Becca Garvin | People Operations Leader

Perspective

How I Think About This Work

Most turnover is preventable.

Retention is one of the most solvable problems in a company. When humans are clear on what they are doing, supported to do it well, and valued as the asset they are, they stay. That is the work. And it is learnable.

You cannot scale a team you cannot see.

Growth follows clarity. When leaders see what their humans are capable of, what they need, and where they are heading, everything else gets easier.

People leadership is the job, not a side effect.

Leadership done well is active. Paying attention. Mentoring. Empowering. Staying in sync with your team through the growth and the bumps, because growth always brings both. That is how people and companies thrive at the same time.

People strategy fails the moment it stops being about people.

Performance systems, culture work, learning programs: they all earn their keep when they are built for the humans who use them. Start with people. That is where the strategy lives.

About

People-first leader. Builder by nature.

What comes most naturally to me is reading people, naming the invisible gaps, and building the structure that closes them. I have been doing this for over 13 years.

My career started in executive recruiting. From day one out of college, I was placed in the middle of C-suite operations, becoming fluent in how executives think and what leadership teams need. Across ten years and hundreds of placements, I saw the patterns. What separates the companies that keep great people from the ones that keep hiring them back. It is a little like being a marriage counselor. You watch enough situations play out, and you learn what it actually takes to make people work together well.

The companies I do my best work with are progressive, fast-moving, and willing. They see people as worth investing in. Preventative or acute, it only works when everyone wants the outcome.

Expertise

What I build

The functional areas where I've designed, led, and delivered results.

People Leadership

Leading and developing HR teams. Building the People function or inheriting and leveling up an existing team. Mentoring direct reports and serving as the bridge between frontline employees and the C-suite. This is what I love most.

Culture Strategy

Building the systems that create culture: onboarding programs, engagement measurement, stay interviews, values integration, recognition systems, and accountability structures that make culture operational.

Learning & Development

Creating leadership development programs, manager training, career pathing frameworks, competency mapping, and mentorship structures that turn good employees into great leaders.

Performance Management

Designing review cycles, feedback systems, goal-setting frameworks, and KPI structures tailored to an organization's stage. Built from scratch, not pulled off a shelf.

Talent Acquisition Strategy

Leading TA teams, building recruiting processes and interview frameworks, and creating infrastructure that turns hiring from reactive firefighting into a strategic advantage.

Ways to Work Together

Three ways companies bring me in

A full-time People leadership role that aligns with my background (open to that currently!)

I lead HR teams and build the People function as companies scale and grow. Best fit for Senior People leadership roles in organizations where the people infrastructure needs to catch up to the business.

People Diagnostics & Solution Design

For founders who feel the gap between where their team is and where it needs to be.

You can feel something is off. Maybe people aren't staying as long as they should. Maybe your team is capable but not connecting. Maybe you've outgrown the way things used to work and don't yet know what should replace it. You're not sure what's broken, but you know the gap is costing you.

That's where I come in. I read the room, talk to your people, and find the root of what's actually happening, not what it looks like on the surface. Then I build the scaffolding that closes the gap so your team can thrive and your business can scale without you holding it all together.

What the build looks like

Onboarding design. Custom-built for your culture and the humans actually joining, not a generic deck.
Manager enablement. Frameworks, language, and tools that turn capable individuals into leaders who grow their people.
Culture documentation. Capturing the unwritten rules and the way you actually do things here, so your culture scales beyond your own head.
Communication frameworks. The shared language and rituals that close gaps between leadership and team, or between teams that aren't talking to each other well.
Team rituals and operating rhythms. The recurring touchpoints that build trust and momentum instead of quietly draining them.

Leadership Coaching & Mentorship

For founders and emerging leaders who want a thought partner who actually sees them.

Most coaching gives you frameworks. I give you a mirror.

I work 1:1 with founders navigating the people side of building a company, and with emerging leaders stepping into roles bigger than what they've done before. Part strategy, part reflection, part calling out what you already know but haven't said out loud yet.

Engagement cadence is tailored to individual needs, with async support in between.

Business Mind. People Soul.