Ruchika Balchandani

RUCHIKA BALCHANDANI
 

Learning & Development| Project Management| Organizational Development| Talent Management| Employee Engagement

Reporting to the Director of Talent Management, partners to assess learning and development needs, identify gaps, define learning objectives and business outcomes, and help design high impact elearning experiences for employees. Drive our strategic L&D vision and provide learning strategy recommendations for sustainable, customized e-learning solutions to evaluate the effectiveness of training programs. Managing complex L&D solutions through the design, development, and delivery of all leadership & operational’ s training and performance support initiatives in partnership with the Talent & Culture team, Recruiting Division, Business Leaders, and Human Resource Business Partners (HRBPs) for introducing innovative strategies to increase the organization’s effectiveness, employee engagement, and retention using a data-driven approach. Contributing as a key player in the enhancement of Learning & Development programs that positively impact the employee experience, including the organization-wide mentoring program, new hire orientation, and training, talent development, and continuous improvement.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Learning and Development Manager (Across North America)

GFL Environmental Inc., Vaughan

Feb 2022 – Present

Achievements:

• Launched “LinkedIn Learning” Platform organization-wide within three months after joining GFL in 2022.
• Created “Show Me Videos” a detailed walk-through process of a new platform for Recruiters, HR, and Hiring Managers.
• Supported the implementation of “Referral Policies” to promote an efficient way to find the right candidate.
• Introduced OGSM (Objective, Goals, Strategy & measure) by collaborating with department heads, project leads, key stakeholders, and HRBPs to identify Learning & Performance gaps, design relevant solutions, and scale programs for delivery and implementation using Instructional Design & Adult Learning principles.
• Support implementation of policies, processes, and programs relating to learning, and workforce/succession planning
• Initiated the learning, culture transformation, and organizational development programs, keeping the inclusive & diversified audience in mind. Training materials were designed, developed, tested, evaluated & communicated.
• Designed, developed, and delivered Organizational Development (OD) and Change Management (CM) strategies, and processes, that foster a high-performance culture, where learning, continuous improvement, and diversity were norms. 
• Successfully introduced new programs like Succession Planning, Onboarding, and Employee Engagement within 6 months.

Key Skills Applied:

Identify the Training Gap, training needs analysis, Strategic Planning, Learning Recommendations, Instructional Design, Adult Learning Principles, Stakeholder Management, Communication, Change Review Plan, User Readiness, User Adoption, Impact Analysis, Reporting & Dashboard Analysis, Feedback Implementation, Change Implementation, Training Facilitation, Continuous Improvement, Risk Analysis, Talent Management, Leadership, Strategy Building, Organizational Development, Goal Setting. 

Programs/ Projects Launched: 

Workday Recruiting (WDR), Referral Policies, Performance Evaluation, Employee Engagement, Mentorship Program, LinkedIn Learning, Change Management, Train-the-Trainer (TTT), Onboarding Checklist, Succession Planning, Employee Retention, OGSM (Objective, Goal, Strategy, Measure). 

Tools and Systems: SharePoint, MS Suite (Word, Excel, PPT, Teams, Outlook), Camtasia, GoTo Webinar (GTW), Office Timelines.

Typical Accountabilities:

Project management & Metrics of L&D Activities:

• Lead the projects for introducing new learning programs, policies, and systems aligning within Talent Management starting from end-to-end training lifecycle, budget, resource management, reporting, and vendor management.
• Monitor, Track, and provide recommendations for reporting all aspects of Learning and Development (Adoption rate, Attrition Rates, etc.).
• Conduct Quality Assurance (QA) reviews and sign-off on training design deliverables; conduct QA reviews on any training; provides feedback and results of review processes, and recommendations towards continuous improvement.

Business partnering and consulting:

• Establish cross-functional relationships and partners with key stakeholders, business leaders, and HRBPS, to assess business needs and priorities along with their implications for talent and organizational effectiveness programs/processes.
• Undertakes learning needs analyses for key groups, articulating enterprise learning needs, and translating these needs into learning offerings and/or recommendations.

Design & Delivery of L&D initiatives:

• Bring strong L&D expertise to design and build high-quality elearning solutions that blend education, exposure, and experiential elements to drive relevant business-focused learning outcomes.
• Streamline solutions to enable the seamless delivery of organization-wide programs, and processes, enhance the end-user experience and advance strategic priorities/objectives.
• Oversee the content integration, maintenance, and regular updates to meet current and future business needs.
• Stay abreast of current trends in L&D practices and the challenges experienced by adult learners. 
• Recommend and implement continuous improvement while guiding integration and effectiveness.

Communication and Driving Change Management:

• Delivers effective communication to support the culture of lifelong learning. 
• Advocate as Change Agent and promote change, using internal networks to extend reach and impact.
• Strengthens and builds L&D capability through active participation in Learning Communities supporting the skills & capability development of staff involved in delivering e-learning solutions.
• Implement change management and communication requirements for all levels of the organization, in partnership with our HRBPs and communications team to increase the adoption of the change process.

Learning Insight and Evaluation:

• Contributes to the development of the L&D evaluation strategy, establishing key measures, data collection, and building insightful reports and analysis to demonstrate clear value and return on investment for learning activities.
• Conduct and leverage analytics, expertise, and ongoing research on global leading practices and trends to deliver data-driven insights that advance strategic priorities and objectives.

Employee Engagement:

• Managed end-to-end annual performance management process, supporting managers and employees with the performance management campaign, individual development plans, and objective-setting tools throughout the year.
• Manage employee survey process and implement employee engagement initiatives in line with the engagement strategy.

Supporting the Talent Management and Organizational Development:

• Managing a team responsible for the analysis, design, development, enhancement, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the Talent Development programs for staff.
• Maintain the organizational structure necessary to accomplish department objectives and recommend changes, as appropriate to roles, distribution of workflows, and reporting relationships.
• Foster activities and programs for employee engagement and actively participate to make recommendations.
• Build programs to strengthen the leadership program and contribute towards the Career Pathing of staff for continuous growth and learning aligning with a talent acquisition strategy.
• Provide expertise in the areas of talent management, organizational effectiveness, and employee engagement.

Instructional Design (ADDIE) and Adult Learning Principles:

• Oversee the design and implementation of eLearning, by developing solutions and collaborating with content experts.
• Design and execute e-learning solutions, revamp, or curate content (design plans, outlines, storyboards, voiceover scripts, the course builds, etc.), and incorporate multimedia such as video, audio, and animation.
• Work closely with subject matter experts (SME) on content creation (storyboards, scripts) for training resources.
• Develop course content that addresses the learner’s needs, including interactive exercises and tests.
• Conduct Quality Assurance (QA) reviews and sign-off on training design deliverables; conduct ongoing and retroactive QA reviews on any training; provides documented feedback and results of review processes.
• Design and develop engaging learning solutions that incorporate eLearning, self-paced, instructor-led training, job aids, etc., using storyboarding, ADDIE, and agile development approaches.
• Consult with the business as an SME on LMS capabilities, best practices, and content administration.
• Provides functional requirements to the Technology team and participates in the testing of system releases and upgrades.
• Make recommendations on how to best convey ideas to drive knowledge transfer and behavior change based on adult learning principles.

Learning Consultant

Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto

May 2018 – Jan 2022

Achievements:

• Nominated as “Best Team Player” in Q3 of 2020.
• Developed more than 150+ test cases within 4 hours during the implementation of Workday in Q2 of 2021.
• Collaborated with HRBP to introduce ADDIE to improve productivity & efficiency for Workday.
• Knowledge of instructional design, adult learning theory, organizational development, and training program helped in implementing process improvement projects like End to End (E2E) in alliance with our stakeholders and external vendors.
• Delivered two major projects “National Investment Review” in 2018 and “Delegated Lending Authority” in 2019.
• Troubleshoot & resolved at least 30% of learner’s escalations by contributing towards the new application “Think Tank”.
• Introduced “Static Scheduling Process” which improved SO creation efficiency by 10% - calendar double-booking.
• Designed & developed interactive learning materials for various e-learning, virtual, and blended learning styles. 

Key Skills Applied:

Time Management, Leadership, Project Management, Develop Content, Design Curricula, Build Programs, creating instructional materials (e-learning, videos, user guides, job aids, scripts, storyboards, online assessments), Training Facilitation, Team Building, Critical Thinking, Attention to Detail, Problem-Solving, Multi-Tasking, Adaptability, Creativity, Develop Solutions, Resolve Conflicts

Project/Programs Launched: 

PDP (Personality Development Program) for P&CB, Content Curation for CA & BA (New to Bank & New to Role), End to End (E2E) in SharePoint, Static Scheduling (SO) for Program Managers, Skill Port, Degreed.

Tools & Systems: AICC, SCORM, Articulate Storyline, LMS (Workday - WIP, Talent Link)

Dashboard Used: Think Tank, MURAL, Talent View, LENS, RBC Connect, End to End Tool (E2E).

Typical Accountabilities:

Project management of L&D Activities:

• Manage the P&CB portfolio for L&D projects, including cross-department initiatives (e.g., Onboarding).

Design & Delivery of Training initiatives:

• Collaborate with third-party vendors to bring the best learning solutions including providing project oversight.
• Manage the delivery of virtual, in-person training sessions, logistics, trainers, communication, and follow-up activities.
• Maintain best practices in leadership development, team development, and learning.
• Develop and support detailed, and engaging rollout plans for the deployment of programs and learning material.

Learning Insight and Evaluation:

• Actively engages the learner audience by conducting regular employee exercises and organizing and facilitating learning engagement activities with the intent for teams to understand the real benefits of evolving and developing their learning.

Implementation and Review:

• Support and lead the implementation, communication, and change management of team development initiatives.
• Measure, evaluate, and report on program outcomes to ensure return on investment of desired program outcomes
  
   

Training & Development related Activities:

• Developed and delivered training, based on the outcomes of training gap analysis, surveys, evaluations, procedures, and performance measurements.
• Utilize subject matter expertise and knowledge to ensure training materials and specific training to identify the appropriate steps required to effectively inspect complex skill gaps & competencies challenges.
• Collaborate with subject matter experts (SME) to ensure the training gaps in knowledge and skills are addressed.
• Manage, review, and update training materials based on the research and analysis enhancing learner engagement.   
• Provides expertise, technical support, and feedback regarding training content and delivery methods instructor-led, classroom training, eLearning, multimedia programs, WebEx, virtual training, blended learning, etc.
• Support training initiatives addressing training gaps (e.g., learning aids, presentation methods, communication).
• Coordinate with People & Equity team regarding training related to Occupational Health & Safety, Diversity & Inclusion, Organizational Development and Learning, Employee Engagement and Mental Health and Wellness related initiatives, etc.

Learning Management System (LMS):

• Accountable for the overall management and maintenance of the Learning Management System (LMS) including its ongoing enhancement and optimization. 
• Provide technical support and subject matter expertise (SME) related to the LMS, to ensure a positive user experience.
• Identify gaps, evaluate, and prioritize opportunities, make recommendations, and coordinate upgrades and patches.
• Troubleshoot and test user cases to support the learning upliftment and coordinate activities.
• Design, document, coordinate and implement User Acceptance Testing (UAT) methodology when testing learning modalities (i.e., eLearning, videos, etc.), ensuring the quality and integrity of the LMS platform.
• Provide reporting expertise as the LMS subject matter expert (SME), identify the scope for process improvements, and streamline the newly introduced processes.
• Upload and publish SCORM and AICC built-in content packages and ensure their functionalities on the LMS platform.
• Act as a primary contact with the vendor when managing deliverables related to the Learning workstream.

Senior Training Coordinator

NetSoft IT Academy, Mississauga

Sept 2014 – May 2017

Achievements:

• Achieved Employee of the Month Award @ NetSoft IT Academy (Feb 2015, Sep 2015 & Aug 2016).
• Achieved Associate of the Year Award @ NetSoft IT Academy (Apr 2016).
• Worked an average of 55 hours a week to complete the training strategy including educating & communicating.
• Spearheaded a team of 15 employees allowing company-wide training within 6 months instead of 12 months.
• Monitored, coached, mentored, and provided a knowledge transfer to 11 - 15 new employees.
• Developed training manuals, course books, handbooks and presentations, exams, and other materials; updated legal documents such as Contracts and KPIs; assessed instructional effectiveness.
• Assisted the marketing department with online research for new programs, event coordination, website updates, introducing new marketing strategies, referral programs, job fairs, and events.
• Reviewed, proofread & edited the course material & other documents for meetings, materials, correspondence, letters, and reports (consistent formatting & layout, accuracy, consistency, general grammar & spelling check).

Key Skills Applied: Curriculum Development, Training Facilitation, Course Evaluations, Documentation, Record management, Update Website Content in alliance with MAESD (Ontario Ministries of Advanced Education and Skills Development, Onboarding new employees, Registration, Scheduling, Training Facilitation, Course Information Package, Complaint & Settlement Procedure. 

Project/Program Launched: Designed developed & implemented the policies and programs for students in alliance with MAESD. Collaborated with Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), assisting students to manage their college grants. 

Tools & Systems: Webex, Zoom, Camtasia, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Dropbox, ACT, PROFF, LMS (Moodle)

Senior Project Coordinator / Training Support

Mayflower Language Services, India

Apr 2010 – Jun 2014

• Conducted training needs assessment and identified skills gaps; liaised with subject matter experts (SMEs), and instructional design; performed quality check; responded to requests; responded to elearning/academic challenges.
• Gathered feedback; maintained database, raining records; recommended training methods.
• Hosted train-the-trainer sessions with subject matter experts; developed training programs; created various Delivery Guides, Storyboards, videos, staff, and departmental meetings; developed reports for evaluations.
• Researched and evaluated training; led meetings; minutes; distributed agendas; coordinated conferences; invited speakers & guest faculties; provided support vacation requests, respond to prospect inquiries.
• Handled the entire project management cycle from inception to delivery by analyzing the training need, developing, planning & organizing the ideas, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating, change management.

EDUCATION

• MBA: Master’s in Business Administration with Marketing & Finance – India.

My leadership style is leading by example. I enjoy delegating tasks and taking the lead on projects, but I also like to stay involved and inspire my team by showing that I'm working hands-on to help them, too.

MBA (Master's in Business Education) completed in 2008