Business and Beyond's Feature Friday ft. Renee Trotman

Great businesses aren’t built on strategy alone—they’re built on people.

In this #FeatureFriday episode, Tania Bartolini sits down with Renee Trotman, a seasoned HR executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across finance, healthcare, education, and marketing. Having served as both Vice President of HR and Chief People Officer, Renee brings practical, real-world insight into what it truly takes to build strong organizations from the inside out.

In this conversation, we discuss:
• Why people strategy is one of the biggest competitive advantages a business can have
• How leadership directly impacts company culture, performance, and retention
• The importance of handling employee relations with both legal awareness and emotional intelligence
• What it takes to successfully lead teams through growth, change, and complexity

Known as the “HR Whisperer” and a trusted advisor to CEOs, Renee shares valuable lessons on building resilient teams, navigating high-stakes environments, and leading with clarity and confidence.

If you’re serious about growing your business, scaling your team, and strengthening your leadership, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Business and Beyond's Feature Friday podcast with your host, Tanya Bardellini. Today's guest is very exciting. Her name is Renee Trotman, and she is a senior executive HR professional. That's why it's so exciting. She has over 20 years of experience and is very well versed in all HR disciplines with a wealth of experience that spans a variety of industries to include financial institutions, education, marketing, for-profit education, and healthcare. She's held senior leadership roles, including regional director, HR US and Canada, Vice President of HR, and Chief People Officer. She is now the founder and chief HR consultant of the HR Boutique, where she partners with organizations to strengthen people strategy, employee relations, and leadership effectiveness through a legal and practical lens. And you know how much I love legal. Renee holds a master's of jurisprudence in labor and employment law from Tulane University Law School. She is a certified senior HR professional and executive coach and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership. Known as the HR Whisperer and Transition Expert, Renee is a trusted advisor to CEOs and organization leaders navigating complex people challenges. Welcome, Renee.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Thank you. Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for having me. Such a pleasure to join you today.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Oh, we are very excited. So tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into this, and more importantly, why you got into this line of work.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Sure. Thank you. Excellent question. Well, you did such a wonderful job giving my bio and background, but to expand a little bit more, I started this HR consultancy, as you see in the name, boutique style consultancy. And to elaborate, when I say boutique, it's really here to help organizations with customized solutions to really help close the gap between people management, behaviors, employment law, and what we know is HR or people operations. What I've really seen over the last 20 years and more is the evolution of HR in the world of work. And in that time, I've seen that organizations, they don't just find themselves in these employee-related claims and legal action. It's not by happenstance. I have seen through many years of data collection and working in these organizations that employee-related claims and legal actions are really more likely to ensue when people managers, keyword, people managers, aren't adequately trained to legally and compliantly manage what we call employee relations issues. So I really started the HR boutique because too many organizations that I have seen tend to operate in more of a reactive cycling versus a proactive cycling. And they tend to call HR or legal experts only after something has gone wrong. I'm sure you've seen that in your fields of the legal space. So my work is really about shifting that mindset. We really partner with organizations to take that proactivity and that proactive approach to really strengthen their people strategy. I am of the mindset that people strategy is business strategy. You can't have an effective business strategy without really having a component that outlines how do we navigate our people. And this really helps them to reduce legal and people risk and help leaders kind of make a better people-related decisions before things escalate. So it really isn't, Tanya, about compliance or compliance sake that I'm doing the work. It's about helping organizations lead people better, more effectively, more legally, and more compliantly, because I have found that when leaders are set up for success, they're upskilled and they can get it right. And this helps organizations become more successful by reducing their risk and creating better employee engagement and retention, which turns to typically better customer engagement and better profits and revenue.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

One is I always say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right? Yes. And you just hit on that right on the head because people and leaders and managers do not go to HR, they do not go to legal until something happens. That is going to the cure without having anything to do with prevention prior to that. There's no planning prior to that, right? And so it's great that there are professionals like yourself who might not work for the organization, or if the company is too small to have an HR department or an HR director, they can still have someone to go to in plenating.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Right? Get that prevention going from the beginning so that things don't escalate. And it costs a lot less if you do it at the beginning than it does later on.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Absolutely, 100%. My saying is in a shortened version, prevention is better than cure. And you're absolutely right. There is a study by Hisscox that was done about two years ago that shows, especially in small businesses, more than 10% of small businesses are ending up in legal claims. And they're spending over $100,000 in claims that is good revenue and profit going out the window when that can be very much in most instances reduced by doing the proactive work before.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

That's yes. And then the other, the second really great point that you brought out is that it is business is people. Right? Like you have to invest in your employees, you have to invest in your people, you have to invest in how to properly deal with them and lead them and motivate them and stay out of legal claims so that the business itself can run properly. Absolutely. People run the businesses. So it's all personal, right? It's all personal relationships.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Absolutely. People, you know, it's cliche when we say that people are our biggest assets. Well, they really are when you look from the internal and external perspective. Your people are helping you run your business to ultimately serve your external population, your people which are your customers and your clients. And I think that especially what I have seen and what my passion is about doing this work as a consultant is that I have found that a lot of small to mid-sized businesses tend to think that this is an add-on function that's just administrative in nature when this is really about having a strategic partner. I always say you would go to a CPA to make sure that you get your financial checkup, an expert in accounting and finance to make sure your books are right. But I often find that small to mid-sized businesses and sometimes larger organizations miss the mark in ensuring that HR expertise, HR leadership has a seat at their table to ensure that there is an expert around people to guide, provide advice and counsel, and make sure that they can move the business to meet the success that they're looking for. Oftentimes we see that there is a myth, in the sense that this is coupled with another role, and it's a dual role versus an independent role. And there's a lot of factors that I can talk about in placement that create this kind of cyclical circle that people go through that really end them up in a difficult space, such as an employment or legal plan.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

That yes, and that that leads us to the third point of leadership and their skills.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Absolutely, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

And so HR can help develop the skills of leaders and how to communicate with employees, how to train employees to communicate with clients. Communication is 99% of what we do every day. Whether it's verbal communication, nonverbal communication, emails, what social media, we have to communicate with each other. And HR can help bring about the skills of effective communication, the skills of effectively working together and making people understand that you're hearing them and giving people clear instructions, right? Because we all have different ways of learning. And so as a leader, if I expect that everybody around me is going to learn the way I learn, I'm going to fail. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

It's no one size fits all, right? Leadership, you have to be kind of a chameleon. You have to be able to change. I always say to leaders, you have to be adaptable and flexible. You can have one employee that doesn't want direct feedback and you need to kind of go around the feedback and do more of the sandwich method. You have some employees that want you to be much more direct and set clear expectations and how you provide feedback. And so I think as you talk about leadership skill or people skill and development, this is why people strategy is business strategy, because if you have in your business strategy and plan everything about the finances and the customer, and we have this little section about how you're going to kind of hire people, but you're not talking about the expansive component about how do we get our staff, our employees, our leaders to a particular level that is going to meet the mission, vision, values, core values of our organization to adequately and properly execute our brand and what we're trying to do. And so this just lets you know it expands this component of how do we make sure people's strategy is there? And that's by working with experts who can help you really expand that component and before we're thinking about the things that are needed. Training and development. How do we onboard individuals into an organization adequately? Onboarding is going to help set expectations. It's going to be your continuation of your job description. So your job description is giving someone a sneak peek. Your interview process gives them a little bit more in the door. And when they're in there and onboarding, how do you set adequate and clear expectations from that job description and make sure that one, you're balancing the business need and also ensure that you're balancing the employee rights? And that's where that upskilling comes in and the communication and trading piece is pivotal and key.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

And I want to kind of switch gears a little bit and talk about your business specifically because you have a successful HR boutique business. And I want you, if you don't mind, to share with us what are some you know obstacles that you had to overcome to become a successful business? And are you still having obstacles now as a successful business owner?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Absolutely. Excellent question and such a loaded one, but so important. I think that when we step out and we start up a business as an entrepreneur, we have this vision, we have this passion, and it's all about how to execute. And I think that that is and was a challenge in the beginning, and still a little bit of that. How do you continue to execute, especially in this world of consulting and coaching? There's so many people that are possessing these skills. So, how do you really differentiate yourself in the market in terms of what you bring to the table? So, what I really had to do for me in my business is think about there's so many HR products and systems and services and consultants. How do you find your niche? How do you find your secret sauces, some people say in the industry? And I found for me, mine was the legal component. I look at things from an employment and labor law lens because I have my master's in employment in labor law from a law school. So I was very intentional in getting the knowledge, the skills, the abilities to not just come and say, oh, I know employment law because I've been doing HR for 20 years. No, I've studied it. I know how to read the law, I know how to interpret it. And so I think that when I talk about success for the HR boutique, it is how I have taken the time to really position myself with a specific expertise and really make sure that I take that and position myself in the market to help. And I have found that that has created success for me in terms of when I do get clients, they tend to highlight that. I really like the fact that you understand this component, especially in a world where we've become so litigious in the workplace and we hear people drop these buzzwords and say we need your help and better understanding these pieces. And so I think that I'm still I still contend with building the business, positioning myself and still making myself a um someone in the environment that is an expert, right? By positioning myself to be that. And I have found that I just have to continue to work that process and doing that helps continue to make what success looks like for the HR boutique.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

That so I love this because niching and finding what it is that you are really good at is so important because it is the only thing that differentiates you, but it is also the scariest thing for many people.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

It's so true, it's so true.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Because I hear a lot of well, I don't want to limit myself, I don't want to alienate you know, clients, I don't want people to not call me because that's not what they want. And in my experience, I have found that when you do niche, when you find your specific thing that you help people with, it actually expands your clientele rather than makes it smaller, correct?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yes, yes, you know, the saying being the jack or jackie of all trades and master of none, you know, it's okay to be a generalist and have general um understanding of all the functions or areas of your field and industry, but it does serve well when you're able to hone in on an area that you really enjoy and passionate about and upskill yourself in that area.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Now, have you found since you have niched, do you have a broader range of clientele or a smaller range of clientele?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Definitely a broader. Um, what I will say is when I started, I was very much just focused on um organizations and you know, small to mid-sized businesses. And that was kind of my sweet spot, if you will. And then when I really kind of started being very specific in the specialized area, it actually opened up a client line that I wasn't even really considering. And so now that client line is individuals. So I have a big population of individuals, not organizations, that say, you know what, we don't have HR, like none at all. Um, and it's a scary place sometimes, and I feel like I need HR expertise, or I am having challenges with my HR or my organization, and I just need some HR guidance. And so I wasn't even thinking about that, but that specialization has opened up this line for me of clients and expanding in a way that I didn't anticipate in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

That and I love that you said you can be a generalist, right? Because just because you niche down and you have a specialization does not mean you do not or cannot service more.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

And so when you knee down, you have your specific expertise, this is what I'm really good at. This is what is gonna differentiate me from every other Jane and John that do the same thing in my industry, but at the same time, if someone comes to me outside of that niche that is still within my general industry, I can still service them. I can still have them as a client. I don't have to say no.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

100%. You can't limit yourself as you're growing and building your business. So when you're defining what success looks like for your business, you have to keep an open mind. Um, you know, I I always say I've enjoyed every function of HR with exception to recruitment. Recruitment tends to be, like for me, a very monotonous process that I've not always enjoyed, but I have also found that I am good at it and I find services and support that's needed in this area. And so I still do it. So it's about not limiting yourself because in some of these other areas that's not so specific or specialized, you may go in that one lane and area of support and come to find in your exploration and discovery with that client that there is an opportunity to potentially get into that specialized lane that you're in. And so you often have to demonstrate your skill in the area that they need, and you will often find that sometimes that will expand into more areas in your field.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

And I love it. Stay curious, continue to discover, continue to learn, right? And expand and service your clients with what they need.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Absolutely, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

I love it. Okay, and so you overcame some of that, you know, how do you differentiate yourself? How do you stand out? How do you attract clients by niching down and by finding that special um skill or passion that you have within HR? Now, what is actually working in your business and how did you get it to work? What's working well? And how do you get it to work?

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Absolutely. I think what's working well is um my increased visibility in the in the market, in the industry as a consultant. It is slowly and continuously building. And what made this start to work or improve was believe it or not, I am such a behind the scenes individual. Um, and really starting to promote more on social media, um, expand my social media channels and talk about my niche and specialization and different things, it's really helped to really draw in more interest, inquiry, and position me more as a subject matter expert in this big pool. Um, so that's one thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Another thing is as you talk about sorry, before you go to the other thing, let's so because this is a pain point for a lot of people, right? How do I get more exposure? How do I get people to know that I even exist, let alone for them to come hire me? Right. And so you're saying that your expansion is working, your marketing is working. So, how did you get it to work? What are you doing that is allowing you to say, this is working in my business?

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Yeah, a couple of things. I think you're right. It is a um a challenging area for some. Some people feel like, well, I'll just network, which is important, but you, it's almost like you have to do the trifecta. You have to network, you have to market, um, not just the website, but you have to get into social media. And so one of the things that I did is I said, I have to start investing in other experts. So I've taken my own advice, right? I am HR expertise. I'm not social media and marketing expert. I can put together some good little marketing materials here and there, but I needed to start to invest in true marketing expertise and professionals. And so I have engaged this kind of individual who's kind of a marketing consultant on a smaller scale, which supports me with my website and my social media to make sure that my branding is consistent. Because one of the things that I said that I didn't want to do is if I'm going to step out into social media, I want to make sure that my brand, when they see me, it's pretty consistent. She's showing up, she's showing up presenting well, she's showing up informed, those types of critical and key things. And her brand is present. And so making sure that I had someone in investing in a brand kit. What are your colors? Making sure you're investing your logo. Maybe you've designed one, but having some an expert help put your thoughts together on how you can make it even better. Since I've started this over the past seven years or so, I have continuously evolved. I've rebranded once, I've rebranded my colors and my logos several times. So I think you really have to take an opportunity to invest in that additional expertise of the different functional areas that can help you be successful in growing your visibility.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

And I love that you said that because it is all about the people again that are around you, that surround you, right? It's about investing in people to make your business grow. And you can't do everything yourself. So I love that you brought that because everybody thinks, well, you know, my next door neighbor has a successful business and they do the marketing and they do the work and they do the networking and they do everything, and they're fine. So I should be able to do it myself. And that's not true. That's just simply not true.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Not today, and not in this time that we're in, where again, the market is saturated, social media is saturated, and where you may think that you are specialized, there's people who are very closely specialized. And again, it's how do you stand out? So even if there's three of us that are claiming, you know, HR expertise and HR consultant experience, when they put you three side by side, yours that had that investment in that person or that expertise of marketing, let's say your brand might stand out a little bit more. You may get acknowledged a little bit more because of some of the additional polishing points or terminology or technicalities of things that that expert knew about that you might not have known in doing it yourself. And so it is about investing as you talk about the people around you and often say who are your strategic partners, whether you are a solopreneur, whether you are entrepreneur, whether you're small to mid-size, you have to ensure that you have your strategic partners that you go to who are also experts in their area to help you move forward.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

That and I I love, I cannot hone this in more like do not expect to be able to do it all on your own. 100%. Right. We start the business on our own. Yeah, yeah, and you're wearing the CEO hat and the CFO hat and the COO hat and the HR department and the administrative and the receptionist and the billing clerk and you name it, and we're wearing all of these hats when we first start out, and that's well and good, right? Until you start getting a little bit of traction. 100% that you have to take away some of those hats and hire people, and the best thing to do is hire people to complement your weaknesses, right? I love you said earlier, you are HR, that is your expertise, that is your lane, that is your zone of genius, and that is what you're gonna stick to. Yes, you know, you hired someone to do the marketing for you and to make sure that your branding is proper and to make sure that you do stand out and that they keep up with all of the trends and different things that need to be done to keep you on top of mind so that you can continue to hone in your skills with HR so you can continue your studies to get the organizational leadership, the management and organizational leadership, right? And to continue to figure out what's going on with the law, what are the changes, what are the things that I need to do to help my clients while your team members are working on the other aspects of your business.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Absolutely, 100%. And sometimes people say, because you know, this is very true, well, I don't have enough uh revenue yet to hire someone. And I always say this is where your strategic partners come in, where you don't necessarily have to hire full-time. You can hire PRN, you can have 1099s who support you. There's a variety of ways to get support that can also be in your price point and still help you. Um, and I think that that is the mindset component as you again talk about having the people around you, what that looks like for company A and company B is going to be very different. But for those that may be in the beginning stage or starting, you can you might need to just hire an expert to support you PRN, part-time, project-based, and you can still have the impact that's needed.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

100% right, and I love this is why I like fractional coaches, fractional CFOs, fractional HR, right? Because now more than ever, everybody can have access to experts. Everybody can have access to someone who can help them with their business, with their life, right? Forget just the business, right? And it is, it's one of those things where so for example, most people do not like doing their own bookkeeping, right? And it takes forever to try to do the numbers and the reconciliations and everything else, and so instead of using my time as the business owner to sit there and do five hours of number crunching, right? I can take that five hours and generate more business and pay a bookkeeper for two hours of their time to do what it would have taken me five hours to do. Yeah, yes, now not only have I gained three hours because I'm not wasting my time doing something that I'm weak at, but I have gained more in business because I've taken that five hours and done something a lot more productive with my time.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yes, yes, 100%. I think that it is working smarter, not harder. Um, it's being strategic. And again, in your business strategy, it is prioritizing. What's your prioritization around the different things that are needed? So maybe it is the bookkeeping, maybe it's HR, you know, maybe it is something else, the marketing. It just depends. But I think that when you prioritize based on where you are as a business and what is most important to help you continue on your success journey and allow you to continue to grow the business, I think that's where it is. So for some people, like you said, it could be bookkeeping, it'd be HR, it's marketing. For me, it was marketing, right? I can manage my books with some of the software and tools I have, and I can do some of the other components. But this marketing thing and the time that it takes, it really needed the support.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

And that's the right, I love that because it's prioritizing, right? And people say, like you said earlier, I can't afford to hire someone, right? But it there becomes a time where you cannot afford not to hire 100%.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Because that's where you can grow, you have to be able to leverage other people's skills and strength.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Absolutely, 100%. It's a collective effort, right? And again, no one can do it all on their own. You can start that way, you can build your foundation that way, but to start to build on top of that foundation, again, you need people around you, you need your strategic partners to be able to help you continue to evolve and grow.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah, and thank you. So I'm gonna switch gears one more time and talk about the HR industry itself. Where do you see it moving towards in the next five years or so?

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Excellent question. I think a couple of things. I think that um it's continuing to evolve. Um, I think in a lot of the industries, you're seeing AI become very pertinent and come to the forefront. So I think HR over the next five to 10 years is going to be a lot more AI forward in the way that organizations and HR teams and departments use it. Um, I definitely think that the legal landscape is going to continue to change and evolve in terms of the employment and labor laws that we're seeing. We're seeing lots of changes even over the past couple of years. Um, I also believe that we're going to continue to see this kind of shift in what people look for in terms of skill sets for HR teams, whether that's the leader, the highest HR leader in the organization, the HR departments, and also the structuring. I think that not my biggest, um, I'm not a biggest supporter of this, but I think a lot of organizations are finding or wanting to position HR under operations or under finance. And so I think there's going to be a lot of continued um look at how organizations are placing HR in the organization if they have it. Um I think that people are also seeing, based on legal claims and these assertive legal buzzwords that people are now dropping in the workplace. I think that people are going to start to see the value of having some form of HR, whether it's fractional, whether it's full-time, and really seeing a little bit more value in that. Those are some of the key things that I think are going to be in place. And lastly, technology. Technology is rapidly evolving in the HR space. I partner with a company called Gusto, and I think that they have done an amazing job with small to mid-size businesses in simplifying technology and making it accessible and easy for clients. And so I think that you're going to see a lot more of those gustos and ripplings and deals that are coming out to really niche and support this kind of small to mid-size business area in a different way.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Very cool. Thank you. I'm looking forward to all this new technology and new ways of doing things. I think it's so exciting. It is.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

It is.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

So, how can people get in touch with you if they want to work with you? They want to refer people to you?

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Um, I think one of the biggest or easiest ways I should say to get in touch with me is through my website, which is the hrboutique.info. Um, and I can also follow me on LinkedIn. I post a lot of kind of updates and information and thoughts around where HR is and where it's evolving and some of my positioning based on experience, based on education, um, and research. And so I think the best place is to start with my website. You can schedule a call with me. Um, you can put in an inquiry form, you can contact me via phone and messaging. So I think the website is the first and best starting place, along with follow me on social media. I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, I'm on LinkedIn. You heard me earlier talk about expanding. So I am on those various channels.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Nice. And if you missed that, don't worry. As always, it will be in the chat and at the end of this video so that you can always be able to get that information and get a hold of Renee. And before I let you go, if you could only give business owners one piece of advice for their success, what would that be?

SPEAKER_01 37:45

I think um that's such a powerful question. I think that first from a high-level macro level business perspective, I would say don't give up on your dream and your passion. Um, it it feels hard. It's scary in the beginning. I still get nervous to this day, but the more and more you have experience, you start to realize that um it is okay. And I have found that after 20 years of working in different industries and organizations, that my patience level has changed because organizations have changed of how they've worked with HR. And so being able to be on the outside has been very good. So I would say for business owners that are starting out, it's okay if you don't also do it full time and you do it fractionally and you still continue to grow your skill in the industry, you will find the right time to say it's time to shift. So I think that's from the high-level business perspective. I would say from an HR perspective, my tip is if you think that you don't need HR, you do. If you think that you know HR enough, you don't. And so I think that it's very important the same that you would do a checkup on your finances with a bookkeeper and a CPA. Find an HR expert to really have a seat at your table to make sure that they can safeguard you and help you take a proactive lens at making sure you still reach success. I often say we are here to support you as HR experts and consultants. We don't want to prevent you from getting to your end state goal. We are about making sure that we help you get there compliantly, safely, legally, so that all the good money that you are earning, the plug that you put in on finance, you also do that backend plug that is also missed of the people risk to ensure that you're able to enjoy every profit and every success.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

That is wonderful, wonderful advice. Thank you so much, Renee, for being with us today. Thank you for giving us all of these amazing nuggets. Um, and again, if you want to get a hold of Renee, you can find her at the HRboutique.info. Again, all of the information is below. And we will see you all next time. Have a great day.