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Excerpts |
Stephen Bishop, Ph.D.
President, Learning Systems International, Ltd.
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"... Karla is very resourceful and demonstrated
her ability to get to the heart of any matter before her.Her
work ethic, great sense of humor and genuine desire to see her
client succeed is palpable. I have been grateful to have Karla
on our team and wish our paths had crossed earlier ..." |
Operations Manager,
A Leading National Mortgage Lender
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I cannot say enough about Karla Robertson’s abilities
and talents to coach both individuals and groups. She compels
everyone to be accountable to be the best that they can be,
both personally and professionally. |
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Full Text of Testimonials
October
2000
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am pleased to offer the following testimonial regarding Karla
Robertson’s impact on Learning Systems International, Ltd.
Karla has made a big difference to our small company in three ways:
First, she used her marketing, sales and consultative expertise
to bring us to a point where we could define a vision and mission
for LSI. Prior to Karla’s involvement, LSI offered a loose
array of products and services that kept it going but not in a direction
or at a pace that would enable LSI to grow. Karla has the ability
to see the “big picture”. She made connections quickly
and generated specific business strategies around pricing and client
acquisition as well as possibilities and avenues to pursue to grow
our business and keep it running. She accomplished this sometimes
with minimal information from me to go on but kept digging until
she found what she needed. Today, LSI has a clear direction and
a sales-driven, market-oriented focus that has enabled us to acquire
new business and to compete much more successfully, thanks to her
efforts.
Second, she applied her strong creative skills to design and produce
outstanding marketing materials which marketing experts from large
corporations have observed to be first rate especially in light
of the very lean budget with which she had to work. Karla makes
things happen and overcomes any and all obstacles to get a challenging
job done. LSI’s clients have unanimously agreed that the materials
are compelling and tell them exactly what LSI does.
Third, her sense of urgency to get business has been infectious
and has caused this President, trained as an analytical/technical
person, to understand much better the idiosyncrasies, pace and demands
of a dynamic marketplace that will not wait. Consequently, my behavior
has changed for the business betterment of LSI in that my role,
thanks to Karla, has been re-thought. Due to her coaching, I am
playing a far greater role in marketing than ever before and I’ve
become much more effective at it.
Karla is very resourceful and demonstrated her ability to get to
the heart of any matter before her. I would describe her as a “heat-seeking
missile” when she is in research mode in search of information
she needs to complete a project or bring an idea from conception
to reality. She is a trusted sounding board, motivator, and when
she is enthused, she sweeps everyone along with her. Her work ethic,
great sense of humor and genuine desire to see her client succeed
is palpable.
As President of LSI, I have been grateful to have Karla on our
team and wish our paths had crossed earlier.
Best wishes to you in your endeavors. I hope you, too, have the
opportunity to experience working with Karla.
Sincerely,
Stephen Bishop, Ph.D.
President
Learning Systems International, Ltd.
April 29, 2003
To Whom It May Concern:
I am pleased to offer the following feedback regarding Karla Robertson’s
assignment with {Our Company} from September 2002 through January
2003. Both the sales and operations personnel have experienced a
great deal of positive change and as a direct result of Karla’s
presence, interaction, consulting and coaching.
Background:
From August 1998 through August of 2002, the operations staff reported
up through the sales structure and occupied the same office space
as sales. In May of 2002, the Operations Center moved across the
hall from the sales office establishing a new and independent office
site in anticipation of transitioning out of the joint venture and
becoming {Our Company's} employees. Additionally, the Operations
Center would now report up through the {Our Company's} operations
structure. Our once strong relationship with the other sales offices
in our region and particularly the local sales group had grown increasingly
contentious and the transition threatened to increase the tension.
Morale was low, and productivity was suffering.
Karla Robertson was assigned to assist me in creating a transition
plan which covered recruiting/staffing, facility expansion/relocation,
training, compensation and benefits, and communication. Additionally,
she guided me in finding solutions for the issues between and within
our teams. Once on site, she quickly assessed our situation and
identified numerous challenges. Karla easily established credibility
among both the sales and operations groups. She quickly created
a safe environment that allowed everyone to share their experiences,
thoughts, feelings and ideas, and in so doing, set the stage for
changes to occur. The following summarizes some of the highlights
of her work with us.
- Increase in productivity
Prior to September 2002, the Operations Center averaged 125 –
175 loans closed per month and some of the local production was
overflowed to another processing site. I would characterize our
group, at that time, as having no real ownership of the pipeline.
Karla helped me find ways to boost productivity and pump up the
energy level of our entire staff. Specifically, she created a
process to “redesign the Operations Center”,
Karla started by reviewing all existing positions. She encouraged
me to establish and communicate clear expectations and accountabilities
to each employee. Over the course of three weeks, all roles and
responsibilities were redefined and the staff began to shift from
a culture of excuses to one of results. There was a good amount
of victim feelings to overcome during this period; however a more
cohesive group emerged, and they began to focus on performance
and achievement
Every month after September, the Operations Center set new records
for closed loans and by December 2002, our Operations Center closed
its record high of 300 loans. In April 2003, we have already broken
that record.
- Strategic Staffing
With Karla’s guidance, staffing needs were redesigned to
better meet our production requirements. As part of the staffing
process, Karla provided me with coaching on interviewing, salary
planning, performance ratings and delivery of positive and negative
feedback to personnel.
In September of 2002 we had eleven employees in two job classifications.
As of April 2003, we have 17 employees, five job classifications,
inclusive of full time, part time, contractor and temporary personnel.
We reclaimed all production from Phoenix and all loans are now
handled locally. We continue to utilize creative staffing strategies
as we expand our physical site and grow our staff.
- Motivating team Members
Karla brought a contagious enthusiasm to the office each day!
She personally set an example of the power of a positive attitude
for all team members. Karla was extremely creative with ideas
on how to motivate the staff to keep them focused on their goals.
She brainstorms constantly, and is always tossing out suggestions
on how to bring people together – work events, social events,
contests, prizes, games, themes, etc. This helped improve interpersonal
relationships among our staff, and many old conflicts dissolved
as we grew into ONE team.
We continue to utilize many types of the themes today as we establish
and measure monthly funding goals. We also celebrate and recognize
many individual and group achievements. This culture of motivating
the staff and having fun is a direct result of Karla’s work
with us. In fact, our sales partners are enthusiastic sponsors
of many of our incentive programs because they enjoy participating
in our activities!
- Building cooperation and supportive relationships between operations
and sales personnel
Karla has keen insight and can identify the root causes of many
problems. Her ability to provide no-nonsense feedback helped both
operations and sales personnel move beyond past differences and
begin to build a strong and strategic partnership. Karla spoke
constantly of this partnership and encouraged me to develop my
own vision of what I wanted my group to be known for and achieve
in concert with our sales partners. As time went by, I had a clear
picture of what it would look like, sound like, and feel like.
To this day, I utilize every possible opportunity to work together
with sales to achieve common goals.
Karla was instrumental in putting together workshops designed
to increase efficiencies in the loan manufacturing process. She
served as “our guide” during these sessions and allowed
us to find our own solutions through active interaction with each
other. These activities brought operations and sales together
to share knowledge and information, and provided us with models
for working together that we continue to use today.
Both sales and operations personnel are currently working to develop
a training seminar for some of our mortgage personnel. We are
excited and proud of the work we are doing with this and we anticipate
very positive results when we roll out the first seminar in June
of 2003. This semi-annual workshop will be followed by monthly
networking calls for this group to continue to share and exchange
information and best practices. Our ability to develop this ongoing
training process is a direct result of our own participation in
Karla’s workshops.
- Personal empowerment in my role as Operations Manager
During our first meeting, Karla provided me with a lot of information
about the Operations Manager position. She clearly defined the
role, and articulated the responsibilities, expectations and accountabilities
of this position. Her familiarity with both sales and operations
roles not only with {Our Company}, but in the mortgage industry,
is invaluable as she shares knowledge and insight from her own
experiences.
I have also been the fortunate recipient of personal coaching
from Karla Robertson. For a period of almost three months, she
sat beside me as I conducted meetings, across from me as I performed
my daily tasks, and accompanied me as I moved about throughout
each day. She asked questions, encouraged me, urged, nudged and
at times down right pushed me to think, learn, find out, challenge,
stand firm, coach, plan and execute. Additionally, she guided
me to establish a regular communication with all branch managers
and how to have effective calls and interactions with them. As
a result, I have much greater confidence and am much more focused
on performance and achievement of goals. I am firmer in my expectations.
I now appreciate and even embrace the sales culture and enjoy
my interaction with them. I encourage others to develop their
abilities and talents. I share knowledge and take great pleasure
in building teams. I reserve time each week to review my business
plan. I can still hear Karla saying “get ahead of the curve”!
I am excited about my job and look forward to going to work and
meeting the challenges each day brings. And so much of this is
a direct result of Karla Robertson’s coaching skills.
I cannot say enough about Karla Robertson’s abilities and
talents to coach both individuals and groups. She compels everyone
to be accountable to be the best that they can be, both personally
and professionally.
At the Operations Center, we speak of Karla Robertson frequently
because so much of her influence remains a part of our work culture
to this day and each new achievement brings forth some reminder
of Karla’s work with us.
Yours truly,
Operations Manager
A Leading National Mortgage Lender.
Update
as of January 2004:
The Results Are In!!!
Our operations team finished 2003 as the country's #2 site
in customer service out of 65 total sites. We missed first
place by only .14! A great success, and as a result, we have been
invited to attend the annual service conference in Cancun in April
2004! I firmly believe that Karla's knowledge and coaching provided
us with an important foundation upon which we built the great team
we have today.
As for 2004, we are holding steady among the top 5 sites for customer
service in the nation, and I have every confidence we will achieve
great results!
Having Karla Robertson as a coach has made a significant impact
in helping us realize that we can make a choice, individually and
collectively, to accomplish our goals!
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