Speakers: Becki Feldmann, Rhoda Banks, Shannon Norman
Beyond the Ladder: Rethink Career Growth, Talent Mobility, and Leadership Assumptions
The importance of creating multiple paths for growth.
Challenge some of the assumptions that organizations and hiring managers make about career success.
This session will encourage HR professionals to help leaders look beyond titles, career ladders, and preconceived notions of success. Growth can happen through expanded expertise, broader influence, project leadership, mentoring, cross-functional experiences, and many other avenues that don't necessarily involve managing people.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Challenge traditional assumptions about career success and leadership by recognizing that advancement does not always require people management or upward movement.
- Identify multiple pathways for employee growth and talent mobility, including expanded expertise, cross-functional experiences, project leadership, mentoring, stretch assignments, and broader organizational influence.
- Apply a skills-based lens to talent decisions by recognizing transferable skills and non-linear career experiences when developing internal talent and evaluating external candidates.
Speaker Bios:
In her role as Assistant Vice President, Sr. Employee Experience and Brand Strategist for Commerce Bank, Becki Feldmann provides dynamic and engaging leadership in the attraction and retention of employees. She was recruited for her energy, enthusiasm, and passion for creating great places for people to work. She puts this into action working with team members and stakeholders across the bank with a focus on ensuring employees have the resources and relationships they need to succeed, the opportunity for their voice to be heard and most importantly feel that they belong. She also leads the employment brand efforts showcasing what makes Commerce a great place to work and ensuring alignment between employment brand and experience. She is a brand ambassador for Commerce internally and externally!
Outside of Commerce, Becki is involved with several local HR organizations and non-profits, she is a designer with jBloom as bloom with becki – life + style, she owns a brand management company, b-e-connected, llc. and she creates experiences to do good + give back through bloom for good.
She is a mom of two hilarious and handsome teenage boys who get it from her husband of almost 20 years. They live a very FULL life and take any opportunity they can to have fun and make a positive impact in the world.
What matters most to Becki in everything that she does is faith, family, relationships, community, and health and if she had to bottle all of this up, it would be making a difference.
Connect with Becki here: https://www.bloomwithbecki.com/
Rhoda Banks, MHA, SHRM-CP, CPC, ELI-MP, is a human resources executive, leadership strategist, speaker, executive coach, and author with more than 20 years of experience helping leaders and organizations navigate growth, change, and transformation.
Throughout her career, Rhoda has led enterprise talent and organizational strategies spanning leadership development, succession planning, talent acquisition, organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, culture, and workforce development across complex organizations, including healthcare. Her work has focused on creating environments where people can grow, contribute, and build meaningful careers while helping organizations develop the talent and leadership capabilities needed for the future.
Rhoda is the founder of The Rhoda Experience, where she works with organizations and individuals through speaking, leadership development, executive coaching, and organizational consulting. Her approach centers on self-awareness, courage, accountability, trust, and helping people recognize and maximize the strengths and experiences they bring to their work.
She is also an adjunct university instructor and the author of two books, Moments: An Inspirational Devotional Journal and Daughter of an Assassin, a memoir exploring resilience, healing, self-awareness, and the experiences that shape who we become.
At the heart of Rhoda’s work is a belief that leadership leaves a mark and career growth does not follow a single path. She challenges individuals and organizations to look beyond traditional definitions of advancement and create opportunities for people to grow, contribute, and lead from wherever they are.
Thank you to our Sponsors!
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