Business owner Caroline Cole Power makes list of 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada
January 27, 2021
Owning a business can be risky.
It can also be rewarding as Caroline Cole Power has found out 11 years after making the transition from employee to entrepreneur.
The Canadian HR Solutions Inc. Founder & Chief Executive Officer made the distinguished Women’s Executive Network 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada list released last December.
“For me, this is a wholesale level recognition of all of the hard work I have put in and continue to do,” she said. “It also demonstrates that excellence can come from many groups.”
After working in the private sector for 14 years, Cole Power started her business that provides learning & development, corporate and sensitivity training, leadership development and anti-bullying/harassment workshops through its Wellness@Work program.
“I found that as good as I was, there were certain areas where I just wasn’t getting the credit I deserved,” she said. “It was clear to me that if I wanted to maximize my potential to its fullest extent, I needed to step out and make my own success on my own terms because the systems in which I worked sent me clear signals that place came before talent. I could have continued and stayed in those systems, but because I was certain that I am on this earth to do so much more, I decided to step out on my own. I chose my timing because I needed to have enough stability in my personal life to be able to do that.”
Beginning as a company with multiple solutions, it became clear to Cole Power after a few years that she needed to find a niche to address specific target markets.
“With that, I let go of the recruiting and coaching business and focused on corporate training,” she pointed out. “We do that through three operating divisions each of which speaks to a different target market.”
Sensitivity Training Canada provides mental health and psychological safety training to workplaces across the country, Canadian HR Academy is a training company offering programs and courses for human resource professionals and Worldwide Workplace Learning is an online training platform presenting workplace-related courses, including health & safety, asbestos, forklift and diversity.
The courses are offered globally in English, French and Spanish. The price of a single course ranges from $15 to $49.
Early in her professional career, Cole Power delivered internal training courses and, in 2006, became an Adjunct Professor at Seneca College while serving in a senior role with BMO Financial Group.
“At some point, I realized I was going to parlay my teaching experience into a broader and more lucrative audience,” she said. “That was part of the impetus to set up the training company because I was getting very good feedback. It was an opportunity to learn how to teach.”
Already equipped with a Master of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, Cole Power pursued a Master of Education degree at the University of Toronto in 2011.
“I legitimized myself in the space because you are teaching if you are running a training company,” the former Ryerson University G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education Associate Program Director said.
Cole Power also taught part-time at U of T and was the Academic Chair of the Nova Scotia Community College School of Business.
“Over those years, I built up a lot of teaching, academic and administration experience,” she said. “At Canadian HR Academy, the administration, grading, marking, certificates of completion, credentialing and all of those things mimic what you see at a publicly-funded university or college.”
Business ownership for Cole Power offers freedom, flexibility and the ability to control her time.
“Because my time is my own, I get to decide what the future looks like for me,” she noted. “It also means that if I don’t put the energy and effort in, you don’t reap any rewards. Because I own the business, I am more motivated to deliver not only because I need to do that to make it work, but because there is no barrier to stop me from putting in my best effort.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected businesses.
The bigger the challenge, sometimes there is a bigger opportunity for growth.
Cole Power was quick to recognize that and pounce on the chance.
At the height of the pandemic, she launched -- through a strategic partnership -- Worldwide Workplace Learning that serves employers seeking courses to develop their employees and employees seeking training.
“Of course, the pandemic made me stop and think about what I should do now,” said Cole Power who has Chartered Professional Human Resources designations in Canada and the United States.
“Most of my revenue was generated from the in-person business. My only choice was to go virtual. When I finally caught my breath and pivoted, I realized that my market was no longer Canadian. It was global. In an interesting way, the pandemic was an opportunity for me. Prior to COVID, there was a great deal of international interest in our in-person classes. I could fill those classes, but it had to be carefully managed because there was the immigration risk of people coming in and running off. With a virtual platform, there is still international interest and we could accommodate them without any risk. I have been able to stay afloat because I have been able to skate where the puck is going.”
Caroline Cole Power (Photos contributed)
After finishing her MBA in Corporate Finance 25 years ago, Cole Power was hired by GE Capital in Burlington as a Regional Risk Manager. She spent two years at the company’s corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut before returning to Canada.
Leaving GE in 2004 as Assistant Vice-President for Commercial Finance and Commercial Equipment Finance, she split two years of vice-presidency with EY Vice-President for Learning Development-Engagement Teams and BDC Area Talent Management in Halton/Niagara prior to joining BMO Financial Group as Senior Vice-President of Human Resources, Learning & Development.
Cole Power spent her first 17 years in Jamaica.
She attended Immaculate Conception High School, the alma mater of former provincial Cabinet Minister Mary Anne Chambers, philanthropist Donette Chin-Loy Chang and Peel District School Board Trustee Kathy McDonald, and completed high school at Woburn Collegiate Institute in Scarborough.
Raised by a single father (Leonard Brown) who sent her to boarding school is something she’s very proud of.
“Many people discount men and the role that they play in their children’s lives, but I am proof that not only moms can make a difference,” she said. “I am a daddy’s girl. My father made me feel loved and valued and, because of that, I have never doubted myself-worth. The solid sense of self has catapulted me to where I am today.”
Sister Julia Davis, who died in February 2008, was also instrumental in Cole Power’s upbringing.
“She was a clergywoman that I lived with in boarding school,” she said. “As a young child, you need someone to be there to bring some structure to your life and ensure you do your homework. She is the strongest female role model I have had in my life.”
Married to Jim Power who she met in 1991 said is very supportive, Cole Power is an avid reader and woman of faith who enjoys peloton workouts.
