Meet Faculty Member, John Jell

The Basics

John R. Jell, President, JELL Training & Consulting Corp. – www.jellcorp.com

How long have you been a faculty member for the CNL and/or teaching in general? What do you enjoy most about serving as faculty/teaching?

I am new to the Center for Nonprofit Leadership and am very honored to have received a call asking if I could help. I have been professionally teaching and training for over 25 years, including for the likes of Coca-Cola University, Nestlé University, and Monster Energy University. I have also been fortunate to do keynote addresses and workshops with many national education groups, state education groups, colleges, and school districts related to 3 books I had published on youth career preparation. I fell in love with teaching for 2 reasons. First, I held 18 roles professionally, never once holding a role that existed before I stepped into it. As a result, I had to figure every situation and new position out without any training. That instilled a strong passion in me to help others save a huge learning curve. Second, that strong passion was then fueled higher by the unmatched feeling of watching people’s eyes light up because they just learned something that could make them more successful immediately!

What workshop/event do you have coming up? What can attendees expect? Why should people register to attend?

On June 6, I will be doing a keynote on Change Management Done Well for the Center’s Leadership Council. I endured 16 restructurings during my professional career before consulting, most of which were handled somewhere between “poor” and “terrible” by my leadership. I also sat in the executive conference room helping to plan several restructurings, with the biggest and last one running about as smooth as could be given job losses were involved. Attendees can expect to learn a simple and clear 5-step process, with helpful tips in each step, to make their next major change initiative go smoother than prior ones.  I believe people should register because change management is often not a pleasant process. There is a lot of stress involved on those making difficult decisions, as well as on those being impacted, and that is without even factoring in when rumors spread before changes are officially announced. That stress can be reduced for all by following the 5 steps I will review. These steps are based on real-world best practices learned from working for the best, the worst, and from my own trial and error. They have proven to help nonprofits through Fortune 100’s alike.

How would you describe your teaching/facilitation style? What do your students say about you?

I believe in fun, engaging, and experiential learning for adults with strong group participation as there is a brain trust of experience in every class waiting to be tapped. I would describe my style as the big brother or boss you never had that truly cares about helping you become more successful sooner. Actual student feedback includes:

• “John carries himself with a presence few others enjoy. He is motivating, energizing, engaging and entertaining while clearly communicating the message at hand.”
• “…very approachable and warm. He has a way of explaining things with a real-world application, making it easier for trainees or new-hires to grasp. He is a truly reliable and highly skilled professional who cares about other people’s success!”

Anything additional you would like to add?

My business partner and I appreciate what nonprofit organizations do for our community! We have seen how services provided by a community nonprofit organization have benefitted people we know at a time of need. We have also tried to do our part to help. We have both held multi-year executive positions on nonprofit Boards, including both serving multi-year terms as President, helping to raise hundreds of thousands for K-5 public school PTA’s and the United Way.  To continue to do our part to help, we: 

• donate 10% on the first $5000 earned from every contracted business client to a charity of their choice in their name
• offer discounted nonprofit consulting and group training rates to stretch precious budgets
• offer “Open Registration” public training programs whereby for <$1/day investment any organization can send an individual, or small group, to save a 25-year learning curve in 1 day in the areas of leadership development, improving work/life balance, and strengthening public speaking skills. 

THANK YOU for all you do! We look forward to learning from you and to the prospect of helping you create the strongest organizations possible.