Culture Coach? Newest EOM does that too!

You always remember when you meet people who are smart and make things appear easy to do. Our newest Better Learning Systems/Know Your Talents employee of the month Melanie Benitez has won over our entire company with that style of work over the past year and a half.

That is why when we wanted to introduce a “Culture Coach” she was the perfect person in our company to launch something new like this, and has successfully started by working with our LearnKey Production teams first. Rolling out something new to employees is a big deal and having someone like her with a positive “can do” attitude is a great quality and strength, which Melanie leverages successfully with her peers.

One who doesn’t like to say no (High P!) and gets things done as quickly as “the snap of a finger” has even been compared to that of Barbara Eden from the TV sitcom “I dream of Jeannie!” Melanie just makes things happen. Supporting internal and external customers and consultants with great success is another part of her job, and couple that with the great reputation she has with long-standing trusted partners such as Maricopa Workforce Connections, WIA folks, and MAXIMUS that is a true testament to the type of professionalism she brings our company.

Please take a moment and get to know Melanie’s personal side with a fun Q&A:

1. How many siblings do you have? I have one older sister and one older brother and then a younger step brother and step sister.
2. What is your favorite movie? Have lots of favorites but I would have to say “Blast from the Past” is my top favorite.
3. What is your favorite band? No favorite really, listen to all kinds of music from Christian to Classic Rock. Like a lot of variety in what I listen to.
4. What is your favorite vacation spot? Napa Valley – could spend an entire summer there just learning about wine and visiting all the amazing eateries there.
5. What was your high school’s mascot? Bulldog
6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? I don’t know about a combination of foods, but I did try chicken feet once in Chinatown in LA.
7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet? Well I have two, both my pups I have right now. Annie is a Beagle and Hudson is a Brussel Griffon – can’t imagine life without them!!
8. What was your first car? A 1970 Chevy Chevelle – wish I still had that car!!
9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? I would love to see Italy!
10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? Ummm, that would be none of the above. Did get into a hot air balloon one time and that was pretty amazing…this stuff… a bit too “risky” for me.
11. What is the funniest saying you have heard around here? Last week from a client during a PDP Certification workshop “If you have to eat a frog don’t stare at it too long” was a new one to me and quoted from Mark Twain.
12. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? I would probably say my grandfather, he was a very firm but kind German man, would be fun to have a behavioral conversation with him!

Please join me in congratulating Melanie on her display of all our core values Ease, Value, and Trust, while being a terrific team member and part of the Better Learning Systems family. We are both proud and very fortunate to have her on our team!

Veteran Testimonial – Tristan Roberts

When my friend Joe talks about his time in the Army, he’s told me that he misses “that feeling of brotherhood.” While I’ve never served in the military, I have an incredibly close relationship with my family and remember how alone and cut off I often felt from their care, direction, and loyalty during the year I lived abroad after college.

After I came home and started working as a Veteran Services Rep, I was struck by the loyalty and caring that I saw demonstrated so often at LearnKey. I loved (and still love) listening in on the other LKVS ladies and hearing them talking about their vets’ successes. I loved (and still love) that in our weekly meetings we all (and by “we all” I mean the advisors, the VSRs, the Know Your Talents team, Jeff Coruccini and our awesome tutor Tristan) celebrate together whenever a veteran earns a certification, gets a job interview, or finishes their program with us. Most of all I loved—and love—that when we announce our vets’ successes, we say all their names instead of giving the group a number.

Tristan in particular continues to impress me with his efforts on our veterans’ behalf. When I met Tristan and put a face to the voice on the speakerphone, my initial impression was that he was just as mellow and calm in person as he was on the phone. Now that I’m starting to direct the veterans I assist to him for tutoring help, I really respect the way Tristan reaches out so quickly, offers his help and is always working to create more study materials.

Watching Tristan’s testimonial about the Blue Ocean program and looking back on my earliest days at LearnKey was a powerful reminder for me that OUR end goal here will never be racking up certifications, program completions, or even job placements. We’re here to give people the chance to build on the values they lived through their service to our country and to be the loyal, caring support system that they deserve.

This is Jenna’s debut LearnKey blog post! She has been a Veteran Services Rep with us for four awesome months. Jenna loves theatre, smoothies, her husband, and being asked about her year teaching English in China!

Newest EOM helps veteran students realize their potential!

You can always tell when someone loves their job. It’s not in what they say, it’s the results they achieve, and this month’s Better Learning Systems/LearnKey employee of the month is Susan Havens, a Veteran Services Representative who has a passion for helping students. This is evident in the way she supports the sixty-five (65) plus students she works with who are going through our Blue Ocean IT & Career Ready program!

Even though Susan has only been with LearnKey for four (4) months she brings passion, commitment, and discipline to her job each and every day. Her manager had this to say during her nomination:

“Susan has done an amazing job taking the roll of supporting our Veteran Students, and has really helped mentor and motivate them to stay on track and achieve their goals. She is a true display of our core values by earning trust from her team members that she is going to follow through on any task she is given and is an absolute professional when it comes to customer service. We truly value her ability to dig in and figure out how to complete a task on time and she makes it easy for students to like her as she is always engaging with them frequently to ensure they are moving along in their coursework and removing any challenges they face”.

We strive to make LearnKey a fun place to work and Susan fits right in with her funny personality and natural “can do” approach to supporting other team members. Take a minute to get to know the personal side of Susan through this fun Q&A:

How many siblings do you have? I am number 3 out of 3 brothers and 4 sisters.
What is your favorite movie? The older comedies because they aren’t so crude…like “The Man Who Knew too Little,” “Grumpy Old Men,” the “Vacation” Movies w/ Chevy Chase, and “What About Bob.”
What is your favorite band? I love the 80’s Rock Bands…like Chicago, 38 Special, Foreigner, and Aerosmith.
What is your favorite vacation spot? The central coast in California Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, San Louis Obispo area. Still a quiet beach community.
What was your High School Mascot? A Porterville Panther.
What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? Honestly, I avoid weird foods at all costs! I’m not a big fan of weird or things that are considered NOT food. I will eat most anything, but weird.
What is/was the name of your favorite pet? My favorite pet was a little Chihuahua named Annie.
What was your first car? A yellow Datsun B210 and my favorite car was a 76 Camaro when I was a senior in High School.
If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? I’ve been most everywhere, but I would really like to go to Italy and visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rome and Jerusalem and Greece.
Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? I would probably have a higher percentage of survival zip lining.
What is the funniest thing you have heard working here? Nothing specific, but I work with a bunch of witty people who crack me up everyday.
If you could eat dinner with anyone past, present, or future who would it be? Bill Murray. He cracks me up and I love his sense of humor!

Please join me in congratulating Susan on being our February 2015 employee of the month, and now that I know she does not eat weird food so much for her trying my home made Chili!.

Newest EOM keeps LearnKey looking good!

Join me in welcoming in 2015!

Its always exciting to start a new year especially when you have a great team. No better way to do that than talking about our great people. So it gives me great pleasure to announce our first 2015 BLS/LearnKey employee of the month, JJ Embleton, who is our lead on the LearnKey production design team.

JJ’s job is not easy as he plays a key role in making sure our course designs are modern, effective, and drive learning engagement. A great example is the work he did around our Security+ course the end of last year and how he lead the team fostering creativity and providing feedback. Here is what his nominating leader had to say about his efforts:

“It’s hard to choose just one course where JJ has exceeded my expectations as there have been several courses over the past six months where the Design team has had to meet crazy tight deadlines, Flash CC included. He ensures the courses we are releasing are up to the standard we have come accustomed, all while rallying the team alongside him. He does this with his strong organizational skills and a relentless positive attitude of ‘it may be hard, but we can do it.'”

We are fortunate to have JJ as part of our team and along with being a great co-worker we wanted to share a little about his personal life. So take a minute to get to know him through this fun Q&A:

1. How many siblings do you have? One Brother and one sister both younger.

2. What is your favorite movie? Haha! It changes about every week for me but right now it is Big Hero 6.

3. What is your favorite band? That is also another one that changes often, but I have been listening to a lot of Archive lately.

4. What is your favorite vacation spot? Anywhere with good vistas and good hikes. I love hiking with my family!

5. What was your high school’s mascot? The Panthers.

6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? I don’t know if it is exactly food, but recently when I was super sick and probably doped up on cold medicine, I mixed Grape Airborne with milk… It ended up being pretty good.

7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet? Tango. He was a Yellow Labrador I had pretty much all through growing up.

8. What was your first car? 1998 Ford Taurus

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? I would love to go anywhere in the Scandinavian/Icelandic regions.

10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? Sky dive.

11. What is the funniest saying you have heard working here? “Mmm, hot brownie…in my mouth”

12. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? My Grandpa Chuck. I knew him well when I was younger but he passed away and I think it would be really fun to get to know him better as an adult.

Please join me in congratulating JJ on his recent success and thanking him for his contributions to our great team!

Sincerely,

Jeff Coruccini

Newest Employee of the Month all about the team!

Like any other company we continue to try and get better at what we do. That could not be more evident than what has transpired over the past ninety (90) days on our LearnKey Veteran Services Team (LKVS). During this period we required everyone to “be all in” on what was good for our students. It required several team members to stop what they were doing and do what is good for the team, even if it required their other priorities to be put on the back burner.

Kelly Woods, an Adviser on the LKVS team and this month’s BLS/LearnKey employee of the month demonstrated our core values by not only jumping in to help fix the problem, but took on a leadership role working with other team members on building a better process, assisted with finding good team members, and recommended a “team approach” for handling students with “a can do attitude” the entire time.

He demonstrated the value of his team members by trusting them and working on solutions vs. pointing fingers. At a time when frustrations were high he made it very easy for team members to work with him on finding the best solutions that were the best for the team.

Kelly has a way about him that makes it easy for people to feel comfortable with him and he relates to people – a true gift, not only in friendship, but leadership and business as well. A perfect example is what one of his peers, Kim Johnson, had to say when she nominated him. “At a time when I needed leadership support while making drastic changes to teams and processes Kelly supported me the entire way and I am so appreciative of that”.

Here’s a way for you to get to know Kelly a bit on the personal side through a fun Q&A:

How many siblings do you have? 4 sisters and 3 brothers, I am 7^th out of the 8
What is your favorite movie? The Ultimate Gift
What is your favorite band? Alabama
What is your favorite vacation spot? Kolob Mountain
What was your high school’s mascot? Ram
What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? I don’t eat weird combinations
What is/was the name of your favorite pet? Buddy
What was your first car? 1976 Toyota Corolla
If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Jerusalem
Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? Zip line
What is the funniest saying you have heard working here? There is a cat on the heater vent
If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? My little sister Tiffany who passed away suddenly last year. I would like to make sure that she really knew I loved her.

Please join me in congratulating Kelly on this achievement and his contributions to our company!

Newest EOM problem solver, master of Rubik’s cube and trivia!

It’s safe to say our Better Learning Systems & LearnKey employees of the month are great at doing more than just one thing and this month’s recipient is no different. We are congratulating Bill Wilhelm from our Cedar City office. Bill has been with LearnKey Cedar City for over a year and a half and in that time he has become one of our most valued employees and built a reputation for being a master of everything he touches.

Take for example needing help with the right combinations of a code fix for a demo file? Or how about fixing OnlineExpert.com to pause correctly? Better yet, what about secrets of a Rubik’s cube? Bill to the rescue, says his leadership team. Probably one of the greatest qualities of Bill’s contributions is he does his job with a very easy-going attitude which makes him a great team player.

Get to know Bill a bit more through some fun Q&A:

1. How many siblings do you have?

One sister, younger

2. What is your favorite movie?

Bandits. It features a Suburban like mine as the bank robbers’ getaway car (see question 8).

3. What is your favorite band?

Bloc Party

4. What is your favorite vacation spot?

I absolutely love being on the water at Lake Powell.

5. What was your high school’s mascot?

Falcons. Beware our astounding ability to plummet toward the earth really, really fast combined with incredible visual acuity! *

* (The FDA has not verified the falcon-like capabilities of all high school students. Your specific animal-based traits may vary.)

6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten?

Once, on a whim, I requested a deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich with onion gravy on top. My co-worker actually made the thing, and I did try a bite. It was every bit as nasty as your imagination can make it.

7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet?

Dewey, he was a miniature dachshund with a great temperament.

8. What was is your first car?

1970 Chevrolet Suburban. I still have it and drive it regularly.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?

My wife and I would like to go on vacation to Thailand together some day.

10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail?

Why not all four? I’d be up for any/all of them.

11. What is the funniest saying you have heard while working here?

There are too many Chris-ims to pick from, but a good recent one was “Sincerity is so hard when you don’t mean it!”

12. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why?

I could over analyze the hypothetical ramifications of this question for weeks. Instead I’ll say Nikola Tesla. We’d have ever so much fun pontificating on his plans and apparatuses which are now lost to history while enjoying a specially prepared entrée of legume and fruit paste, surrounded by baked dough slices and briefly submerged in hot fat!

We are very fortunate to have Bill as part of the BLS/LearnKey family and value his contributions. He exemplifies our core values through making it easy for team members to work with him, providing problem solving skills that are of great value, and building trust with his leadership team.

Thank you Bill and congratulations!

Newest Employee of the month leverages what we do!

Not only is Aaron Colborn the newest addition to our LearnKey film and edit team in Salt Lake City, he is also this month’s recipient of our Better Learning Systems Employee of the Month award. Several qualities resonate to the top of what impressed us most about his accomplishments and their alignment to our core values around ease, value, and trust

In just five (5) short months he has become certified in Adobe’s Photoshop CS6 and Illustrator CS6. He is extremely easy to work with, values his co-workers, and has won over the trust of the entire leadership team. Here’s what his manager had to say during his nomination:

“As you can see Aaron is a very goal-oriented employee by taking advantage of what we do, which is produce certification training. He set his sights on these certifications early on and passed them in a very short amount of time. He is a work horse. I can always count on Aaron to meet or beat extremely strict deadlines while maintaining a high quality product. Aaron brings more than 10 years of experience of editing and shooting to our team. His experience allows him to help others on his team who are looking to add that pop or creative flair to the project. We are thrilled to have Aaron on our team!”

Take a moment to ready more about Aaron and his life outside of LearnKey:

1. How many siblings do you have?

I have one older brother who is much smarter than me, but not nearly as handsome. And I smell better.

2. What is your favorite movie?

Anyone who knows me knows that is probably the hardest question that I can be asked. But if I had to narrow it down to one it would be Pulp Fiction, with Boogie Nights as a close second.

3. What is your favorite band?

Again, a tough one, but probably either Radiohead or Pink Floyd.

4. What is your favorite vacation spot?

Anywhere with a beach and booze.

5. What was your high school’s mascot?

A grizzly bear. RAWR! Scaaaarrryyyy!!!

6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten?

Fried fish eyes. They explode like Gushers (the candy) when you bite down.

7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet?

Bender was the best and weirdest cat I have ever had. He passed away 3 years ago. 🙁

8. What was your first car?

A 1973 Dodge Dart. It was more power than a 17 year old should have.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?

Argentina

10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail?

I want to skydive into your heart.

11. What is the funniest saying you have heard working here?

“I’m all teeth and boogers.” – Liz McEuen

12. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why?

I would have dinner with Stanley Kubrick — at Chuck-A-Rama because their mashed potatoes are delicious!!!

Please join me in congratulating Aaron and congratulations on your Adobe certifications and believing in what we do!

Newest Employee of the Month: Keeps us up and running!

Our IT department rocks and one of the reasons is people like our newest Better Learning Systems employee of the month, Scott Wallace. He treats everyone (internal or external) like a customer, with respect, follow-up, and “can do” attitude. Over the past three months Scott was there for us and our customers at very critical times and we were so fortunate for that. He comes in on weekends if need be, takes on additional responsibilities and always demonstrates our core values because he’s easy to work with, builds trust with people, and values the efforts of his peers .

One of the best experiences for me working with Scott is when he explained in simple terms what we needed to do to eliminate “points of failure” in our technical and operational support areas. I really respected how candid he was and not only expressed the problem but also recommended the right solutions. These recommendations keep our OnlineExpert.com enterprise up and running as well as our many office systems and servers.

His passion for making sure our teachers, students, and veterans have a good learning experience is clearly demonstrated by how he is always willing to take a call to help them any way he can. Could be an internet connection issue, web browser, configuration settings; he demonstrates patience and willingness at all times.

Take a minute to get to know some fun facts about Scott:

1. How many siblings do you have? Two.

2. What is your favorite movie? I can’t answer that there are too many, so I’ll give you my first favorite movie. Johnny Sokko and Giant Robot.

3. What is your favorite band? Led Zeppelin.

4. What is your favorite vacation spot? Anywhere I go together with Dawn & Izzie.

5. What was your high school’s mascot? An Alta hawk, which is a fictitious bird, btw.

6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? Not really sure?

7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet? Bogger & Izzie.

8. What was your first car? 1970 Z-28 Camaro.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? I would take Dawn on a Disneyland world tour, or where ever she wanted to go.

10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? We’ve been zip-lining. Parasailing I guess.

11. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? How could I have dinner with someone from the future? There is no possible way in our fixed number of dimensions that I could possible know who will be in existence in the future. Not two days into the future, not two seconds into the future. Ok how about my wife this weekend at the finest Disneyland restaurant in California.

As previously stated our IT department rocks and Scott Wallace is a big reason for that! Thank you again Scott and congratulations!

When Employees “Get It” Everyone Wins!

Amazing people do amazing things and that is not by accident. Have you every met someone who just “gets it”? When we do there is a saying “they get the why”.

That could not be more evident then by our newest LearnKey, Better Learning Systems employee of the month Skyler Knight, a LearnKey designer in our Cedar City, UT office. The “why” is why we do what we do, not the what and how of our products and services; its the passion of wanting to help people “fulfill their dreams through better learning systems”. That is why we do what we do.

Skyler demonstrates that through always keeping our core values front and center. Here’s what his leader had to say through his nomination:

“Skyler works every day to ensure he is meeting our core values (Ease, Value, and Trust). He is Easy to work with and we trust he will get the job done because he’s the first to finish assignments and brings so much value to our production team by always going above and beyond”.

In my own personal experience with Skyler he can also pull a fast one as he and another employee swapped places in April 1st of this year getting me to believe one of his peers was actually him! It worked and I owe him and Jordan big time the next time I am in Cedar!

For fun, here’s some more insight to Skyler:

1. How many siblings do you have? I have 3 siblings, one older sister, one older brother, and one younger sister.

2. What is your favorite movie? My current favorite movie is Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer.

3. What is your favorite band? My current favorite band is Twenty One Pilots.

4. What is your favorite vacation spot? I don’t take too many vacations but my most recent trip was to South Korea. I would say that it is by far my favorite spot to travel to. There are so many beautiful buildings to see and a lot of beaches to admire there as well.

5. What was your high school’s mascot? My high school’s mascot was a Ram.

6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? The weirdest combination of food I’ve ever eaten was live (still moving) octopus with sesame oil, raw fish, and salt.

7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet? The name of my favorite pet was Halo.

8. What was your first car? The first car I ever owned was a green 1995 Jeep Cherokee

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? If I could go anywhere in the world right now I would travel to Japan.

10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? I think I would rather zip line if I had to choose from the above options. Maybe someday if I gain the courage I would like to go bungee jumping or sky diving too.

11. What is the funniest saying you have heard working here? “Will you smell my yogurt?” –Chris Walser

12. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? I would choose to eat dinner with a philosopher from the past, perhaps Socrates. The reason being that I would like to ask him about his personal philosophies about knowledge and gain insight and wisdom from someone who is not overwhelmed by all of the distractions of our modern world.

Please join me in congratulating Skyler and reminding him how fortunate to we feel to have him as part of our team.

Regards,

Jeff Coruccini

Beau Knows LearnKey!

Need a trade show coordinated? How about a marketing white paper? Or updated course catalog and better yet- how about travel arrangements? Those are key areas of our company and we are fortunate enough to have Beau Shakespear handle those duties or shall I say “wear all those hats” with a “can do” attitude and great pride in his work. It is for that reason and the way he demonstrates our company’s core values that he is the recipient of our March 2014 Better Learning Systems employee of the month!

As our Marketing and Tradeshow Coordinator Beau has developed strong organizational skills and really taken control in communicating our key messaging for students, teachers and veterans. Our leadership team can count on Beau to be one step ahead of us at all times when it comes to key marketing and support activities. Kim Johnson, his manager, had this to say regarding his nomination:

“Over the past few months Beau coordinated a major redesign of our LearnKey.com website that has made it easier to navigate, find information that is informative and much needed. I am so proud of how he went about completing such a major task and how he has adapted with managing multiple projects, meeting deadlines at all times”.

Our core values are built around ease, value and trust. Beau exemplifies these in how easy it is to work with him, the value his contributions bring and trust he builds with the way he goes about doing his job. Way go to Beau!

As always, here’s a Q and A on some fun facts about Beau:

1. How many siblings do you have? 2 brothers, 1 sister

2. What is your favorite movie? Baby Mamma – This could be because my wife is pregnant. But you can never go wrong with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

3. What is your favorite band? Couldn’t name a favorite band. But currently I am loving Happy by Pharrell Williams.

4. What is your favorite vacation spot? Disneyland

5. What was your high school’s mascot? Cowboys

6. What is the weirdest combination of foods you have eaten? One time in Mexico I ate crickets with spice on them. They were crunchy.

7. What is/was the name of your favorite pet? Tramp my dog.

8. What was your first car? 1989 golden Astro Van.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Italy or Ireland

10. Would you rather sky dive, bungee jump, zip line, or parasail? I have been sky diving and zip lining. But I would go zip lining again in a heartbeat. It was so much fun.

11. What is the funniest saying you have heard working here? Some things are worth dying for, and one of those things is gluten. YOLO!

12. If you could eat dinner with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? I would like to eat with whichever ancestor was the closest to William Shakespeare and ask them how/if I am related to William Shakespeare. Then I would finally have an answer when people ask me “Are you related to William Shakespeare?”

Please join me in congratulating Beau for this great accomplishment and thank you once more Beau for all the great work you do and how you go about doing it.

Jeff