Yanina Lebedeva, PhD
Learning Architect, Leadership Development
This portfolio presents selected leadership development programs I have designed and led within large, global IT organisations.
The cases illustrate my approach to building leadership capability at scale — from first-time managers to senior leaders and executives — by combining clear frameworks, behaviour-focused learning design, and practical enablement.
Case: NextGen Leaders Program (HiPo)
Context & Business Need
The company identified a need to accelerate the development of high-potential managers who were technically strong but required broader leadership capability to support internal mobility, succession readiness, and cultural leadership across the organization.
Role: Senior Manager, Learning & Development. Design creation and facilitation.
Audience: High-potential middle to senior managers.
Program Goal
To cultivate leadership potential and career readiness by developing future-ready leadership skills, increasing exposure to senior stakeholders, and embedding learning through real business challenges.
Solution & Design Approach
Designed a six-month, blended leadership program aligned with the 70-20-10 model, integrating structured learning, action learning projects, mentoring/coaching, and executive exposure.
Built a competency-based development journey, combining self-assessment, individual development plans, and modular leadership learning focused on mindset, communication, and organizational impact.
Embedded cross-functional action learning projects to address real business challenges and strengthen strategic thinking and collaboration.
Created structured touchpoints with senior and C-level leaders to increase visibility, alignment, and career readiness.
Evaluation and Impact
80% engagement and completion rate.
Post-program feedback indicated measurable improvement in participants’ leadership confidence, particularly in strategic communication, stakeholder interaction, and decision-making beyond immediate delivery responsibilities.
Sponsor feedback confirmed increased initiative and readiness for broader roles.
20% participants nominated for cross-functional or leadership assignments post-program.
Case: Leadership Essentials for First-Time Managers
Context & Business Need
As the organisation scaled globally, the company faced a growing population of first-time managers transitioning from individual contributor roles. The business required a consistent, scalable leadership foundation to strengthen ownership, people management capability, and leadership mindset across regions.
Role: Senior Manager, Learning & Development. Program architect and lead facilitator in early iterations; later program co-design and module delivery as part of a global L&D team.
Audience: First-time managers by title or by role.
Program Goal
To support first-line managers in making a sustainable mindset shift to leadership roles by developing core people leadership capabilities, business understanding, and confidence in managing teams in a complex, fast-changing environment.
Solution & Design Approach
Global, five-months, blended leadership journey combining self-directed learning, live facilitation, peer learning, and applied practice.
Modular curriculum focused on leadership identity, communication, performance management, and people development.
Competency-based leadership framework tailored for first-time managers.
Applied learning through pre- and post-session assignments and individual and group learning projects.
Embedded evaluation through self-assessment, manager feedback, and project outcomes.
Delivered in collaboration with a global L&D faculty; personally facilitated sessions on Performance Management and Learning & Development.
Evaluation and Impact
90% engagement and completion rates across cohorts.
Pre- and post-program self-assessments showed increased clarity of leadership role, strengths, and development priorities.
Manager and 360-degree feedback indicated improved quality of people-management conversations, feedback, and ownership of team outcomes.
The program received external recognition through a Learning Technologies Award (UK) for its impact and design quality.
Case: Senior Leadership Acceleration Program
Context
During a period of rapid expansion across Western Europe, a global IT services company faced the challenge of integrating newly appointed senior leaders who were geographically distributed and weakly connected to corporate strategy and each other.
Role
Senior Manager, Learning & Development. Program architect and Facilitator.
The task was to accelerate integration, strategic alignment, and cross-location collaboration at the senior leadership level. I designed and led the end-to-end Senior Leadership Acceleration Program, acting as learning architect and hands-on facilitator, in partnership with senior sponsors and external vendors.
Audience: Senior managers of WE locations.
Solution & Design Approach
Six-month leadership program combining in-person, virtual, and distributed formats.
Action learning design with cross-location teams working on real, OKR-linked business challenges.
Program architecture covering: kick-off alignment, 2 on-site workshops, remote project labs, mentoring/coaching, and executive review.
Direct facilitation of key sessions (strategy alignment, leadership reflection, group learning), alongside curated vendor contributions.
Evaluation approach aligned with Phillips’ principles, linking learning to behavioral and business indicators.
Evaluation and Impact:
Increased strategic alignment and cross-location collaboration among senior leaders (reduced decision time cycle on internal PM platform).
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.
Case: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT LEARNING (CHANGE INITIATIVE)
Context
I led the introduction of a new performance management framework in a global IT organisation, shifting from annual appraisal cycles toward continuous feedback, coaching-style conversations, and increased trust in the performance review process.
The learning program described here was designed as a core enablement component of this broader change initiative, supporting managers in adopting new behaviours and practices.
Role
Senior Manager, People Programs. Framework owner and change lead; learning architecture and content creation in partnership with an instructional designer.
Audience: People and project managers responsible for performance feedback, evaluation, and development conversations.
Solution & Design Approach
Designed a self-paced e-learning enablement program to support adoption of the new performance management framework.
Built the learning around real managerial scenarios and case studies, translating the framework into day-to-day feedback, coaching, and performance conversations.
Created all learning content (narrative, case studies, practice exercises, reflection questions, and assessments) to reinforce expected behaviors and decision logic.
Used guided practice and reflection to help managers shift from evaluation-focused reviews to continuous, coaching-style feedback.
Embedded clear behavioral expectations and checkpoints, increasing transparency and trust in the performance review process.
Implemented the course as a scalable digital foundation within the internal learning platform to ensure consistent adoption across manager populations.
Evaluation and Impact:
Supported large-scale adoption of the new performance management framework across manager populations.
Improved manager confidence in conducting coaching-style feedback and performance conversations (HR and manager feedback).
Helped increase trust and clarity around the performance review process by making expectations and decision logic transparent.
More background and professional history:
[LinkedIn profile]
Contact:
YaninaLebedevaHome@gmail.com
Yanina@yaninalebedeva.com