the latest and greatest from, whatever the flavor of the week was, I noticed all 3 of them kind of bounce their heads a bit to the rhythm. That was cool. I mean really, why should I get to decide what music we listen to ALL THE TIME? Just because I happen to be the one driving, which oh by the way, I don’t want anyone else to drive but me??? To quote a very wise man…that’s BAD, BAD, BAD. STOP IT! Haha, I must have heard Rick say that 40 times last week!!

Seriously guys, thank you all for the love and compassion that I felt from all of you. It means more than I can tell you! I look forward to speaking with you soon. Take care.

—Ernie Edgell, Manager C&I Field Sales: IGS Energy

Very effective tool for evaluating candidates. Extremely helpful in creating expectations for those hired. It is helpful to understand individual strengths and weaknesses as well as providing direction for goals and improvement. We will not hire any new key employees without having them evaluated through a Performance Dynamics® assessment.

—David Cistoldi, President: FLN-MAR Rubber & Plastics, Inc.

We have been working with Giombetti Associates for the past eight years partnering with them both on candidate selection and development. The candidate selection process provides us a deeper level of evaluation of each candidate and insight into how the candidate may perform and behave. The assessment results enhance our ability to dig in deeper to ensure we are selecting the right candidate for the role. In addition, the Giombetti team has become an important part in the continued development of our people.

We work with Ross and Amanda to understand the potential of each person and to determine how to manage and guide them through their individual development needs. Our employees appreciate the feedback, even though it is tough at times. This feedback allows them to become more self-aware of their tendencies and behaviors and adjust accordingly.

Giombetti has also been instrumental in teambuilding within our business and facilitates sessions focused on team dynamics and performance. This provides the atmosphere for people to have raw conversations, get to know each other on a deeper level and increase trust and respect. Giombetti has been a great partner to IGS and an asset to our people.

—Jenni Kovach, Chief People Officer: IGS Energy

The programs offered by Giombetti Associates were beneficial in both my personal life and my career in human resources. If I could have changed only one thing, it would be to have participated in this program much earlier in my life.

—Deborah Beauchemin, Human Resources Supervisor: Atlas Copco Compressors, Inc.

Great experience! Gives you tools to improve your effectiveness. Provided the opportunity to role play and interact with peers who are faced with similar challenges to be effective with our personnel. I learned that collaboration and communication are important skills to use to solve any problem. Rick Giombetti and his staff created a challenging and fun packed seminar.

—David Cistoldi, President: FLN-MAR Rubber & Plastics, Inc.

This assessment was very eye-opening…and accurate. It’s a hard pill to swallow when someone tells you about the things you really need to improve upon. If it wasn’t for this assessment, I would be on the wrong path, believing I was on the right one.

—Darleen Ringenbach, Customer Service Manager: City Stamp Works, Inc.

I was introduced to Rick by a college buddy I was meeting for dinner. During dinner Rick was asking me way too many questions and I responded, “have you finished analyzing me yet?” Rick responded yes and proceeded to tell me about his company, Giombetti Associates, and offered to do a complete analysis on myself to show how the program worked.

That was in 2005. Afterwards I was so impressed with the process I immediately put my entire senior management team through the process. Everyone was amazed at how thorough the process was and how helpful it was to better understand themselves as leaders and a much clearer understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. I then had Rick put them all together and had him coach me as to how I could be a better leader by knowing how to interpret my skill set against theirs.

That session has been a key to my long and successful career as the President and now CEO of Savage Arms. It was also instrumental in helping us understand the contributing factors to our company culture. Since then we have not hired a single salaried employee without having an assessment done. Although not a perfect system it has really helped us from making many hiring mistakes. If I received a commission on all my referrals over the years I would be retired with Rick. I have never had a referral complaint.

—Al Kasper, President/CEO: Savage Arms

The Giombetti Associates 360 Degree Review process provides real insight into the difference between how your leadership is viewed and received versus how it looks to you. This perspective is difficult to obtain, yet vital to the development of serious leaders. If you are ready to receive an honest ‘grade’ on your leadership from the people who matter most, say yes to the 360 Degree Review and close the gap between you and your team.

—Sam Smith, Owner : Grower Direct Farms

This assessment has not only helped our organization immensely, but it has done great things for the personal development of some very talented people.

—Steve Mitus, Executive V.P. and CFO: Balise Motor Sales Company

This is the coaching of being you that so many teenagers and adults need.  We are all perfectly imperfect and have limitless growth potential to be our best selves.

—Stephen Hale

Giombetti’s Performance Dynamics® process provides an honest and accurate assessment of success or failure as it relates to key critical elements of leadership. Every dollar invested in this process is returned to the company’s bottom line.

—Robert Archambeault, Human Resource Manager: Atlas Copco Compressors, Inc.

Great feedback from personality profiles! Profiles reflect your own primary and secondary characteristics that define leadership. Once brought to a quantitative level, you are visually able to see your areas of opportunity, as well as areas which require work to be more effective at your job.

—Michelle Fontaine, Prepress Manager: Amgraph Packaging, Inc.

Most definitely a life changing training session. My personal life relationships have already improved. The relationship between me and my wife and parents have improved already. The experience of being in a room with 30 high energy high productivity people was breath taking. It helped build my self-confidence and opened my mind to many perspectives. The trainers were strong enough to manage this group, keep everybody on topic and still managed to make it a personal improvement discussion.

—Rui Parracho, Sales Technical Service Manager: Bixby International Corporation

Conflicts are only opportunities to develop a relationship further. You decide how to proceed. The leadership training will show you how.

—Ken Stacey, Sales Engineer: Belt Technologies

The three-day seminar was perfect for me. I needed that deep dive into understanding how each trait is developed, displayed and used to understand me and the impact I have on others. The side benefit is that you get to understand both sides of the coin and that turns the lights on when thinking about how other people in your life create, deal with or flee from circumstances.  If we are to seek to understand rather than be understood, this is a great place to begin by understanding yourself.

—Vance Mauldin, Vice President: Team Fishel

Ideally, there aren’t huge surprises in these reviews. Even without major blind spots, there were a few takeaways that changed how I work with my team. The Giombetti review process validated that I remain calm under pressure, something I’ve always been proud of. What I learned, however, is that at times my calmness created doubt about whether I recognized situational urgency or would take necessary action. I also learned I wouldn’t lose credibility as a stoic leader if I occasionally expressed more direct and immediate feedback about things that can’t be tolerated.

We are all the masters of our intentions, but we can’t control how we’re perceived. Taking time to reflect on the gap between how we intend to show up and what others actually observe is important.

—Caleb Messer, Executive Chairman: GME Supply

Trust the process and be true to yourself and the people around you. The leaders at Giombetti are the best of the best. They are there to support you and highlight all the things you do well and support you to dial in the things that will make you a better leader at work, and better person in your family life. Have open and honest conversations with them, they will lead to a positive transformation. I have never met a more trusting, honest and kind group of people. I’m excited to see myself grow. I only wish I met them and worked with them sooner in life.

—Melissa Peters, Human Resource Generalist: Notch Mechanical Constructors

My experience shows through in my everyday life. I came to realize my patience level was beneficial in school during group projects, and that I needed to strengthen my dominance to assert my needs. Overall, this program has given me skills and valuable lessons that brought me to the success I have today.

—Grace Beaupre

Giombetti Associates helped me understand the different characteristics that made me who I was. This gave me an idea of what I needed to work on going forward to become more of a leader. Going through the program was life-changing for me and my confidence.

—Daniel Nygren