Lloyd B. Kenney

Lloyd graduated from the School of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan in 1963.  He was subsequently employed for 35 years by a major Western Canadian manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing organization.   His various responsibilities through several different positions, included sales, marketing, operations, facility development, recruitment, hiring and performance planning.

During his career he attended numerous courses, seminars and workshops on a wide variety of topics.  However, a seminar / workshop on “Performance Planning and Review” was by far the most valuable in improving management skills.

Following retirement in 1998, he assisted a couple of small businesses relative to Job Descriptions and Performance Appraisals.  Those projects, along with other business contacts, led him to conclude that few small to medium sized businesses and organizations have implemented the kinds of programs he had been using to great advantage for more than 20 years.  There is an obvious need for such a program, so he began developing a Performance Planning and Review Package adapted to the requirements of those businesses and organizations that had implemented little, if anything, in that area.

The program now being used in his work with a wide range of employers is based on practical, proven methods to improve productivity by having businesses meet their objectives through employees meeting their individual objectives.  This is achieved through Job Descriptions, Orientation Checklists, Workplans, Appraisals, Employee Career Plans and the associated worksheets and guidelines.

Within the last 6 years, Lloyd has teamed with Darel Baker, from Keldar Leadership Solutions, to conduct a series of one-day seminars and workshops on Recruitment, Hiring and Performance Planning to many business and organization owners and managers, from Calgary to Fort McMurray.  Also included in those sessions was an introduction to Lloyd’s “Hire for HIPPA, Train for Skill” concept, which illustrates the need to increase the emphasis on personal attributes in the hiring process.

Currently, Lloyd is collaborating with associates Darel Baker and Alain Gauthier to extend The Performance Planning Program and various seminars and workshops to a wider audience.  New initiatives include making training and complete programs available to clients via the internet.

Since 2003, Lloyd has also been marketing Pre-Paid Legal Services and more recently, Identity Theft Shield, to further assist businesses and organizations to improve employee productivity.  In what little “spare” time he has, Lloyd volunteers at a Senior’s Home in St. Albert and enjoys doing a variety of woodworking projects.

Joanne Swensrude

Joanne is a Microsoft Office Specialist and has been teaching people how to use their computer  since 1988. She is a graduate of the Computer Systems Technology Diploma program at NAIT (1992). She soon realized that she has a passion for showing people how to shave hours off daily tasks and how to produce professional spreadsheets, documents and presentations. People have no idea that they can learn how to do these things themselves. They find that her courses pay for themselves in very little time.

In 1992, she left her full time job and started offering training to people at their homes or businesses. People started asking for training on a bigger scale so she acquired a classroom in downtown Edmonton. Things slowed down in 1999 when everyone was reluctant to buy new computers because of Y2K, so she took a full time job at a law firm for 6 years as a Systems Trainer.

In 2006, she decided to once again offer training to the public and started Know it Sooner Computer Training after constantly hearing student say “Gee, I wish I’d known that sooner”!

She has spent eight years as a volunteer in Girl Guides, 5 as a leader and 3 as District Commissioner as well as a regular helper as her children’s schools. Together with their three daughters, her and her husband enjoy camping in the summer and taking their dog for walks in the nearby ravine year round, when they’re not driving kids to Girl Guides/ cheerleading/ gymnastics/ friend’s houses/ work/ theatre school, etc. If computer training doesn’t work out for her, Joanne could be a taxi driver, she’s got enough experience in it!