About

A Portrait of Jean Brownlie

My Story

Hi, I’m Jean Brownlie. I have always gotten great joy from the success of others. As early as the age of five, I was organizing the children in the nursery, giving them roles in an activity which I spontaneously created. Each child had a part where they could shine. It was easy to get them to cooperate since they felt good about their contributions.

Later as a vocational teacher, my ability to see the potential in students and work with their uniqueness, opened the gates for all students to learn. A heavy dose of encouragement and a little flexibility kept the students on task. Discipline was used as a ‘teachable moment’, a way to turn a mistake into a life lesson.

Soon, I began to realize I had a gift for bringing out the best in others. After teaching my first college-level sociology class, I had to get my master’s degree. As a sociologist, I studied people

and patterns to understand human behavior. Identifying the patterns helped me to anticipate how someone might respond in different situations. Suddenly, the possibilities to help people were endless!

My love of learning is a huge part of my success. As a coordinator, I identified a topic, hired an expert, designed the class, conducted marketing and managed the budget. And, I got to attend for free! My ability to supervise a large project, break it down into manageable steps, assign tasks and achieve results was ideal for creating start-up programs.

As a Business Solutions Consultant, I applied my keen understanding of relationships and strong business sense to business and industry. I provided relevant, interactive trainings for immediate application in the areas of conflict resolution, communication, supervision, team building, utilizing differences and embracing change. As a consultant, I listened to determine the underlying business issues and offer solutions.

Today, I am a hybrid consultant, interpersonal skills trainer and writer for in my own business, WorkerSmarts LLC. I coach individuals to improve their personal lives allowing them to stay focused at work. I partner with leaders to identify underlying issues and develop strategies to unlock their potential. As a writer, I design training materials and courses for you to use to bring out the best in your employees.

I am looking to partner with leaders who desire to bring out the best in their
employees to grow their business. If this is you, please contact me.

A hybrid consultant is someone who has experience working with a lot of different situations across different industries. I have worked in the insurance, utilities, agriculture, hospitality, food service, and education industries. As a consultant, I partnered with construction, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, welding, and food processing industries to strategize solutions to personnel problems, management training, and process issues. Read more ->

hybrid consultant

Jean Brownlie, B.A., M.A., L.M.S.W. is an accomplished administrator with more than 30 years of experience in leadership development and building company culture across the healthcare, finance, hospitality, education, consulting, manufacturing, and energy industries. She is the founder of WorkerSmarts LLC, a business for training, consulting and writing.

Certifications: REAL Colors® Personality Assessment, AchieveGlobal Leadership and Customer Service Training, Iowa Teaching license, Social Work license, Divorce Mediation and Grant Writing. She has developed and taught online courses, worked as a technical writer for Alliant Energy, developed test questions for ACT WorkKeys, and consulted with entrepreneurs on business development.

Education and Certifications

It was in my personal life where I developed my strength of character and integrity. As a single parent for 13 years raising two sons, there was no time for self-pity – the kids were watching! I delved into reading self-help books, taking parenting classes and counseling sessions to learn how to be the best single mom.

Raising them to be independent, God-loving, productive members of society was my primary goal. Today, they are happily married, each with two children. One is a youth minister, the other a special education teacher. I told them, “It is your job to be a better parent than me. Each generation is to get better at it because that is how we change the world.” 

My husband, Lars joined our family after my youngest son graduated high school. I told him he was just in time for the best part – grandparenting!

Family Life

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How to Bring Out the Best in People