Simone Smith Email & Phone Number

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

As a leader, I led initiatives to enhance employee career development by improving our educational assistance program. Drawing insights from journey mapping activities, we optimized the program to empower employees on their professional journeys. Additionally, I seamlessly integrated leadership agility behaviors and development activities across the organization, fostering self-sufficiency in program delivery and sustainment. With a 30% management participation rate in our initial in-house leadership GROW sessions, we set a foundation for continued development and future opportunity for the custom program.Recognizing the importance of employee feedback, I designed and executed a comprehensive listening strategy. Transitioning from a biennial census to a continuous listening approach, we engaged with employees more effectively, enabling us to tailor learning and development strategies as well as corporate employee engagement initiatives that resonated with their needs. My expertise in performance and talent management best practices allowed me to guide leaders and teams to enhance consistent application of our competencies and to mitigate people risks, even amidst technological challenges.Drawing inspiration from thought leadership resources, I influenced our people and culture strategies. By aligning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts with organizational objectives, we created an environment where employees thrived. Collaborating with external experts, we co-created programs and policies that fostered greater awareness of 2SLGBTQ+ communities, Indigenous Canada, and Truth and Reconciliation. My strong communication skills and strategic relationship-building abilities were instrumental in driving change and achieving key organizational results across both people and operational domains.

I led my team and collaborated with key players across the business in designing and launching the innovative Training Centre in Winnipeg, where new management hires were onboarded through a four week curriculum. The hands-on operational training modules, developed in careful consultation with subject experts and retail leaders, was complemented with a Cultural Safety workshop, Leadership Development series of facilitation sessions, custom e-learning modules, and interspersed trainings on key management topics such as loss prevention and budgeting. With rotating cohort start dates through the pandemic, I led the team through a very uncertain time where individual health and wellness always came first. The Training Centre adapted and adjusted programming to accommodate community lockdowns, interprovincial travel isolation, operational support needs, and employee experience. I developed a core competency framework in collaboration with key leaders in the business. Competency-based behaviour statements supports talent development and performance conversations. The competencies, combined with performance goals, formed the basis in the launch of the performance management system for corporate head office and was well received by leader seeking to develop their teams and emerging leaders.After building solid relationships with the executive leaders across the organization, I led the implementation of leadership and management development programs for emerging leaders and to elevate the competencies of operational senior leaders. I also secured grants and funding for many of the programs, allowing the organization to double its enrollment in the offerings.I empowered my team to see change as an opportunity, to bring forward ideas for continuous improvement, and to learn to have fun at work. The work environment was one of mutual trust and support, allowing people and their talents to shine and be recognized by others across the organization.

As the Manager of a new training and development team, I began my role building the team from the ground up. From setting the right organizational structure and roles to sourcing great talent for new roles, I rapidly led the new team to design and deliver on the diverse learning needs of the organization and its employees across Canada and Alaska. With careful needs analysis and research of learning technologies to support, I led the team to develop programs for training technical systems, frontline roles, and management curriculum. The importance of technology in a distributed workforce is essential, and I led the team to source and implement commercial learning programs and a new learning management system.

Master'S Degree, Distance Education

Bachelor Of Science (4 Yr), Chemistry