Yanina Lebedeva, PhD

Senior Learning & Talent Development Leader

This portfolio presents selected enterprise and regional cases demonstrating how I design, build, and scale learning, performance, and talent systems in complex, international organizations.

Learning Strategy & L&D Function Build

From Zero to a Scaled Regional System

Context & Problem

The European region of a large international organization operated without a formal L&D function.

Learning activities were:

  • fragmented across locations

  • reactive and request-driven

  • weakly aligned with business priorities and regional realities

⠀As a result, leadership and capability development lacked consistency, scalability, and clear ownership across the region.

My Role

Senior Manager, Head of Learning & Development, EMEA

I joined the region as the first Learning & Development lead (initially covering Hungary and Poland) with a mandate to design and build the L&D function for EMEA from the ground up, scaling it across 10+ locations (20 000+ ppl).

Solution

  • Designed and launched a regional learning strategy aligned with business priorities and global frameworks, replacing ad-hoc training with a structured approach.

  • Built the regional L&D function from scratch, scaling from a single-contributor model to a distributed learning team with clear ownership and delivery model.

  • Adapted and scaled global learning programs to local cultural and business contexts, ensuring relevance and adoption across 10+ EMEA locations (20,000+ employees).

  • Introduced structured learning paths for leadership and key roles, shifting the system from reactive requests to capability-based development.

  • Established governance, operating model, and decision rights to ensure sustainable regional delivery rather than one-off initiatives.

Impact

  • Fully operational regional L&D function established and sustained in EMEA region.

  • Consistent leadership and capability development across multiple countries.

  • Sustained 80%+ participation across core learning programs at regional scale, achieved through deliberate development and activation of a learning culture.

  • Stable ~85% positive perception of professional growth opportunities across the EMEA region (engagement survey).

  • Learning embedded as a reliable, repeatable part of the employee experience.

Performance Management Transparency

Enterprise change initiative in a matrix organization

Context & Problem

Large international organization (60 000+ ppl) with matrix management and low trust in performance decisions.

Key issues:

  • Performance ratings were perceived as inconsistent and opaque.

  • Decision criteria varied significantly across managers and functions.

  • High volume of disputes and escalations during review cycles.

  • Managers spent excessive time on reviews, with limited value for development.

The existing performance process did not support fair, evidence-based decisions or scalable governance.

Solution

  • Redesigned the performance management framework with transparent criteria, shared definitions, and clear visibility rules to reduce ambiguity and bias.

  • Introduced a governance and calibration model to ensure consistency of decisions across managers and functions within the matrix structure.

  • Established a cross-functional steering model, creating shared ownership and sustained alignment among key stakeholders.

  • Enabled managers to shift from annual evaluation to coaching-style, year-round performance conversations.

  • Implemented data dashboards and AI-supported insights to support evidence-based performance and talent decisions.

My Role

Head of Professional Development Portfolio, People Programs

I led the end-to-end redesign of the enterprise performance management framework, including change management, governance, and manager enablement, with accountability for adoption and impact across the organization.

Impact

  • Near-universal rating visibility.

  • Significant reduction in disputes and review effort.

  • Improved employee perception of fairness and trust (eNPS ↑).

  • -~30% reduction in manager time spent on review cycles.

Building a Leadership Pipeline

Reducing leadership risk by moving from ad-hoc promotions to enterprise succession management.

Context & Problem

A fast-growing international technology organization faced increasing leadership risk as scale and complexity expanded across EMEA and later at enterprise level:

  • Leadership demand outpaced leadership readiness

  • Promotions were driven by past performance and tenure

  • Leadership quality varied significantly across locations

  • No formal succession management existed; continuity relied on ad-hoc decisions and informal networks

At regional level, the challenge was building future leadership supply.
At enterprise level, it evolved into systemic leadership continuity and risk management.

My Role

As Head of Learning & Leadership Development (EMEA) and later in an Enterprise role, I was accountable for:

  • Establishing scalable leadership pipelines across multiple locations

  • Designing and governing Hi-Po and succession systems

  • Co-creating and implementing the first formal succession management system with the Service Manager

  • Embedding evidence-based promotion and succession decisions into leadership governance

Solution

  • Launched regional Hi-Po programs across EMEA to create a reliable leadership feeder pool.

  • Standardized potential and readiness criteria while preserving local context.

  • Implemented multi-method assessments and calibration to improve decision quality.

  • Clarified leadership levels and transition requirements.

  • Co-created enterprise succession management with the Service Manager:

    • Defined critical roles;

    • Introduced readiness-based succession categories;

    • Linked succession plans to targeted development actions.

Impact

  • Increased coverage of critical roles with ready or near-ready successors.

  • Reduced early failure of newly promoted leaders.

  • Lower regretted attrition among Hi-Po leaders.

  • Faster, less disruptive leadership transitions.

  • Leadership discussions shifted from ad-hoc nominations to risk-based readiness decisions.

ROI in Learning

From Activity to Business Impact

Context & Problem

A large international organization ran a broad portfolio of learning programs across multiple regions.
While participation and satisfaction were high, leadership lacked:

  • Clear visibility into business impact of learning initiatives.

  • Evidence of cost efficiency and return on investment.

  • A consistent basis for decision-making about scaling, redesigning, or stopping programs.

As a result, learning decisions were driven by activity and perception rather than outcomes.

My Role

I led the design and implementation of an ROI-oriented learning evaluation framework, partnering with business leaders, Finance, and regional L&D teams to shift learning from delivery metrics to decision value.

Solution

  • Introduced an ROI-based evaluation model linking learning initiatives to performance, efficiency, and talent outcomes.

  • Defined clear impact logic by program type (leadership, skills, onboarding, transformation), replacing one-size-fits-all evaluation.

  • Standardized success metrics beyond satisfaction, including application, behavior change, and decision impact.

  • Implemented a data collection and reporting approach enabling comparison across programs and regions.

  • Established a decision framework to prioritize, scale, redesign, or stop learning initiatives based on evidence.

Impact

  • Improved transparency of learning value for senior leadership.

  • Clear basis for investment and prioritization decisions.

  • Reduction of low-impact or redundant programs, resulting in ~15% lower training costs.

  • More focused learning portfolio aligned with business priorities.

  • Shift in perception of L&D from training delivery to performance partner.

Leadership Program Design & Facilitation

Senior Leadership Acceleration

Context & Problem

During a period of rapid expansion into emerging Western European locations, the organization faced senior leadership fragmentation:

  • Many senior leaders were new to the organization

  • Leadership teams were geographically distributed

  • Strategic priorities were not consistently understood or aligned

  • Cross-location collaboration was weak, slowing decision-making

The risk was slow execution and misalignment at senior leadership level during a critical growth phase.

My Role

I was accountable for accelerating senior leadership integration, strategic alignment, and cross-location collaboration.

I designed and led an end-to-end Senior Leadership Acceleration Program, acting as learning architect and hands-on facilitator, in close partnership with senior sponsors and selected external vendors.

Solution

  • Designed a six-month senior leadership acceleration program combining in-person, virtual, and distributed formats.

  • Used action learning with cross-location leadership teams working on real, OKR-linked business challenges.

  • Built a program architecture that integrated:

    • Executive alignment and kick-off

    • Peer learning and reflection

    • Mentoring / coaching

    • Executive review and accountability

  • Personally facilitated critical leadership sessions (strategy alignment, leadership reflection, group learning), ensuring depth and coherence across modules.

  • Applied an evaluation approach aligned with Phillips’ principles, linking learning to behavioral change and business indicators.

Impact

  • Increased strategic alignment and cross-location collaboration among senior leaders (reduced decision time).

  • Strong participant and sponsor feedback on relevance and applicability.

  • Team feedback showed measurable improvement in leadership behaviors.

  • ~30% of participants were promoted or took on significantly expanded roles within 12 months.

More background and professional history:
[LinkedIn profile]

Contact:

YaninaLebedevaHome@gmail.com

Yanina@yaninalebedeva.com