Katie Manning
Global Total Rewards Team Lead
RGP
Episode 287
Transforming HR: Why Emotional Intelligence is Your Blueprint for Engagement
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleFebruary 27, 2025 · 15:44
Thesis
“Emotional intelligence and authentic relationship building are paramount for HR leaders to foster an inclusive culture, design effective programs, and navigate organizational change, ultimately driving employee engagement and business success.”
Show notes
Emotional Intelligence and Compensation Strategies with Katie Manning from RGP.
In this episode of the Built by People podcast, Katie from RGP joins the show to discuss her extensive career in compensation and benefits and the critical role of emotional intelligence in enhancing employee experience and organizational culture.
Katie provides insights into how leaders can cultivate emotional intelligence, build strong relationships, and drive successful strategic HR programs. She emphasizes the importance of feedback, healthy risk-taking, and celebrating successes. Katie also touches on the significant impact of culture on employee engagement, retention, and organizational success, sharing examples from her experiences, particularly in M&A situations.
Her parting advice underscores the need for ongoing transformation in total rewards and the importance of listening to employees to make meaningful programmatic changes.
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
01:00 Katie's Career Journey
02:02 The Importance of Emotional Intelligence
05:23 Building Relationships in HR
07:42 Embedding Emotional Intelligence in Culture
11:23 The Role of Culture in Organizational Success
13:05 Driving Cultural Shifts through Emotional Intelligence
14:43 Parting Advice and Conclusion
What you'll take away
- 1Cultivate an environment of vulnerability and open communication through transparent leadership and consistent one-on-one interactions.
- 2Embrace healthy risk-taking and view 'failures' as crucial opportunities for continuous improvement and learning.
- 3Implement recognition practices, such as quick shout-outs or appreciations, to celebrate daily successes and reinforce positive contributions.
- 4Utilize personality assessments like Predictive Index to enhance team self-awareness, adjust working styles, and leverage individual strengths.
- 5Regularly solicit employee feedback through surveys, town halls, and direct conversations to inform and adapt total rewards and other HR programs.
What most organizations get wrong
In Katie's words
“As human beings, our emotions are just who we are and a fundamental need to be heard, seen, understood that applies whether we're at work or we're outside of work. We should want to and need to bring our authentic selves to work.”
This highlights the foundational human need for authenticity and recognition in the workplace.
“The top reason people leave jobs isn't because of compensation and benefits. It's usually because of poor leadership or a lacking culture.”
This emphasizes the critical role of leadership and culture over purely transactional factors in employee retention.
“My advice is to listen to your people, understand what is important to them, conduct surveys, hold town hall meetings, be present in situations to build connections and relationships, understand the organizational strategy and how your programs support that strategy.”
This outlines a comprehensive approach to designing effective total rewards programs based on employee input and strategic alignment.
“I'm a big proponent of healthy risk-taking. We need to be given space to take healthy risks to try new things, but it's likely that there's going to be a, some kind of failure on some level, and we need to know that the organization is there to catch us.”
This quote advocates for a culture of psychological safety where experimentation and learning from mistakes are encouraged.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Employees' primary concern in 2024 is covering monthly expenses, impacting financial well-being.
- •Leaders struggle with creating environments that allow for vulnerability and open communication without 'dumping problems' on teams.
- •Designing effective HR programs is challenging without deep understanding of diverse business priorities and stakeholder trust.
- •M&A situations frequently lead to cultural clashes and perceived loss of control or identity for employees.
- •Rebuilding trust and restoring a healthy culture is significantly harder and more time-consuming than adjusting compensation or benefits.
- •Total rewards programs require constant transformation to meet the varied needs and expectations of a multi-generational workforce.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
I currently lead the global total rewards team at RGP
What's Your Career Journey?
Why is emotional intelligence critical in shaping the full employee experience, and how can leaders cultivate it
Emotional Intelligence in the Full Employee Experience
Emotional intelligence is about understanding people's emotions and giving constructive feedback
What are the Most Effective Ways to Embellish Emotional Intelligence
How does culture influence employee engagement, retention and overall organizational success
Culture and Employee Engagement
Strong relationships are crucial for partnering during M&A situations
Katie, Can Emotional Intelligence Drive a Cultural Shift?
Katie, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Katie Grubb on Total Rewards
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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