Another exciting month for Better Learning Systems as we head into the 4th Quarter of 2013, and it has all to do with our great people. At LearnKey, we are celebrating another Employee of the Month, and this month our congratulations go to Ben Lee and all his hard efforts to go above and beyond in becoming one of our best quality control specialists in our Cedar City, UT office.

His efforts go far and beyond a quality control specialist – he is a true team player who has demonstrated his efforts through actions, not words.

Here’s what his leader had to say about him during his nomination:

“Ben is an energetic, optimistic, hard working, and friendly team player. He understands most of our LearnKey training & courseware very well, therefore increasing the accuracy of our training. He always gets his work done by the end of the day, and will rearrange his schedule to make sure it is done. He identified a problem with how we keep QC records, and implemented a new QC record keeping process. Ben has always been willing to take on work that isn’t necessarily QC related, and completes each task very well”.

One of his most recent accomplishments was when Ben learned we were wanting to improve our A+ course; he took the training, provided detailed notes on what part of our courseware was effective and what could be improved, then went and took the exam passing the first time! Every challenge we bring to Ben, he has overcome it both in doing the actual work and in dealing with the people involved. He goes above and beyond what is expected and required for a QC person in order to make sure he is doing his job correctly. He has done such a great job with his own work, resulting in less and/or easier work for his team and supervisor.

Enough about work, take a minute to learn more about Ben with our fun survey and who he would take to dinner if he could pick anyone:

Continue reading “When it comes to quality: In Ben we trust”

I tell people all the time – if you want to add value to your organization and stand out, learn these three things: 1) Become a stellar team player, 2) Be resourceful, and 3) Possess a “can do” approach to problem solving. You do those three things well and you will stand out in comparison to the competition.

One of our very own employees, who just so happens to be our newest employee of the month Brad Washburn, has been recognized for demonstrating similar attributes for his work over the past year. Here is some of the nomination and kind words one of our leaders shared about Brad and how he demonstrates our core values (Ease, Value and Trust):

“Brad has spent his time creating LearnCast courses for our mobile library. He created these courses independently and with Ease. In that short time, he produced 109 courses with a wide variety of topics appealing to all types of learners. Next, he worked on developing and configuring the wide screen settings for our LearnKey courses. He was tasked to recapture 8 hefty courses in just a few months and He did it! Now our clients will be able to watch our Adobe Suite in widescreen this Fall. He has won my Trust as being a go to person to get the job done and on time. His work has brought Value to our company. Brad is a pleasure to work with and I am happy to have him on my team!”

Brad’s actions and accomplishment speak to his contributions and we are very appreciative to have him on our team. As we do every Better Learning Systems (BLS) employee of the month, we share with you some fun facts about Brad so you can get to know him better:

Continue reading “Team Player & “Can Do” approach is the way to do your job!”

In the world of technology, especially education through video based training, there are a lot of “moving parts”. We are talking hardware, software, desktop support, third party support vendors, streaming – you name it, we have to host and support it. That is why you need great individuals who can solve problems and orchestrate all technology activities to keep us in business.

That is why I am pleased to announce our IT Leader and Orchestrator Ron Larsen is this months LearnKey/Better Learning Systems employee of the month. His nomination comes after some major milestones: centralizing our support and hosting services, improving OnlineExpert’s “up time” from 98% to 99.9%, and reducing some key expenses along the way.

Ron demonstrates our core values: Ease, Value and Trust in so many ways. Here is what one of his peers had to say:

“As LearnKey’s IT manager, he and his team ensure that LearnKey’s Sales, Client Services, Shipping, Accounting, HR, Marketing, and Production Departments are all able to do their jobs. Quite simply, without Ron and his efforts, LearnKey wouldn’t be able to produce it’s content; Ron makes it easy for the employees of LearnKey and provides value in making things happen that many of us never see, and in some cases are not even aware of. He works behind the scenes a lot of the time moving or upgrading servers to provide clients with a better experience and improving efficiency of the LK team. He builds Trust by simply doing what he says he will do.

Continue reading “IT Leader: Problem solver & Orchestrator”

Team player exudes talent, builds trust and makes cool courses!

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is sharing to the world what great people we have as part of the Better Learning Systems/LearnKey family. What is even better is when newbies join the team and spread their positive energy making an immediate impact and generating positive results.

That could not be more evident than when Marian Eckley joined our Salt Lake City production team last October. From the day she started it’s been a “breath of fresh air” for the entire team. For someone who is new to a team and to build trust with the existing team members so fast is amazing. In the beginning it was not easy the transition happened fast and the team was required to not miss a beat as we were beginning full production of our Adobe CS6 rollout. What did Marian do? Not only did she “dig” in and learn what we were doing, but she also drove higher expectations and confidence to a group that welcomed it.

Here’s what her manager Liz McEuen had to say during Marians nomination:

“I have had the opportunity to work side-by-side with Marian for the last several months and she naturally embodies our core values of trust, ease and value.  Anyone who works with Marian knows they can trust her to finish a project on time and with a production value.  When you are working in video production problems and questions may come up but not to worry.  She will solve the problem with ease and a clear understanding of what needs to happen to achieve the result we are looking for”.

We are so proud of Marian’s success as she has made several changes to our editing process and these changes have lead to a better product in a shorter amount of time making her extremely valuable to the company.

Continue reading “Team player exudes talent and “can do” attitude”

At Better Learning Systems, while supporting hundreds of thousands of users, we get a lot of questions about training: how to use our learning systems, technical support, how to deliver our courses to third world countries with no internet… the list goes on and on. It really makes you appreciate those employees who spend the time to have the product knowledge and experience to answer those questions. One person who prides himself in helping people is Kevin Jacobsen our February employee of the month. It’s the one thing we can get right each and every time we interact with our customers when they ask for our help. Kevin truly takes pride in being professional, knowledgeable, respectful and courteous at all times.

Kevin’s leadership team had this to say about his nomination and selection:

“Over the past two months Kevin has demonstrated our core values in several ways. Providing great value by putting in additional hours, supporting customers’ inquires over the phones, in addition to assisting employees with technical needs internally. He is considered a Trusted resource as he will always follow through with what he is given. He has transitioned into a new role and made it easy for all parties who interact with him regarding technical support.

Continue reading “Have a question about LearnKey training or support? I bet KJ has the answer!”

As we move into February, it’s time again for me to celebrate another employee accomplishment. This has to do with one of our Salt Lake City team members who has demonstrated not only the importance of being a team player, but one who does it on a consistent basis. Since LearnKey is dependent on everyone working together as a team, it means there is no “I” in LearnKey or team! It gives me great pleasure to welcome Rob McNeil as a Better Learning Systems/LearnKey employee of the month. You see Rob is someone who comes to work everyday, on time with the mentality of “do what needs to get done” and how refreshing it is for us to have such a steady employee. His peers VALUE his contributions as he has clearly earned their TRUST and his work effort makes it EASY for everyone.

His manager had this to say during his nomination:

“When you are working in the trenches you want someone who you can trust to get the job done.  Rob McNeil is that person!  Rob not only get his work done but he embodies the core value of ease. He is happy to take on a project and will see it through to completion. I value the skill set Rob brings to both the table and the trenches! He is a major asset to our studio and I am so thrilled that he is on my team.”

It has not always been easy in our Salt Lake City office. In order to get better at producing courses we had to bring on new team members, and never once did Rob question our decisions to do so. What he did do was welcome these new team members with open arms and a “can do” attitude. We are so fortunate to have Rob on our team.

Continue reading “There is no “I” in LearnKey or Team!”