Reframing HR: From Compliance to Proactive Strategy
Summary:
Dr. Jim interviews Kate Manahan from Built, discussing HR myths and its strategic role. They explore HR's transition from administrative to strategic at Built. The talk covers Built's modernization of the construction industry and HR's role in boosting competitiveness through effective management beyond mere legal compliance.
Key Takeaways:
* HR should be recognized and leveraged as a competitive advantage, not just a policy enforcer or problem solver.
* Integrating a people-first approach within a business strategy can maximize shareholder value without the needless expansion of personnel.
* Inclusion of HR leadership in all aspects of business decisions is crucial for aligning people strategy with business objectives.
Chapters:
Timestamp
0:00:00
Introduction to the conversation with Kate Manahan, Chief People Officer at Built
0:00:30
Kate's background and role at Built
0:01:53
How finance and program management experiences shaped Kate's talent strategy
0:02:36
The underserved construction industry and Built's niche
0:03:29
Myth: HR is only for policy and problem-solving
0:04:49
CEO's role in allowing HR to be more people-centric
0:06:14
Balancing people as a competitive advantage with maximizing shareholder value
0:07:15
How to connect with Kate Manahan for further conversation
Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk
Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung
Connect with Kate Manahan: linkedin.com/in/katemanahan
Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda
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Transcript
[00:00:16] Kate Manahan: Thanks so much for having me, Dr. Jim.
[:[00:00:30] Kate Manahan: Awesome. I'd love to. So I'm Kate Manahan. I'm currently the chief people officer at Built and I'll talk about Built in a minute. But. Prior to built I was at a finance firm for about 15 years and actually just got involved in people in HR and in 2016 before that I was a strategic program manager and finally married that strategy with a content that I love, which is people and developing people and helping people.
ago. So built is a software [:We're about 300 people based in Nashville, Tennessee. And as of right now, we've got about a quarter. Quarter trillion dollars on the platform, which represents about 10 percent of all of the spend in the construction space. It's really awesome. And I've been the chief people officer there since I joined, started as VP of people and I'm now our chief people officer and it's wonderful.
I've got about a 15 person team responsible for all talent, acquisition, development, retention, and I oversee our legal team as well.
[:[00:01:53] Kate Manahan: I love that. I love that question. Because I think that, it was actually a core thing and how I approach people, meaning [00:02:00] people, initiatives, and strategy is, should be as intricate and complex as your business strategy and you need to approach it like any other business opportunity or business problem.
And so thinking about things as a holistic program and having the right toolkit to say, how am I going to frame this from objective to solution? And how am I going to put a plan around? It needs to have the same level of rigor as any other large scale program that you do.
[:You have an emphasis in terms of the niche that you operate in, which is construction and industrial. What's the story behind that? Because I often find that sector from a tech perspective is underserved.
[:Yeah. So the opportunity set is huge and actually how our company started. So our current CEO and founder Chase Gilbert about 10 years ago, came up with the idea of built and it's, he and his buddy were working on real estate and acquiring real estate. And they realized how archaic the methods were to [00:03:00] actually move money through the system and saw that as an opportunity and said, wow, I think that there's.
I think there's something here and just went after it. And at the time, I think they had no idea what they were getting themselves into in terms of really how complex it is. But it's fascinating stuff.
[:[00:03:16] Kate Manahan: I'm ready.
[:So what's the myth that you wish would just die?
[:And that's the people talent is the accelerator. No matter how good your strategy is, no matter how good your product is. You're only as good as your people and your culture. And so really taking HR and people from a proactive lens [00:04:00] versus we're just here when somebody does something wrong or to put policy in place.
I don't want to be red tape. I want to be actually an enabler and an accelerant of people.
[:I think that could be applied to HR within an organization as well. You get the HR organization you deserve, and that sits solely at the feet of CEOs. CEOs often define what HR can and can't do.
[:[00:04:33] Dr. Jim: We're talking about Shifting the narrative about what HR actually is, what its purpose is, what's your advice to CEOs so that they can actually allow HR to function in a way that is more people centric versus compliance
[:My second piece of advice would be have your people person at the table, not just for people related topics or people related conversations. I am fortunate that my CEO, I have a seat at any table that I want to be at any and all the tables. And I sit on our executive team and of course I wear my hat as head of people, but I also wear my hat as a partner and collaborator on how we're driving forward the business and having people in culture represented in all of those rooms, no matter what the topic is, are we going to acquire this company or What's our next year strategy is so critical to actually make people a strategic function and not a kind of reactive compliance based one.
[:So what they what ends up happening is that whenever you need to satisfy shareholders, you're seeing mass layoffs and all that sort of stuff. So how do you. bridge the gap between what seems two polar opposite perspectives.
[:They're thinking about how to maximize shareholder value by having the most efficient org structures, for example. How do we construct an org and what does that look like? And what are the right roles? And how do I get the best talent in those roles so that the ROI on my people is absolutely as high as it can be.
You don't want bloat. You're not like having people person just to hire people is not the key. It's being highly strategic about how you use people as an asset to accelerate your business strategy.
[:We're like, Oh, we overhired when it was the era of free [00:07:00] money. So now we have to ruin a bunch of people's lives. So that, that, that perspective was really interesting how you brought that out. And I appreciate you sharing your input on it. So I know that we could talk about this stuff a lot longer than we have, but if people want to continue the conversation with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
[:[00:07:21] Dr. Jim: Thanks for hanging out with us, Kate, and helping us bust another myth. Stay tuned for more conversations
