Canadian Nuclear Laboratories enables HR to partner with the business
About Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
Empowering HR to drive more business value
Re-establishing trust in HR
“The feedback that we got when we arrived was that the HR team was not serving the business.”
When Danielle Leclair joined Canadian Nuclear Laboratories as its Human Resources Director, she joined an individualized department, disconnected from each other and organizational needs. Despite the team’s talent and commitment, they weren’t taking a data-backed, value-driven approach to the employee life cycle that this organization of scientists needed.
Danielle and the new HR VP, Todd Cook, needed to get the HR department back on track and re-establish trust.
Level-setting the team
In addition to lacking connection and shared goals, the team shared with the new HR leadership that they were missing opportunities to develop themselves.
“We wanted to build that trust that we heard them and that were going to do something about it,” says Danielle. “And we wanted to level-set.”
Establishing a shared language and foundational knowledge in the team would help them better serve the business, make alignment easier, and feed their hunger to grow. But in order to achieve these ambitious goals, Danielle and Todd needed a very specific kind of upskilling partner.
Building the foundations for HR excellence
Relevant and timely HR content
Danielle’s and Todd’s vision for HR at CNL was very clear, and one of the key reasons why they chose AIHR.
They wanted to develop a proactive HR team that partnered with the business. That meant offering support, value, and insights, and implementing best practices across the entire employee life cycle.
To deliver on this vision, the HR team needed to level up their data literacy, business acumen, and business partnering skills. This would help them develop a common language and gain a solid foundation for HR best practices.
“AIHR’s learning content was not only timely and relevant, but also emphasized where we were going as an HR organization,” says Danielle. This is why CNL decided to enroll the entire HR team with AIHR.
Cohort-based, on-demand learning
It was HR leadership’s first annual cycle, and they didn’t want to commit to rigid without hands-on experience of the department’s peak times. Self-paced learning was a solution, but they didn’t want to compromise on team cohesion and accountability.
AIHR’s learning consultants helped CNL find the best of both worlds by splitting the team into cohorts for socialized and targeted learning. But perhaps the most crucial element for success was the leadership’s commitment and support.
Danielle encouraged the team to block time for learning, and monitored the learning progress reports. “We could check in if we saw someone was falling behind, and recognize learners who were excelling.” This helped learners stay engaged and on track.
“AIHR’s learning content emphasized where we were going as an HR organization: best practices implemented across the entire employee life cycle.”
Danielle Leclair, Human Resources Director at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
A future-ready HR department aligned with business needs
Improved business partnering
AIHR helped CNL catch up on lost time and re-establish trust. In addition to becoming more strategic partners to the business, they also leveled up their data literacy.
Danielle explains, “We work with a lot of engineers and scientists. By giving the business partners and our team the people analytics knowledge, they’re able to say: We’ve lost this many people in this amount of time specifically under this manager. There’s no gray zone to it because it’s fact.”
Stronger, more confident team
“There was excitement going through a learning journey together,” says Danielle. And at the end of the journey, the learners presented their capstone projects to senior leadership, ensuring their achievements were seen and recognized.
Thanks in part to AIHR, CNL’s people department is now equipped with the ability and attitude needed to realize their ambition of modern HR excellence.
