Kim Minnick

▶0:01HostWelcome to the Built by People podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top HR leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of HR executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce. I'm excited to welcome Kim Minich to the Built By People Podcast. Kim, thank you so much for joining us. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could tell us a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:55GuestYeah, absolutely. Dave, thank you so much for having me. I'm pumped to be here. I am head over heels, a very traditional HR person. After a brief stint in hospitality, I went back to school for a master's degree in HR, thinking it was very black and white and rule following. About 10 years ago, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and started working in VC-funded tech startups where I realized there is no black or white, it is only shades of gray. About 2 years ago now, I went out on my own, and now I'm a fractional head of HR. So own a full business and do part-time HR work for a fraction of the cost.

▶1:40HostAwesome. Well, thanks for that great introduction. My first question, uh, to you is, how do you prioritize and streamline HR operations to ensure that they're both efficient and aligned with company goals?

▶1:55GuestYeah. Oh, first off, I think it takes a deep understanding of what the company goals are. If the company goals are still trying to find product market fit, or you're still trying to get reliable revenue, maybe you're not trying to build the most extreme performance management process. Maybe you're just trying to get that V1 out the door. So my first step is really deeply understanding what the org, the whole business is rushing towards. And then really understanding the strengths of our people, where some of those gaps are, and then curating tools and processes that can help me better understand that and manage that, which normally for me means an amazing HRIS, some pretty good workflows, and a way to really listen to the organization.

▶2:45HostI want to talk a little bit about metrics. What metrics or KPIs to use to assess HR performance and employee engagement, and how do these impact your decisions?

▶2:57GuestYeah, gosh, I think when we're thinking about metrics, for me, your HRIS is where all of your stories are kept. It's just in a very cryptic, data-informed way. So I really— first, I like to look at all of the metrics of the organization. How are we doing with tenure? How long are people staying in roles? Uh, when and how often are they getting compensation adjustments or iterations or bonus payments? How does that data look when you are filtering it through demographic lenses, departmental lenses, manager lenses? So having your organizational data and metrics, whereas that's not necessarily how's your HR team performing, it is How is your business performing and what employee experience is that creating? And then if you want to drill down into your people operations department, I really love thinking about what's the recruiting metrics look like? How many candidates are we talking to? How are they moving through the funnel? How many offers are we sending? How many are they being— how many are being accepted? Moving internally, I like participation rates for programs. I want to understand how engaged our team is with the things that we're putting on. And then of course, deep dive into all those operational metrics.

▶4:21HostI want to talk about fractional CHROs.

▶4:24GuestYeah.

▶4:25HostIn what ways can fractional CHROs bring value to organizations?

▶4:30GuestOh, this is such a juicy question. Not every company needs a fractional head of or CHRO. Every company does need a head of HR or a CHRO. I— you need to look at your spend and how your people are functioning. But really, when you're looking at your spend, don't forget to include your salary spend, because that's really what your people team leader is going to come in and help manage and make sure you're getting the best value out of that salary spend. So having someone coming in and being able to look at the orchestra of your team and really listen to it and start pinpointing where you can be more effective, where you can drive higher performance, where you can instill either training or learning or support opportunities to help your team better perform. And if your team is better performing, your business will perform better. And it doesn't always make sense to hire that full-time role when you just need someone a few hours a week, a few hours a month, when you just need that guidance. So I think that's where fractional comes in. We're a powerhouse of a value-add at a fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost.

▶5:48HostNow, how do you approach maintaining consistent employee engagement when working in a fractional capacity, especially with multiple clients?

▶5:58GuestYeah, first, I don't think there is consistent engagement, right? I'm coming in, I'm operating more like a spearfisher, right? Really trying to get in and fix things, build things, and make a high-level impact. What that means for the organization is I'm operating through managers a lot. I'm really making sure that other full-time in-house leaders are understanding the value of the programs. Their understanding, the talking points about them, and how to really drive adoption. So there's a lot higher partnership and working through collaborators. Also, we're still dedicating time to listen to the employees. I'm still, you know, dependent on the client culture, I'm still hosting employee engagement opportunities and programs or organizational listening programs. To better understand, hey, you tell me what your experience is. I can't be here every day watching it, but you know, so tell me. And I think that really helps and it garners more connection across that full-time leadership team because they do have— they have to have a little bit higher stake in those programs.

▶7:15HostWhat are some of the main challenges with balancing high-level strategy with day-to-day HR operations, especially in this fractional capacity that we've been discussing?

▶7:25GuestYeah, I mean, same as it is in-house, right? You are constantly saying, you know, how much time do I have and how much time can I give to this? I've found since going fractional, I have to be a lot clearer with boundaries and that means a lot more communication to my client. So it is like, hey, if I need to switch out the strategy and take on the tactical day-to-day, that means it's probably a compliance, legal, that needs to take priority. And also, if we're getting to the point where I can't— you're paying me to help you with strategy. If I can't help you with the strategic aspect of it because I'm so bogged down with the day-to-day, it's my job to come to you and say like, hey, now that I know so much about this organization, your revenue, uh, how much money you have, you— we might want to bring in an HR generalist or a recruiting coordinator or somebody to take that tactical day-to-day work and get some mentorship and get some growth. I think there's really cool opportunities that businesses can choose when they're trying to make that balance.

▶8:33HostKim, any parting advice you'd like to share with our audience related or unrelated to fractional work?

▶8:39GuestWell, for those interested in diving into fractional work, it is a full-time business. You are building a whole business. And that business is getting to do your specialty. So expect to learn a lot of stuff, uh, get your P&Ls, get your CRMs, start your business development. For companies who are interested in fractional leadership, get on it. Start talking to fractional leaders, start asking questions. It can be an incredibly high value add, and bring them in early, and that way you're not trying to unwind tough or hard decisions or previous mistakes when you're at 500, 600, 1,000 employees. It's a really great option. And I think the individual, the company, it's really a win-win sort of situation.

▶9:31HostKim, thank you so much for joining us on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure having you involved.

▶9:36GuestThis was such a delight. Thank you for having me.