Kate Kemp
Chief People Officer
Restaurant365
Episode 245
Beyond Compliance: HR's Strategic Shift to Empowering Your People & Amplifying Impact
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleApril 4, 2025 · 10:47
Thesis
“HR's fundamental role is to enable and amplify the organization by understanding and leveraging people's unique experiences and differences as assets, acting as a platform to remove friction and drive impact.”
Show notes
HR Leadership and Strategic Enablement with Kate Kemp
In this episode of the Built by People podcast, sponsored by Previ, host Dave D'Angelo welcomes Kate to discuss her unique career path and her approach to HR leadership.
Kate talks about her early focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and how she progressed from state government to tech.
She emphasizes HR as an enablement function aimed at amplifying organizational impact by removing friction from the employee experience.
Kate also shares her strategies for post-merger integrations, fostering cross-functional leadership, and leveraging diverse career experiences for executive roles.
She concludes with insights on the importance of reverse engineering HR solutions and parting advice on maintaining joy and grace in the important work HR professionals do.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:16 Sponsorship Message from Previ
00:45 Kate's Career Journey in HR0
1:54 Strategic Goals and Cross-Functional Leadership in HR0
3:36 Optimizing Post-Integration Processes After M&A
05:44 Transitioning to Executive Leadership in HR
08:25 Reverse Engineering Solutions in HR
10:00 Parting Advice for the HR Community
10:40 Closing Remarks
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What you'll take away
- 1Position HR as an enablement function, providing resources and removing employee friction to accelerate organizational impact.
- 2Optimize post-M&A integration by actively leveraging acquired teams' unique talents and entrepreneurial spirit through dedicated forums and direct engagement.
- 3To transition to an executive HR leadership role, overcome self-imposed barriers and trust your accumulated experience to lead authentically.
- 4Employ a 'reverse engineering' approach in HR, focusing on understanding unique organizational and employee needs (customer experience) to inform solutions, rather than imposing generic best practices.
- 5Infuse levity, grace, and joy into HR work, acknowledging its importance while fostering a positive and thriving work environment for employees.
What most organizations get wrong
- •HR should evolve from a 'block and tackle' function to a 'platform and service' that enables and amplifies the organization.
- •Rather than shying away from differences, organizations should actively build with and towards diversity of thought and experience as a core asset.
- •HR solutions should be reverse-engineered from the unique needs and 'customer experience' of employees, rather than assuming standard solutions are universally applicable.
In Kate's words
“I still remain very focused on understanding what makes each of us really unique, right? And how you bring that as an asset to your work, and also how to really think about everyone's unique experiences and backgrounds and perspectives and how that's really an asset in an organization as well, versus something that we need to shy away from or build around.”
This highlights her core belief in leveraging individual differences as strengths rather than impediments.
“HR is at its core an enablement function. We're here to accelerate and amplify the organization and really remove friction from the employee experience so that people can thrive at work and drive the biggest impact.”
This quote reframes the strategic purpose of HR, moving it beyond traditional administrative roles.
“And I think acquired teams oftentimes are bringing really special skills and experiences to organizations... And I think it's about clearing the way for the team... and amplifying that within the organization, that you're really going to get a bit of the best of both worlds.”
This emphasizes a proactive and value-driven approach to integrating acquired talent post-M&A.
“First of all, I'd say it's getting out of your own way.”
A concise and impactful piece of advice for career progression, emphasizing self-belief.
“I often think about our customers are our employees. And if you think about applying design thinking to that, it's really thinking about the customer experience and how you enable that and working backwards from there.”
This directly links HR strategy to design thinking and a 'customer-first' mindset for employees.
“Another thing I like to consider is we are doing really important work and we're not saving lives, and so let's have a good time.”
A lighthearted yet profound piece of advice about balancing the seriousness of HR with fostering joy and grace.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggle with post-M&A integration, often losing the unique entrepreneurial spirit and talent of acquired teams.
- •HR functions can be perceived as bureaucratic 'block and tackle' entities that create friction rather than enable growth.
- •Lack of cross-functional alignment, particularly between HR, business leaders, and finance, can hinder effective headcount planning.
- •HR professionals may inadvertently impose generic 'best practice' solutions that don't align with an organization's unique needs and employee experiences.
- •Individuals transitioning to executive HR roles often face internal barriers and self-doubt, despite having the necessary experience.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You're passionate about diversity and inclusion in your work
The Importance of Diversity in Work
How do you approach setting strategic goals and leveraging cross-functional leadership to drive business impact
How HR Is Leading the Company's Strategy
Kate Miller: Acquired teams bring unique skills and experiences to organizations
How to Lever the Unique Talent of Acquired Teams
Kate says transitioning from HR to executive leadership required a few key skills
What Skills Are Essential for Making the Transition to an Executive Leadership Role
Kate says her diverse career experiences contributed to her current success
Kate Wilcox on the Diversity of her Career
Kate, could you explain your thoughts on reverse engineering solutions in HR
Reversing Engineering in HR
Kate, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Kate Hewitt on the Built by People Podcast
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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