Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight: SHYFT Collective

November 16th, 2017

Member Spotlight by SHYFT Collective

We constantly challenge ourselves to find better ways to help clients through their real estate decisions. Through our unbiased service model, we focus on offering transparent information to help customers make confident decisions. We strive to provide a positive client experience as the project moves forward and through completion. With those key drivers in place, we decided to SHYFT our service model further forward to best serve by offering a uniquely packaged traditional services. Through the Collective services of real estate strategic planning, project management, architecture and construction management, we can better identify a client’s “why” for change. By understanding their business goals, we create a strategic plan to solve their unique challenges through custom design and execution. We always map their plan back to the “why” of where we started, which is how we chose our unique spelling…SHYFT is built around the “Y”.

We realize no customer or project is the same, so we offer our services individually or collectively. This way each solution is customized for our clients. Our strong history of market relationships allows us to partner with industry professionals and client teams to deliver an optimal project experience.

What are the services you use the most (or are looking forward to using) from the Columbus Chamber?
We are looking to further engage Columbus businesses and be an active participant and community partner. We want to learn from other professionals, while sharing our story and expertise with businesses to grow our network, brand awareness and provide the services that SHYFT Collective offers to the Columbus business community.

How do you stay engaged with trends that you see in your industry?
As most industries are experiencing, business is increasingly changing. A common statement among our team is – the only thing we know is change.  We don’t just have to continually be current in our own industry of real estate, design and construction, but also know the industry trends, business drivers and changes our clients are facing. The everchanging trends can be the factors that challenge our clients’ decision-making process for their real estate requirements, space needs and the investment they choose to make for their people and clients. It is important for us to develop calculated strategies with the goal of providing a business advantage through real estate.

What is your company culture like?
SHYFT’s culture fosters success among our individual team members. We collaboratively challenge one another to provide better ways to service the market and perform our work. We develop career paths and goals that are unique to the individual, while supporting one another to achieve professional growth. We have fun together each day in and outside of the office. As a group, we support one other’s passions, personal goals and family lives. SHYFT also believes in investing in our home communities by donating services and volunteerism to non-profit organizations and civic leadership.

What does it take to be a successful employee at your company?
SHYFT team members are open to collaborating, challenging and growing together. Individuals and teams are successful when they share a great idea with the desire to make it better and deliver. We work hard, focused on our clients’ needs and goals, while driven by our own values. Team members at SHYFT ask questions, challenge one another, and support the business from a global view. We do this by hiring innovative thinkers, who have diverse professional experience, and people that enjoy working on unique projects with various types of professionals. Additionally, we hire people who have a strong work ethic, who are kind and give back to our communities with intent.

What makes Columbus such a great place to do business?
First and foremost, it’s the people.   In our business we are constantly interacting face to face with our clients and vendors.   While the relationships we have built do revolve around our work, it is the people involved in those partnerships that allow us to be successful and enjoy what we do every day.  In addition, as SHYFT has grown here in Columbus, we have found that the city is full of energetic and talented individuals that we have been lucky enough to build our team around.  Columbus is also filled with the entrepreneurial spirit.   We don’t need to go too far to find a recommendation or suggestion when we are looking for business solutions for our team.

What pieces of advice have you found to be the most helpful since starting your career?
Listening to learn is critical. If we are not listening to the market or our clients, we will not achieve our clients’ successes, which we would recognize as our failure. Listening is constant throughout SHYFT’s process, although key in the Discover and Define phases of our process, and allows us to Develop and Deliver a solution that is unique to each client’s real estate strategy.

How do you achieve a work/life balance?
We enjoy our work, we enjoy our team, and we respect and support one another’s lives outside of the office. Time management is key for any professional achieving work/life balance. At SHYFT we promote good time management with work flexibility. We also encourage our team to maintain a 40 – 45 hour work week. SHYFT values our employees, we want them to have a fresh take on each day. The leadership at SHYFT encourages the team’s active lifestyles, knowing it makes for a smarter and happier group of people.

Where is your favorite place to have a meeting outside the office?
One of those locations is literally right outside of our office!  On nice days we like to meet out in McPherson Commons for our weekly stand ups.   We also tend to frequent several of the fantastic coffee shops or eateries in Columbus.   It wouldn’t be surprising to find that one of our team members might be working from Fox in the Snow or Mission Coffee right now.


SHYFT Collective, a strategic real estate firm which provides owner’s representative, architectural and project management services for organizations undergoing real estate changes, announced the launch of their new website, following their name change in recent months. “SHYFT Collective is a name which reflects what our company does, by identifying our clients’ “Why” — we are the experts in managing change,” said Brandon Foldes, CEO. SHYFT Collective is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, with offices in Columbus, Ohio and Phoenix, AZ. Visit their new website at www.shyftcollective.com