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In my first year working retail after leaving the restaurant industry, one of my employees came to me and said he couldn’t make his shift the next day because he wasn’t feeling well. He still had two and a half more hours of his closing shift and he wasn’t due in until 11am the next day. He said he could work the rest of his closing shift, no problem. My kneejerk reaction was, WTH? Suck it up, buttercup. However, at the time, I wasn’t the manager on duty. I went to the MOD and explained the situation and my reaction. She looked at me in horror, which at first, I thought was because his request was ridiculous. She said, “No, that is not how we treat our employees. Let him know he can take tomorrow as a sick day, and I will find coverage for his shift.” I was stunned. I had always observed and been the recipient of the ‘suck it up’ mentality when calling out, regardless of the need. This was culture shock. While retail isn’t known for being a compassionate industry, I had my first glimpse of what could be accomplished through compassionate leadership. Being a compassionate leader does not mean being ‘easy’ or ‘lax’, it means being kind and understanding when members of your team are not able to perform to the standard you have set before them. Dig deep and find out HOW you can help. I learned that my employee had a health issue. Because I genuinely cared for his well-being and showed him compassion, he ended up becoming a long-term leader on the team. #compassionateleadership #leadershiplessons #leadership

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As I move on to the next chapter of my career with Pizza Hut and Yum! Brands, I want to acknowledge the deep impact that the Pizza Hut Canada team has had on me, both personally and professionally. This chapter has transformed me as a human being in a short span of 1.5 years. While I can write essays about my innumerable learnings, here are the 3 biggest lessons that I will always keep with me : 1. Leading with Heart From this diverse team and its passionate leaders, I learned what it truly means to Lead with Heart. Leading with Smart (intellect) and Courage are skills that I have honed through my entire career, but I often had my personal 'walls' up when I showed up at work. As someone who has faced difficult personal challenges at several points in their life, I hesitated to truly open up about my personal truth at the workplace - but this team broke down my walls and challenged me to connect with each and every person at the workplace, with raw and authentic vulnerability. Here I found the strength to openly share my personal stories, with all the good, bad and ugly chapters - and show up as a 'whole' human being and not just a professional colleague. I learned the art of connecting personally with people and learning their stories, and how these connections pave the way for any meaningful transformation that I want to bring about for my teams. I learned to share sorrows and not just joys, shortcomings and not just strengths - celebrating both the downs and ups of life with pride and humility. 2. The Importance of Emotional Self-Regulation To be an impactful communicator, I learned that healthy regulation of my own emotions, especially during moments of high pressure, tight deadlines, unpopular decisions and business turbulence is paramount. We look to our leaders for verbal and non-verbal cues and this can significantly impact psychological safety and trust at the workplace. Our lifelong personal experiences unconsciously influence how we react or respond to different triggers, and how we behave using certain mental templates at the workplace - especially during stressful times. Through my personal journey with therapy and unwavering openness to feedback, I am committed to building awareness of my triggers and templates, and improving my emotional self-regulation and interpersonal communication skills. 3. The Power of Entrepreneurship and Frontline teams Through this role, I met with incredible franchise partners and their frontline restaurant teams who bring our brand to life in their stores every single day. I learned how the true heart of our business beats not in our boardrooms but in our restaurants. I learned how to partner with cross-functional teams to drive our business forward, upholding true partnership and proactive engagement with our Franchise community. I am excited to continue supporting our Franchise partners and Restaurant team members as I move into my next role. Team Pizza Hut Canada - you will be missed ! 💖

It fills me with immense pride to share that I've been awarded as Manager of the Year at McDonald's Glenellen for 2023 🏆 However this award goes beyond just personal achievement. The dedication of my team, has truly been the bedrock of my achievements. Their support and tireless efforts everyday have helped me to overcome challenges and have transformed potential setbacks into stepping stones for growth. This award, therefore, is a reflection of the collective spirit and the extraordinary efforts of every single member of my store. Personally it's a shared victory, celebrating the incredible teamwork and resilience that has been created through my tenure which started in 2019. Personally the complexities of both work and academic commitments has certainly posed a substantial challenge to me. However it has been immensely beneficial for my growth on both a personal and professional level. This balancing act has not only demonstrated my ability to manage diverse commitments effectively but has also pushed me to excel in both areas. It stands as a powerful reminder of what perseverance and dedication can achieve. My time spent at McDonald's has filled me with both gratitude and happiness. This is due to my McDonalds journey offering me invaluable lessons in leadership, teamwork, and adaptability. With that though, i'd like to give a massive thank you to everyone who's been part of my incredible journey. Your encouragement, support and teamwork have been the backbone of my experience. Here's to a future brimming with more growth, learning and achievements! 🚀 #Manager #leadership #professionalgrowth #award #adaptability #gratitude #successstory #teamwork #resilience #careerdevelopment

Copied## I have a deep Respect for any Manager in the Hospitality Industry, but today, I wanted to highlight this, often under-appreciated group of leaders that dedicate their lives to serving their communities. At times, there is a stigma attached, that QSR is the bottom rung of the Hospitality Industry. This is absolutely NOT true, there are amazing, talented, QSR leaders out there from the bottom to the top. The QSR segment has amazing Founder stories that inspire, such as Dave Thomas, Carl Karcher, Glenn Bell, Col. Sanders, Ray Croc and others. The Founders of these companies, and the values and passion they had as Restauranteurs, lives on in the hearts of their employees, and their customers. 6 REASONS WHY QSR GMs ARE GREAT LEADERS: 1. MANY QSR LEADERS START IN ENTRY LEVEL POSITIONS. This includes VPs, Franchise Owners, and CEOs. They are experts in their Brands. According to Americaworkshere.org, 80% of GMs in the QSR industry started at entry level. 2. THEY ARE GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY AT A YOUNG AGE. There are 20 year old's in this industry, who started when they were 16, now running $2M businesses. They are given autonomy to make mistakes and learn from them. Powerful Leadership Lessons are experienced. 3. THEY DEVELOP PEOPLE FROM SCRATCH. QSR Leaders are expert Trainers and know how to DEVELOP PEOPLE at a fast pace. These skills are a must, otherwise they will not have ANY PERSONAL BALANCE. 4. THEY INSPIRE A "TOUGH AUDIENCE." According to Zippia, 30% of the QSR Workforce are Minors that are working their first job, but QSR GMs do an amazing job teaching them necessary life skills. 5. THEY LEARN TO EMBRACE DIVERSITY. More importantly, many minority GMs understand the example they are setting for their younger employees, PROVING that with strong desire, and willingness to learn, people of DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES make GREAT LEADERS too. This gives the young employees a more diverse outlook on life and hope for their own future. By the way, Females in the same positions out-earned Males by 101% in 2022 . 6. THEY ARE TRUE TEACHERS, WHO TEACH FOR THE RIGHT REASONS. For many people, QSR is a stepping stone toward other careers. QSR GMs are ALTRUISTIC in nature and are used to helping people learn skills and acheive goals that later get them jobs outside of the industry. They are used to giving to EVERYONE at work, and then they go home and take care of their FAMILIES. But giving, caring, and inspiring are their CORE VALUES--it's just who they are. However, they still build amazing teams and an environment, or vibe, that you can feel the moment you enter the door. So, thank you QSR GMs for everything you do in serving your communities, your people, and your customers. #qsr #servantleaders #love #people

A thought for the day.  This is Starbucks at StJamesQuarter last Saturday afternoon. It was a really busy Saturday afternoon, and the queues were big. What I found interesting though were two things – and in all well-run teams, they are ruthlessly connected. Firstly, the team were operating well. There’s 8 people behind the counter and it was clear each knew exactly what they were doing. They knew where their role stopped, and the next role began. They knew how to hand the work over and they knew the standards expected. But secondly, what the image doesn’t capture fully were the smiles from the team. They were working hard – there was sweat on more than one brow and trust me, everyone in the store was getting frustrated that ‘Christine’ and her ‘Iced Pumpkin Spice Vanilla Latte’ had not yet been connected!! But the team were enjoying it. What is really important to emphasize here isn’t that it’s fun to work in a coffee shop – it’s hard work to work in a coffee shop. What we need to all know when we see smiling team faces is that there has been work on engagement done behind the scenes. People know what to do. People have the tools to do it. People communicate well with their bosses and trust their team mates. It doesn’t just happen – there’s a lot underneath that smiling iceberg we don’t see. So well done Starbucks St James Quarter and well done to the supervisors and managers for making it a great place to work. And they will know – as those of us do who are familiar with Gallup - that those engaged faces just happen to deliver around 22% more profit than a hard working team who just aren’t enjoying being there. That’s worth a thought – on every level. #team #leadership #engagement #profit

What if restaurant managers don’t want to be in the office? I have often said, we don’t want our managers in the office. We are a hospitality organization, let’s get on the floor and get into the mix with our team and guests. It’s been easy to see managers on laptops at a table, or in the office doing paperwork, and question whether they share the value of really being engaged on the front line. The further I have gotten from the front line myself, the easier it has become to think this. But what if our managers want to be on the front line? What if they love engaging guests and that’s what made them want to become one of our leaders in the first place? After all, that is what we saw in them when we invited them into the role. What if our leaders are under-engaged with service because we have asked them to do too many things that are not service? I think the biggest opportunity we have to elevate service is to confront this question / issue. Alternative views welcome, please share.

I picked up an order at Chipotle Mexican Grill yesterday. On the way out, I saw a flyer from the hiring team. It boldly advertised a structured 3-year career growth plan that would culminate in $100,000 total compensation. I was so taken aback that I: 1️⃣ Stopped to review the rest of the flyer, and 2️⃣ Remembered I'd just paid $25 for two burritos. As it turns out, this isn't necessarily news. In fact, with cursory research, I found a CNN article from more than three years ago. I'll link it in the Comments. I confess to having a Cynical Streak roughly as wide as whatever the hell a Country Mile is, but this stood out to me. Generally speaking, the assumption is that $100K comp is given to store managers and is likely to include bonuses awarded based on location performance and customer satisfaction statistics. It's also true that $100K had more heft to it even in 2021 than in 2024. But as much as I have had disdain for the business ethics practices of Chipotle in the past, this strikes me as revelatory. How many workers would love to have a structured three-year career growth plan in *any* industry? Do YOU have a structured three-year career growth plan?