Director of Learning & Development
About Me
Greetings! I'm Bolanle F. Oke, an accomplished leader driven by a passion for leveraging agile methodologies to streamline processes and maximize business value. With over 12 years of diverse experience in program management, product management, and training & enablement, I excel in guiding cross-functional teams to deliver innovative solutions that exceed expectations.
Core Values & Expertise
As a seasoned leader in the field of Learning and Development, I am driven by a deep-seated passion for empowering individuals and organizations to reach their full potential. At the heart of my approach is a steadfast commitment to fostering a culture of continuous learning, where curiosity, growth, and innovation are not only encouraged but actively cultivated.
I firmly believe that the key to unlocking an organization's competitive edge lies in the continuous development of its most valuable asset - its people. With this guiding principle in mind, I have dedicated my career to designing and implementing transformative learning programs that equip employees with the knowledge, skills, and mindset required to navigate the ever-evolving business landscape.
By seamlessly aligning learning initiatives with the organization's strategic objectives, I strive to create a dynamic, future-ready workforce that is poised to drive sustainable success. Through a people-centric lens, I leverage data-driven insights, cutting-edge learning methodologies, and a deep understanding of adult learning principles to cultivate a thriving learning culture that empowers individuals, strengthens teams, and propels the organization forward.
I invite you to review my highlights below, and discover how I have created and administered transformative learning programs throughout my career.
Highlights Of My Experience
Twilio
Head of Strategic Programs & Communications
May 2021 - Feb 2024
Designed and implemented a comprehensive onboarding program resulting in a 25% reduction in employee ramp-up time within the first six months.
Implemented a Skills Matrix, improving resource allocation by 20% and enhancing team proficiency for successful project delivery.
Led the development and execution of a Career Development Framework, resulting in a 15% increase in internal promotions to management roles within one year.
Introduced a Quarterly Enablement Plan for upskilling and reskilling team members on Twilio Products.
Spearheaded a mentorship program that matched new hires with senior mentors, leading to a 40% increase in overall team productivity.
Developed and facilitated workshops on diversity and inclusion, resulting in a more inclusive workplace culture and a 20% increase in employee satisfaction survey scores.
Introduced and managed sales enablement platform resulting in 37% increase in PS revenue and 45% inc. in utilization.
Developed a central information repository (team wiki) to store and share team artifacts.
Successfully launched a quarterly recognition program, resulting in a 25% increase in employee productivity and a 5% decrease in turnover rates.
Led a cross-functional team to create a competency framework aligned with company goals, enabling more targeted employee development plans and succession planning.
Introduced gamification elements into training programs and live events, resulting in a 25% increase in employee engagement and knowledge retention.
Ross Stores
Assoc. Director, Loss Prevention Technology
Feb 2016 - May 2021
Engineered a robust ticketing platform used to provide operational support for service-related tasks, activities, and processes, using Smartsheets. This system used automation and API enhancements to integrate with other external systems (ie: service providers, logistics, e-commerce, fulfillment), thus creating an all-in-one hybrid solution for the end users (both internal and external partners) and a collaborative digital workspace.
Developed a remote learning strategy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring continuity of training and development initiatives, with a 90% participation rate from remote employees.
Implemented a performance management system, providing actionable feedback and coaching to employees, contributing to a 10% increase in overall team productivity.
Spearheaded a mentorship program that matched junior employees with senior mentors, leading to a 60% improvement in employee retention rates over a two-year period.
Built an FAQ site and developed several 100s of detailed process steps, checklists, videos and guides to foster a repeatable model approach for common resolution handling and technology training to ensure a culture of continuous improvement and eliminating wasteful processes.
Act as team’s subject matter expert (SME) for technology standards and industry trends.
Developed Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that provided business intelligence and performance metrics within the Service program to forecast and improve business performance
Kaiser Permanente
Sr PM, Portfolio Governance
Mar 2015 - Feb 2016
Single point of contact for Corporate Services Business Information Office Portfolio Approval Counsel Governance related initiatives.
Maintained the BI PAC SharePoint website.
Onsite Governance and oversight support to all projects within the Corporate Services Business Information Office sub-portfolio’s and serve as the conduit for providing executive status and integrated financial reporting to leadership.
IBM
Project Manager, IT Services
Sept 2011 - Jan 2015
Managed a complex infrastructure program.
Monitored resource workflow by developing resource plans, status reports, and ROI assessments to forecast scheduling, allocation and determine future upgrades to be added to pipeline.
Participated actively in 3 kaizen workshops and brainstorming events, reducing total server build timeframe from 22 days to 10 days, and reducing server decommission process human errors 15%.
Liaised between functional manager and account team. Generated all account-specific global resource requests for new resources, backfills and turnovers.
Created account desk procedure for account team to convey process.
Accomplished value-saving process (VSM) documenting life cycle of incoming client-related requests reducing overall onboarding timeframe for IBM resource on the account.