Sara Hartsell | Talent & OD Leader

Sara Hartsell - Professional Profile

Introduction

Sara Hartsell | Talent & OD Leader

Builds the systems that help leaders turn strategy into habits—and habits into measurable performance.

Aurora, CO | Remote, Hybrid, On-Site

About

Sara Hartsell turns leadership intentions into habits that actually stick.

Some people build training. Sara builds the systems that help leaders change behavior—and keep changing it after the workshop ends. Across healthcare, telecommunications, and high-volume operations, she has paired human-centered design with practical governance to make learning a business capability, not an event. Colleagues trust Sara to bring clarity, calm execution, and measurable adoption, especially when priorities collide and stakeholders don’t agree.

Sara brings a rare mix of warmth and rigor—the kind that makes leaders feel supported while still holding them to a higher standard. At Colorado Access, she helped build and scale leadership development that reached 200+ leaders and contributed to an L\&D Net Promoter Score of 37, always grounding the work in real leadership challenges rather than theory.

When the organization needed greater enterprise-wide alignment, Sara stepped into interim director responsibilities and established the operating rhythms, governance, and portfolio priorities needed to scale the work without sacrificing quality. That same focus on adoption helped drive 98% participation in an Insights Discovery communication initiative.

Sara thinks like a performance consultant, not a course builder. Earlier in her career, she helped redesign onboarding to reduce ramp time by 20%. She has also used train-the-trainer strategies to expand learning capability across the United States, Canada, the Philippines, and Guam.

Sara is at her best with teams that care about both people and outcomes—and with executive partners who model learning, not just sponsor it. The right connections are mission-driven builders who want leadership development to show up in day-to-day decisions, sustained behavior change, and measurable performance.

Target roles: Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness leadership, Talent development, manager enablement, and workforce capability strategy, Learning ecosystems, operations, and governance—including AI-enabled learning

Get in Touch

Hi, I'm Sara. I help organizations build leader capability, stronger adoption, and better performance through enterprise learning, coaching, and practical behavior change. Would love to connect if you're working in healthcare, AI-enabled learning, or organizational effectiveness.

Sara Hartsell linkedin.com/in/sarahartsell

Sara brings a rare mix of strategic learning design and disciplined execution. She has built and scaled enterprise leadership programs, driven measurable adoption, and helped organizations turn development into real business results.

Experience

Senior Learning & Organizational Development Specialist | Interim Director at Colorado Access (2017 - 2025)

Training Manager at DaVita Kidney Care (2014 - 2016)

Senior Corporate Trainer at Charter Communications (2010 - 2014)

Training Communications Documentation Specialist at EchoStar / Dish Network (Not specified)

Training & Launch Specialist at Nextel / TeleTech (Not specified)