Click on the above logo to learn more about the Professional Education Institute.

Fast-Track Training Effort Matches Company Culture

Dave Jaski faced a daunting task when he joined the Professional Education Institue (PEI) in 2001 as vice president of human resources: Create the company's first formal human resources and training department to offer structured development opportunities for more than 200 employees in several locations.

The task was complicated by senior management's requirement that all training support the entrepreneurial culture and independent spirit that the company was built upon.

Jaski was more than up to the task. After all, he brought with him a wealth of experience earned through 23 years in human resources management at several Fortune 500 companies. He also brought a hidden asset - trusted training and development partner Janine Campagna of Strategic Enhancement Group.

PEI is a leading direct marketer of educational tools designed to help people achieve their personal, financial and self-improvement goals through a variety of wealth-building products and services, including Carlton Sheets Real Estate Investment and Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad courses. PEI has more than tripled in size since 2001. It now employs over 600 employees in Chicago and Salt Lake City. On average, 20 to 25 employees join the company each month creating the need for constant training.

Growing Pains
"When I joined the company, PEI was encountering the same problems every fast-track company experiences," said Jaski. "Internal processes often take a back seat to more urgent matters like meeting increased customer demands. Some of the challenges the company needed to address included inconsistent supervisory styles, no formal training and development for new hires, and teams that weren't as effective as they could be."

Bringing in Strategic Enhancement Group to deliver Wilson Learning's Social Styles and Supervisory Leadership Series (SLS), now called Leading for Performance, was a natural solution. Jaski had worked with Campagna, a Senior Performance Consultant for Strategic Enhancement Group, for more than seven years.

"Over the years, I've used a variety of Wilson Learning products and was always pleased with the results. I firmly believe that a high quality, standardized training program is ideal for training large numbers of people in multiple locations. I knew the solutions I needed - the challenge was going to be getting them implemented."

The Perfect Partner
"Janine was key to getting the training effort off the ground so quickly," said Jaski. "I knew what I wanted to achieve and the products I needed. I also knew she would grasp the situation quickly, ask the right questions and start getting things done.

"I needed a partner who could work independently and was accountable. That describes Janine to a tee," he said.

"Dave is a straight shooter," adds Campagna. "He knew exactly what he wanted and why. After asking some direct questions, it was obvious that Dave had thought the decision through very carefully and had already selected exactly what I would have recommended," said Campagna.

"That meant we were able to move right on to implementation planning," she said.

Starting at the Top
The first phase of the plan was introducing Social Styles and selected modules from Supervisory Leadership Series to a core group of 20 supervisors. Ironically, the company's entrepreneurial spirit was one of the biggest stumbling blocks to creating a consistent leadership approach, said Campagna.

"Managers were used to making decisions quickly and moving on to the next one. They didn't have a common language to resolve issues. As a result, they often worked inefficiently and frequently 'reinvented the wheel.' The managers needed a collaborative process," explained Campagna.

Through SLS, selected managers were exposed to a host of new ideas and strategies designed to improve their communication, delegation, coaching, performance management and performance review skills.

Early on, Campagna and Jaski arranged to have the facilitator present a half-day overview of the training's key elements to senior executives to gain alignment on the concepts and explain their role in making the implementation a success. After the overview, the executives asked for more information to gain a deeper understanding of Social Styles and how to use versatility.

"You know you've hit a home run when the owners ask for more," Jaski said.

Jaski worked with Campagna to create two half-day executive sessions focusing on Social Styles. The result was strong executive endorsement of the training effort. "It turned out that Mike Hussey, president, and one of the owners had participated in Social Styles many years earlier. They'd never forgotten it and were immediately supportive," said Campagna.

From that point on, the training effort grew dramatically.

Training Joins Company on Fast-Track
Social Styles soon joined the Supervisory Leadership Series on the PEI training and development calendar. One team member is now leader-trained to deliver Social Styles. In addition, Negotiating to Yes, a negotiation skills seminar for sales managers, is available to selected managers.

Over the past several years, the value of the training has been seen at many levels, particularly in increased understanding of employee communication styles and improved leadership skills.

Campagna also helped PEI to create and implement a customized interviewing tool to help identify candidates who possess the key qualities needed to fit into PEI's entrepreneurial environment.

"Hiring and training a new manager is a huge investment in time and financial resources. We want to maximize that investment by hiring the right people," explained Jaski. "We're always looking for new ideas very aggressively."

Flawless Execution
Both Jaski and Campagna noted that Diane Murphy, the facilitator carefully chosen by Strategic Enhancement to work with PEI, has been crucial to the effort's success, especially in the delivery of SLS and Negotiating to Yes.

"Diane knows the information very, very well and was able to establish her credibility with employees and the owners of the company immediately. She has a lot of energy and adapts quickly to her audience. Most important, she brings an entrepreneurial approach which fits perfectly with AMS' culture," Jaski said. "Her experience with the products shows during every session."

Campagna brings the same qualities to the partnership, he added. "I trust her implicitly. I know I can approve a concept, and then leave it to Janine to make it work. I haven't been disappointed yet," said Jaski.

top of page