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Company: iSpeak, Inc., Round Rock, TX
Company Description: iSpeak, Inc. was founded in 1999 by Kevin Karschnik and Russ Peterson Jr. We wanted to deliver exceptional instructors, customized curriculum, and real-world skills in every workshop. Our standards for learning and development were set extremely high, and we refuse to compromise. Our mission statement is simple, "Make a Difference." Our workshops and philanthropy will always pursue that mission.
Nomination Category: Solution Provider Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Training Practice of the Year

Nomination Title: iSpeak_GTECH Leadership Academy

Tell the story about what this nominated organization has achieved since the beginning of July 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

GTECH (one of the leading operators of lottery systems, in over 60 countries, revenues over $4B) approached iSpeak to develop a 9-month training program to develop future leaders in their organization. Each of the program’s 14 participants was hand-selected by Executive Management as a “high-potential” based on past sales success and promising future leadership. Goals were to improve leadership communication skills, develop executive presence, and nurture innovative problem-solving as future leaders.

**********Discoveries made:

While working on development of the program, iSpeak discovered both executives and nominated participants had preconceived notions based on previous workshop experiences. The key to success would begin with them both understanding how this program is different and beneficial. It must be positioned as the critical foundation for future GTECH leaders.

********** Obstacles:

• Executive Involvement and Support: Critical to the success of this program would be Executive Leadership support. iSpeak scheduled meetings with the Director of Learning & Development and the business-unit senior leadership. Executives could see the benefits and approved the program. In addition, managers of the participants were recruited as program “coaches.” iSpeak developed customized coaching sheets (all 8 attached) to aid these managers in coaching students after each session.

"This program has been the most useful, practical, and easiest to implement of any training we have conducted for our high potential employees." Tom Stanek, Sr. Director Sales-Marketing

• Leadership Competency Model Alignment: Program success would depend on customizing the curriculum to align with the GTECH leadership competencies. iSpeak met with Joe Guillory, Director of L&D, to customize that alignment.

• Student Buy-in: The program was internally branded as the "Texas Leadership Development Program." Also, attendees could not simply register; senior management nominated attendees. Students saw the executive support, the prestige of being nominated, and the quality of the workshops. (Evaluation summaries attached.)

• “My mind is blown! Very eye-opening. Makes me want to come up with a billion awesomely insane ideas.” – Manny Ponce

• “This class was over the top good – thank you! I’m beginning to see the link between the classes – every course is beneficial.” – Yvonne O’Brien

************ Innovations:

• Customization of delivery timeframes - The eight workshops were customized from two-day to one-day sessions to meet the logistics of the participants traveling and stepping away from the field.
• Alignment with GTECH competencies – Each session focused specifically on developing knowledge and skills aligned with the leadership competencies defined by GTECH.
• Coaching sheets created for the managers of participants to reinforce learning.
• “Program Launch” webcast for managers of participants prior to first workshop
• Real-world issues customized into curriculum exercises –Issues used for innovation, problem-solving, and role-playing were based on current leadership issues.

************ Outcomes and Achievements:

• GTECH hosted graduation presentations for the Executive Sponsors at the Westin Hotel in Austin, Texas. Each of the 14 graduates delivered a presentation on their experience, what they learned, and how their leadership development would benefit GTECH.
• Executives remarked about the amazing transformation seen in the students. Their communication and innovation skills were applauded by the executive team. (feedback document attached.)
• During this time period, achieved record annual sales over $4.5B

Attachments- participant/leadership FEEDBACK, SAMPLE curriculum, instructor videos, coaching sheets, WEBINAR kickoff document

Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

Kevin Karschnik and Russ Peterson Jr. have over 40 years combined experience in training and development. They are the founders of iSpeak, Inc. After building a technical training organization in the early 90's, they sold that enterprise. They moved on to the development of iSpeak, Inc. where their goal was to develop methods for improving communication for business professionals, sales professionals, and leaders. Through their research iSpeak was founded on the 4-"i" methodology for improvement in leadership and sales communication skills. Information+Inspiration+Implementation=Improvement.

Both Kevin and Russ are published authors (most recently Corporate Ovations: Your Roadmap to Better Presentations http://amzn.com/B00CTWFTYY) . Their philosophy for communication improvement involves questioning to understand “the why” behind everything, instead of just relying on memorized short-cut tools and techniques.