March 18, 2024 • 21 mins
Send me a Text Message. I'd love to hear from you.
Are you a restaurant leader who loves to geek out on self awareness assessments?
If so, stick around as I offer a leadership development resource that focuses on your strengths, rather than your weaknesses.
Today, I am going to:
- highlight the book Strenghtsfinder
- share 5 of the 34 strengths outlined in the book
- give you tips on how you can implement this tool into your restaurant to develop your entire team.
Embark on a transformative journey with me as I unveil the potent impact of the StrengthsFinder tool on the world of restaurant leadership.
Imagine a workplace where each person's unique abilities are not just acknowledged, but actively celebrated - that's the vision I shares in this heartfelt narrative, drawing from my own experiences of self-discovery and team management.
My top strengths - harmony, achiever, responsibility, deliberative, and consistency - are the lighthouse guiding my approach, influencing everything from daily operations to personal ambitions, evidenced by my dedicated annual retreat for reflection.
My enthusiasm is palpable as I recount a pivotal moment: a book that shifted my perspective on potential, both within my team and herself, sparking plans to foster a strengths-focused environment despite initial skepticism from higher-ups.
I reflect on past chances slipped by and looks to a future where strengths assessment is a keystone in the restaurant industry, enhancing support and amplifying individual performance.
Join me to gain insights into a leadership style that's reshaping the restaurant scene, one strength at a time.
Additional Resources:
StrengthsFinder
https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/254033/strengthsfinder.aspx
35 Restaurant Podcasts You Don't Want to Miss | On the Line | Toast POS
https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/restaurant-podcasts
P.S. Ready to take your restaurant to the next level? Here are 3 ways I can support you:
- One-on-One Coaching - Work directly with me to tackle your biggest leadership challenges and scale your operations with confidence. Learn more at christinmarvin.com
- Multi-Unit Mastery Book - Get the complete Independent Restaurant Framework that's helped countless owners build thriving multi-location brands. Grab your copy at https://www.IRFbook.com
- Group Coaching & Leadership Workshops - Join other passionate restaurant leaders in transformative group sessions designed to elevate your entire team. Details at christinmarvin.com
Podcast Production: https://www.lconnorvoice.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christin Marvin (00:08):
Are you a restaurant leader who loves to
geek out on self-awarenessassessments, like I do?
If so, stick around, as I offera leadership development
resource today that focuses ondeveloping your strengths rather
than identifying yourweaknesses.
Today, I'm going to highlightthe book Strengths Finder.
Five of the 34 strengthsoutlined in the book and give
(00:31):
you specific tips on how you canimplement this tool into your
restaurant, not only to developyour management team, but to
develop your entire team.
Welcome to the No Hesitationspodcast, the show where
restaurant leaders learn tools,tactics and habits from the
world's greatest operators.
I am your host, Christin Marvin, with Solutions by Christin.
(00:54):
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
now partner with restaurantleaders to help them overcome
burnout, increase retention,reignite their passion and drive
successful businesses.
I also work directly withrestaurant leaders through
one-on-one coaching and groupworkshops to help them identify
their blind spots, build theirconfidence and overcome
(01:17):
challenges in their business.
If you're curious aboutlearning more, visit my website
at ChristinMarvin.
com.
/ Contact to book a 15-minutegoal planning session.
This podcast is sponsored byScheduleFly.
Schedulefly provides a simple,web-based and app-based
restaurant employee schedulingsoftware backed by legendary
(01:38):
customer service.
If you are using pen paper,excel or fancy scheduling
software with tons of bells andwhistles that you don't use.
Schedulefly is perfect for yourbusiness.
When I was a regional managerhandling seven locations,
schedulefly was our go-to forscheduling.
It's hands down the easiestplatform that I've ever worked
(01:59):
with, and their employeescheduling tool is awesome for
shooting out mass messages aboutcrucial restaurant updates.
Visit ScheduleFlycom andmention the no Hesitations
podcast to learn more and get10% off.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
(02:19):
Before we jump into today'sepisode, I have some really
exciting news that I want toshare with you guys.
Today I was lucky enough to befeatured in an article that came
out on LinkedIn from Toast, thePOS company, about the 35
restaurant podcast that youdon't want to miss.
I was super excited thismorning to wake up see that
(02:41):
there were some notificationshappening on LinkedIn.
I clicked on the article and Ithought, oh my gosh, is there a
chance in hell that I could beincluded in this list?
And I scrolled, and I scrolledand I scrolled and I found my
names.
Anyway, I am incredibly honored.
I am very thankful to Toast forpublishing this article and,
(03:02):
man, am I in some really greatcompany?
If you want to check out thatarticle, let me know.
If you want to send me a DM onat Christin-Marvin at, I would
be more than happy to send itover to you through LinkedIn, or
I can text it or email it toyou, whatever you want.
I am very, very excited today toshare with you a resource that
I learned about really reallyearly on in my career when I was
(03:26):
thinking back to my early daysin restaurant management.
Again, a lot of the stuff iscoming up for me right now as
I'm writing my book.
I was thinking about how hungryfor growth and development I
was early on in my career and Iloved getting my hands on any
new resource right.
Danny Meyer, setting the tableStrength finders is a resource
(03:47):
that I'm going to talk abouttoday.
The book Emotional Intelligenceanything that I could really
sink my teeth into and getting amoment of insight from, or just
have a moment of self-awareness, was really, really helpful for
me.
I loved being more self-awareabout what I was doing and how I
was showing up.
I loved challenging the waythat I thought about my own
(04:08):
leadership and I loved being alittle bit more thoughtful about
the decisions that I madearound running a restaurant and
how I managed a team.
I, like I said, recently, whenI was going through my book
chapters and thinking aboutresources that stuck out to me,
strength Finders came up and Iwent and dug it out of my
(04:30):
bookshelf and opened it back upand saw all the notes that I had
taken when I first discoveredthis book, the.
It's kind of funny, actually,how I came upon this.
I was at the time interviewingwith a new restaurant group and
I remember sitting with theowner and I never heard of the
(04:50):
book Strength Finders before andhe had mentioned it to me and
said that this was somethingthat they had used in their
company to develop their leaders.
I was immediately excited by theopportunity and it was perfect
timing because Tyler and I weregetting ready to head out for
our annual Mexico vacation andevery year I would take a new
book to read because my mindwould slow down enough to be
(05:12):
able to read an entire book.
And on this trip every year Iwould set personal goals for
myself.
So I'd bring a notebook, Iwould set some personal goals
and professional goals.
I'd usually bring a book that Iwanted to read.
I'd bring a women's healthmagazine to focus on some
personal health things, and thenI'd usually also bring like a
(05:33):
stupid trashy magazine around,pulp culture or something just
to kind of like have somethingfun to flip through.
So, anyway, this was a reallycrucial time for me to make an
investment in myself, and whenthe owner of the company that I
was interviewing with told meabout this book, I immediately
ran to Barnes and Noble.
I know I'm dating myself, but Iimmediately ran to Barnes and
(05:53):
Noble and spent the $25 toinvest in the book.
So when I opened it up, I wasreally delighted to find that
there were a list of 34strengths in the book and that
there was an assessment on thevery last page of the book that
would give me my top fivestrengths, in addition to a
comprehensive plan, action planbased on the results that I had.
(06:16):
What I discovered in takingthis assessment that were that
my top five strengths wereharmony, achiever,
responsibility, deliberative andconsistency.
I'm going to take you througheach of these just a little bit
so you can see how I kind ofthought about them and the role
that they played in myleadership, and then, if any of
you have similar strengths as tomine, you can see how they show
(06:39):
up.
My number one strength washarmony, which was really, I
think surprising to me.
They say that over time, if youtake the assessment again, that
your strengths would change.
So I'm very curious to know now, if I went in and took the
assessment, if these wouldchange at all.
But harmony, really, thisstrength really taught me and
(07:00):
helped me understand that Idon't like conflict, I avoid it,
but I also really care aboutthe harmony that the people have
around me.
The thing that showed up for mein the leadership world was
mostly around wantingeverybody's voices to be heard.
So oftentimes I think about opsmeetings that I would have
(07:25):
where each week where we'd sitaround six or eight of us in the
management team.
If there was one person thatwas really owning the entire
conversation, or there were twopeople that really had opposing
opinions, I would really do thebest that I could to try to
bring in other voices into thatmeeting so that everybody really
felt like they had anopportunity to speak up and
(07:48):
could be heard and that theiropinions and voices mattered.
If there was conflict happening, I would try to really resolve
that as quickly as I could.
I really wanted to strive tofind common ground within the
teams.
That I did.
I also loved bringing peoplewith diverse backgrounds
(08:11):
together so that they could alllive in harmony and learn from
each other.
My second strength was Achiever,which this one, for me, I was
just over the moon about.
This really gave me a hugemoment of insight and aha moment
, helping me understand why Ilove to make lists, why I get a
dopamine rush every time I crosssomething off my list.
(08:33):
It helped me understand that Iconstantly seek validation and
acceptance from myself andothers by accomplishing tasks
every single day.
The joy of making lists for mehappened not just at work, but
even on my days off.
Not necessarily that I waswriting things down, but there
was always constantly a tally inmy head on days of I've got to
(08:55):
do laundry, I've got to gogrocery shopping, I want to work
out, I need to walk the dogs,whatever it is, but again,
crossing those things off.
My list really validated that Iwas doing something productive
and really helped me.
This strength really helped meunderstand my ambition and my
drive.
The next strength for me wasresponsibility.
(09:17):
This one really came as nosurprise.
I was an only child withdivorced parents.
My parents divorced at 18.
I spent a lot of time on my own.
I started staying home fromschool when I was 10.
I'm an introverted kid, but mymom taught me how to balance the
checkbook when I was 10 yearsold.
(09:38):
She really helped me understandhow money was flowing in and
out of the household and whatmoney we could spend on
groceries, what money we couldspend on going out to eat
whenever we did that.
I think that that and thenobviously I was helping with
house chores and things likethat too but it really taught me
the value of hard work.
(09:59):
That's a lot of the reason whyI started working at 15 and got
my first job in the restaurantbusiness and have had an
incredible work ethic since then.
But I think that reallyexposure to understanding the
big picture of what life andbeing an adult was all about was
really pressed upon me at avery young age.
It really propelled me to take100% ownership over any task
(10:22):
before me.
I'm very much like that in work.
I love to ensure that a task iscompleted to the best of my
ability and in a very timelymanner, because otherwise it
stresses me out.
If I've got something lingeringon the to-do list for too long,
it just gets really, reallyuncomfortable for me.
So again, achiever plays intothis a little bit because I like
(10:43):
to complete the task, move onto the next one, but I will say
that this one for me, theresponsibility piece does bump
up against people that maybedon't have the strength, because
I really have a zero tolerancefor people that make excuses.
I love working with otherpeople that also have the
strength of responsibility.
The next strength isdeliberative.
(11:05):
This one really spoke to mebecause it made a lot of sense
as to why I am the way that I amand the way that I show up.
So I've always been a reallyguarded person, a very private
person.
I try to keep the peace a lot,I think, at home, and hide a lot
of emotions, because I grew upin an emotional household where
(11:26):
there was just a lot of angerand I tried to be positive and
kind of keep the peace, and so Ithink me being an introvert.
I know that I'm reallythoughtful and intentional
around everything that I do, andthis really has translated to
my work.
Because I'm a planner, I reallylike to manage risks in case
(11:48):
something goes wrong.
I'm always the one that wouldsit in ops meetings and I know I
drove people crazy, but wewould start talking about new
initiatives that were gonna bepresented and my first questions
were thought was always likehow is this gonna work?
And I know that that drovepeople nuts, because I was in
operations and sometimes it wasup to me to figure out how to
implement those new systems andhow to make them work.
(12:13):
Hello to all of you amazingleaders in the restaurant world.
Before we dive back intotoday's episode, I wanna take a
moment and let you know aboutone of the incredible ways that
you can further your team'sleadership development.
If you've been listening to theshow, you've already
experienced the passion I havefor enhancing leadership skills.
Did you know that I also offerexclusive leadership workshops
(12:37):
tailored for restaurantmanagement teams?
These sessions focus onstrengthening leadership
abilities, fostering effectivecommunication, crafting a unique
leadership style and developingrobust business strategies and
visions for the future.
If you or anyone you know inthe restaurant industry is
looking to treat their team to acustomized multi-day leadership
(13:01):
training that will improveevery aspect of their business,
please reach out to me atKristenLMarvin at gmailcom.
Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
The final strength for me wasconsistency, and I take a lot of
(13:21):
pride in this, and I'm reallyseeing this strength show up for
me now in my business and I'mjust so proud of it because it
helps me show up every singleday and it helps me be
consistent with the systems thatI've created.
It helps me produce content, ithelps me deliver value, it
helps me keep my business afloatand running the way that I
(13:45):
wanted to, which is something I,again, I'm really, really proud
of.
So it's interesting because thebook talked about consistency
more in terms of how you treatpeople, that you really believe
that everyone deserves to betreated fairly and consistently.
I think a little bit more aboutthis in terms of the systems
(14:06):
that I've created.
I love creating systems and Ithink I do that for myself and
always have for business,because I believe that people
should be held accountable andhave very clear, consistent
expectations set for them.
It just makes the job easier,and I believe that creating
systems in restaurantsspecifically helps minimize
(14:27):
questions, helps minimize stressand anxiety and frustration,
which helps the team work better, more seamlessly together,
which in turn, gives the team anopportunity to spend more time
connecting with each other andconnecting with the guests,
which is what it's all about,right?
So I would say that once I readthis book on the beach, I was
(14:47):
immediately energized and I feltreally proud of just again
knowing who I was and knowingsome of the things that I was
really really good at.
And I just had this reallyawesome moment of clarity.
And I remember running back tothe company the Kirk company
that I was working with, and Iwas just so excited.
I'm the type of person if Idiscover something I wanna tell
(15:07):
everybody about it, like I'm theone that invented it.
So I ran back to Denver.
I went back to the restaurantgroup that I was working for,
told the owners oh my gosh, Ifound this great book.
We should buy copies for allthe managers and they should all
take this assessment and weshould start focusing on
people's strengths.
And it's gonna be awesome,right, like I'm excited about it
now, even thinking about it.
And the response that I gotfrom the ownership team, or from
(15:32):
one of the owners in particular, was you're reading a fucking
self-help book.
And in that moment I wish Iwould have seen the look on my
face, because all thatexcitement and energy just
completely drained out of me andshifted.
And in that moment for me, inthe back of my mind, I was
(15:53):
saying to myself Kristen, thisis exactly why you're looking
for another job.
This is validation that you'renot in the environment that you
want to be, you're not workingwith people that have similar
mindsets with you and that arealigned on the goals that you're
aligned on.
So it in that was a greatopportunity, a great gift that
came out of that conversation.
But I laugh every time I thinkabout that because it's just,
(16:17):
it's just really short-sighted,right, anyway?
So when I left the kind, Iended up taking the job right
with the new restaurant companyand again they you know, they
had given each manager a copy ofthis book and asked them to
take the assessment and then weput everybody's strengths into
an excel sheet and unfortunatelywe didn't do much with it.
(16:40):
After that point I wish wewould have and and I think in
hindsight you know what, what Iwould have done with that
information was really gonethrough and sat with each
manager and reviewed each oftheir five strengths and
incorporated that thoseconversations about their
strengths into each of theirone-on-ones.
You know, the cool thing aboutthis book is that, in addition
(17:03):
to giving you the strengths andthen a comprehensive plan,
action plan on how you candevelop them, they give you
little moments of insight aroundhow this strength shows up in
your leadership, what it soundslike when you're talking to
other people.
It gives you ideas for action.
So, for example, thehyperachiever excuse me, the
(17:25):
achiever strength.
For me, one of the action itemswas select jobs that allow you
to have the leeway to work ashard as you want and which you
are encouraged to measure yourown productivity.
I've really thrived in thelocal restaurant scene right,
because sometimes there aren't alot of systems set up and you
have to set up your own systemsto manage your own productivity.
(17:45):
It says also that this willhelp you feel challenged and
alive in these environments,which is huge.
In addition to the ideas foraction, it also tells you how
you can work with others whohave the achiever right.
So another example here is toestablish a relationship with a
(18:06):
person who has the achieverstrength by working alongside
them.
Working hard together is oftena bonding experience for the two
of you, and people that havethe achiever strength can be
annoyed by slackers, which Idefinitely would say that to me.
It's interesting because I didgive this assessment to the
managers that I had working withme, which are some of my close
(18:28):
friends, and I wrote their namesdown in the book and one of my
good friends has the achieverstrength.
So I think about how ourrelationship had developed and
crossed the multiple conceptsthat we worked with and it
really did develop and workingside by side with each other.
So that was a pretty cooltakeaway.
So, again, I wish I would haveincluded these more in
(18:49):
one-on-ones.
I think what I would have donewith that to take it one step
further was once the managersreally started to dive in and
develop each of their strengthsand leaned into them and really
led with confidence around thesestrengths, I would have taken
the strength finders assessmentto the next level and given it
to our entire team.
I would have bought a book foreverybody, had them take the
(19:12):
assessment and then I would haveprobably selected four or five
employees for each manager toown and then do the same thing,
have some one-on-ones workthrough each of their strengths
and start to start teaching themanagers how to develop people.
You know, I can only imaginewhat our restaurant would have
(19:32):
looked like had we focused on,you know, supporting each other,
building each other up,identifying strengths, calling
them out, celebrating those,rather than focusing on our
weaknesses or cutting each otherdown or, more often,
recognizing moments where weneeded to impact change or or
(19:54):
solve other problems.
So I really hope that this is.
If you've heard of this resource, I would highly recommend that
you go back and just revisit it.
It's definitely a feel goodbook.
It feels great again to reallyhave this self discovery around
what you're really good at andwhy you are the way that you are
(20:15):
and what makes you tick.
And again, there's there'salways an opportunity for us to
get better and to grow right andalso to look at the people that
we're currently work with andhelp understand what makes them
tick and and how we can helpsupport them and lift them up.
And if you haven't heard of thisbook, I highly recommend you go
(20:36):
pick it up at Strengthfindersby Tom Rath.
The website is awesome.
There are there are a lot ofadditional resources and tools
that this can provide you, sothere's a ton that you can do
with this.
You can be certified in this asa coach.
There are there's just a lotthat you can do with this in
your career.
So I hope that you have foundthis valuable today.
(20:57):
I really appreciate your timeand again, thank you so much for
listening and be sure to sharethis podcast with any leaders
that you know in the restaurantindustry, and be sure to check
out my step-by-step guide on howto retain your employees at my
website at ChristinMarvin.
com.
Thanks everybody, we'll talk toyou next week.
Are you a restaurant leader who loves to
geek out on self-awarenessassessments, like I do?
If so, stick around, as I offera leadership development
resource today that focuses ondeveloping your strengths rather
than identifying yourweaknesses.
Today, I'm going to highlightthe book Strengths Finder.
Five of the 34 strengthsoutlined in the book and give
(00:31):
you specific tips on how you canimplement this tool into your
restaurant, not only to developyour management team, but to
develop your entire team.
Welcome to the No Hesitationspodcast, the show where
restaurant leaders learn tools,tactics and habits from the
world's greatest operators.
I am your host, Christin Marvin, with Solutions by Christin.
(00:54):
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
now partner with restaurantleaders to help them overcome
burnout, increase retention,reignite their passion and drive
successful businesses.
I also work directly withrestaurant leaders through
one-on-one coaching and groupworkshops to help them identify
their blind spots, build theirconfidence and overcome
(01:17):
challenges in their business.
If you're curious aboutlearning more, visit my website
at ChristinMarvin.
com.
/ Contact to book a 15-minutegoal planning session.
This podcast is sponsored byScheduleFly.
Schedulefly provides a simple,web-based and app-based
restaurant employee schedulingsoftware backed by legendary
(01:38):
customer service.
If you are using pen paper,excel or fancy scheduling
software with tons of bells andwhistles that you don't use.
Schedulefly is perfect for yourbusiness.
When I was a regional managerhandling seven locations,
schedulefly was our go-to forscheduling.
It's hands down the easiestplatform that I've ever worked
(01:59):
with, and their employeescheduling tool is awesome for
shooting out mass messages aboutcrucial restaurant updates.
Visit ScheduleFlycom andmention the no Hesitations
podcast to learn more and get10% off.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
(02:19):
Before we jump into today'sepisode, I have some really
exciting news that I want toshare with you guys.
Today I was lucky enough to befeatured in an article that came
out on LinkedIn from Toast, thePOS company, about the 35
restaurant podcast that youdon't want to miss.
I was super excited thismorning to wake up see that
(02:41):
there were some notificationshappening on LinkedIn.
I clicked on the article and Ithought, oh my gosh, is there a
chance in hell that I could beincluded in this list?
And I scrolled, and I scrolledand I scrolled and I found my
names.
Anyway, I am incredibly honored.
I am very thankful to Toast forpublishing this article and,
(03:02):
man, am I in some really greatcompany?
If you want to check out thatarticle, let me know.
If you want to send me a DM onat Christin-Marvin at, I would
be more than happy to send itover to you through LinkedIn, or
I can text it or email it toyou, whatever you want.
I am very, very excited today toshare with you a resource that
I learned about really reallyearly on in my career when I was
(03:26):
thinking back to my early daysin restaurant management.
Again, a lot of the stuff iscoming up for me right now as
I'm writing my book.
I was thinking about how hungryfor growth and development I
was early on in my career and Iloved getting my hands on any
new resource right.
Danny Meyer, setting the tableStrength finders is a resource
(03:47):
that I'm going to talk abouttoday.
The book Emotional Intelligenceanything that I could really
sink my teeth into and getting amoment of insight from, or just
have a moment of self-awareness, was really, really helpful for
me.
I loved being more self-awareabout what I was doing and how I
was showing up.
I loved challenging the waythat I thought about my own
(04:08):
leadership and I loved being alittle bit more thoughtful about
the decisions that I madearound running a restaurant and
how I managed a team.
I, like I said, recently, whenI was going through my book
chapters and thinking aboutresources that stuck out to me,
strength Finders came up and Iwent and dug it out of my
(04:30):
bookshelf and opened it back upand saw all the notes that I had
taken when I first discoveredthis book, the.
It's kind of funny, actually,how I came upon this.
I was at the time interviewingwith a new restaurant group and
I remember sitting with theowner and I never heard of the
(04:50):
book Strength Finders before andhe had mentioned it to me and
said that this was somethingthat they had used in their
company to develop their leaders.
I was immediately excited by theopportunity and it was perfect
timing because Tyler and I weregetting ready to head out for
our annual Mexico vacation andevery year I would take a new
book to read because my mindwould slow down enough to be
(05:12):
able to read an entire book.
And on this trip every year Iwould set personal goals for
myself.
So I'd bring a notebook, Iwould set some personal goals
and professional goals.
I'd usually bring a book that Iwanted to read.
I'd bring a women's healthmagazine to focus on some
personal health things, and thenI'd usually also bring like a
(05:33):
stupid trashy magazine around,pulp culture or something just
to kind of like have somethingfun to flip through.
So, anyway, this was a reallycrucial time for me to make an
investment in myself, and whenthe owner of the company that I
was interviewing with told meabout this book, I immediately
ran to Barnes and Noble.
I know I'm dating myself, but Iimmediately ran to Barnes and
(05:53):
Noble and spent the $25 toinvest in the book.
So when I opened it up, I wasreally delighted to find that
there were a list of 34strengths in the book and that
there was an assessment on thevery last page of the book that
would give me my top fivestrengths, in addition to a
comprehensive plan, action planbased on the results that I had.
(06:16):
What I discovered in takingthis assessment that were that
my top five strengths wereharmony, achiever,
responsibility, deliberative andconsistency.
I'm going to take you througheach of these just a little bit
so you can see how I kind ofthought about them and the role
that they played in myleadership, and then, if any of
you have similar strengths as tomine, you can see how they show
(06:39):
up.
My number one strength washarmony, which was really, I
think surprising to me.
They say that over time, if youtake the assessment again, that
your strengths would change.
So I'm very curious to know now, if I went in and took the
assessment, if these wouldchange at all.
But harmony, really, thisstrength really taught me and
(07:00):
helped me understand that Idon't like conflict, I avoid it,
but I also really care aboutthe harmony that the people have
around me.
The thing that showed up for mein the leadership world was
mostly around wantingeverybody's voices to be heard.
So oftentimes I think about opsmeetings that I would have
(07:25):
where each week where we'd sitaround six or eight of us in the
management team.
If there was one person thatwas really owning the entire
conversation, or there were twopeople that really had opposing
opinions, I would really do thebest that I could to try to
bring in other voices into thatmeeting so that everybody really
felt like they had anopportunity to speak up and
(07:48):
could be heard and that theiropinions and voices mattered.
If there was conflict happening, I would try to really resolve
that as quickly as I could.
I really wanted to strive tofind common ground within the
teams.
That I did.
I also loved bringing peoplewith diverse backgrounds
(08:11):
together so that they could alllive in harmony and learn from
each other.
My second strength was Achiever,which this one, for me, I was
just over the moon about.
This really gave me a hugemoment of insight and aha moment
, helping me understand why Ilove to make lists, why I get a
dopamine rush every time I crosssomething off my list.
(08:33):
It helped me understand that Iconstantly seek validation and
acceptance from myself andothers by accomplishing tasks
every single day.
The joy of making lists for mehappened not just at work, but
even on my days off.
Not necessarily that I waswriting things down, but there
was always constantly a tally inmy head on days of I've got to
(08:55):
do laundry, I've got to gogrocery shopping, I want to work
out, I need to walk the dogs,whatever it is, but again,
crossing those things off.
My list really validated that Iwas doing something productive
and really helped me.
This strength really helped meunderstand my ambition and my
drive.
The next strength for me wasresponsibility.
(09:17):
This one really came as nosurprise.
I was an only child withdivorced parents.
My parents divorced at 18.
I spent a lot of time on my own.
I started staying home fromschool when I was 10.
I'm an introverted kid, but mymom taught me how to balance the
checkbook when I was 10 yearsold.
(09:38):
She really helped me understandhow money was flowing in and
out of the household and whatmoney we could spend on
groceries, what money we couldspend on going out to eat
whenever we did that.
I think that that and thenobviously I was helping with
house chores and things likethat too but it really taught me
the value of hard work.
(09:59):
That's a lot of the reason whyI started working at 15 and got
my first job in the restaurantbusiness and have had an
incredible work ethic since then.
But I think that reallyexposure to understanding the
big picture of what life andbeing an adult was all about was
really pressed upon me at avery young age.
It really propelled me to take100% ownership over any task
(10:22):
before me.
I'm very much like that in work.
I love to ensure that a task iscompleted to the best of my
ability and in a very timelymanner, because otherwise it
stresses me out.
If I've got something lingeringon the to-do list for too long,
it just gets really, reallyuncomfortable for me.
So again, achiever plays intothis a little bit because I like
(10:43):
to complete the task, move onto the next one, but I will say
that this one for me, theresponsibility piece does bump
up against people that maybedon't have the strength, because
I really have a zero tolerancefor people that make excuses.
I love working with otherpeople that also have the
strength of responsibility.
The next strength isdeliberative.
(11:05):
This one really spoke to mebecause it made a lot of sense
as to why I am the way that I amand the way that I show up.
So I've always been a reallyguarded person, a very private
person.
I try to keep the peace a lot,I think, at home, and hide a lot
of emotions, because I grew upin an emotional household where
(11:26):
there was just a lot of angerand I tried to be positive and
kind of keep the peace, and so Ithink me being an introvert.
I know that I'm reallythoughtful and intentional
around everything that I do, andthis really has translated to
my work.
Because I'm a planner, I reallylike to manage risks in case
(11:48):
something goes wrong.
I'm always the one that wouldsit in ops meetings and I know I
drove people crazy, but wewould start talking about new
initiatives that were gonna bepresented and my first questions
were thought was always likehow is this gonna work?
And I know that that drovepeople nuts, because I was in
operations and sometimes it wasup to me to figure out how to
implement those new systems andhow to make them work.
(12:13):
Hello to all of you amazingleaders in the restaurant world.
Before we dive back intotoday's episode, I wanna take a
moment and let you know aboutone of the incredible ways that
you can further your team'sleadership development.
If you've been listening to theshow, you've already
experienced the passion I havefor enhancing leadership skills.
Did you know that I also offerexclusive leadership workshops
(12:37):
tailored for restaurantmanagement teams?
These sessions focus onstrengthening leadership
abilities, fostering effectivecommunication, crafting a unique
leadership style and developingrobust business strategies and
visions for the future.
If you or anyone you know inthe restaurant industry is
looking to treat their team to acustomized multi-day leadership
(13:01):
training that will improveevery aspect of their business,
please reach out to me atKristenLMarvin at gmailcom.
Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
The final strength for me wasconsistency, and I take a lot of
(13:21):
pride in this, and I'm reallyseeing this strength show up for
me now in my business and I'mjust so proud of it because it
helps me show up every singleday and it helps me be
consistent with the systems thatI've created.
It helps me produce content, ithelps me deliver value, it
helps me keep my business afloatand running the way that I
(13:45):
wanted to, which is something I,again, I'm really, really proud
of.
So it's interesting because thebook talked about consistency
more in terms of how you treatpeople, that you really believe
that everyone deserves to betreated fairly and consistently.
I think a little bit more aboutthis in terms of the systems
(14:06):
that I've created.
I love creating systems and Ithink I do that for myself and
always have for business,because I believe that people
should be held accountable andhave very clear, consistent
expectations set for them.
It just makes the job easier,and I believe that creating
systems in restaurantsspecifically helps minimize
(14:27):
questions, helps minimize stressand anxiety and frustration,
which helps the team work better, more seamlessly together,
which in turn, gives the team anopportunity to spend more time
connecting with each other andconnecting with the guests,
which is what it's all about,right?
So I would say that once I readthis book on the beach, I was
(14:47):
immediately energized and I feltreally proud of just again
knowing who I was and knowingsome of the things that I was
really really good at.
And I just had this reallyawesome moment of clarity.
And I remember running back tothe company the Kirk company
that I was working with, and Iwas just so excited.
I'm the type of person if Idiscover something I wanna tell
(15:07):
everybody about it, like I'm theone that invented it.
So I ran back to Denver.
I went back to the restaurantgroup that I was working for,
told the owners oh my gosh, Ifound this great book.
We should buy copies for allthe managers and they should all
take this assessment and weshould start focusing on
people's strengths.
And it's gonna be awesome,right, like I'm excited about it
now, even thinking about it.
And the response that I gotfrom the ownership team, or from
(15:32):
one of the owners in particular, was you're reading a fucking
self-help book.
And in that moment I wish Iwould have seen the look on my
face, because all thatexcitement and energy just
completely drained out of me andshifted.
And in that moment for me, inthe back of my mind, I was
(15:53):
saying to myself Kristen, thisis exactly why you're looking
for another job.
This is validation that you'renot in the environment that you
want to be, you're not workingwith people that have similar
mindsets with you and that arealigned on the goals that you're
aligned on.
So it in that was a greatopportunity, a great gift that
came out of that conversation.
But I laugh every time I thinkabout that because it's just,
(16:17):
it's just really short-sighted,right, anyway?
So when I left the kind, Iended up taking the job right
with the new restaurant companyand again they you know, they
had given each manager a copy ofthis book and asked them to
take the assessment and then weput everybody's strengths into
an excel sheet and unfortunatelywe didn't do much with it.
(16:40):
After that point I wish wewould have and and I think in
hindsight you know what, what Iwould have done with that
information was really gonethrough and sat with each
manager and reviewed each oftheir five strengths and
incorporated that thoseconversations about their
strengths into each of theirone-on-ones.
You know, the cool thing aboutthis book is that, in addition
(17:03):
to giving you the strengths andthen a comprehensive plan,
action plan on how you candevelop them, they give you
little moments of insight aroundhow this strength shows up in
your leadership, what it soundslike when you're talking to
other people.
It gives you ideas for action.
So, for example, thehyperachiever excuse me, the
(17:25):
achiever strength.
For me, one of the action itemswas select jobs that allow you
to have the leeway to work ashard as you want and which you
are encouraged to measure yourown productivity.
I've really thrived in thelocal restaurant scene right,
because sometimes there aren't alot of systems set up and you
have to set up your own systemsto manage your own productivity.
(17:45):
It says also that this willhelp you feel challenged and
alive in these environments,which is huge.
In addition to the ideas foraction, it also tells you how
you can work with others whohave the achiever right.
So another example here is toestablish a relationship with a
(18:06):
person who has the achieverstrength by working alongside
them.
Working hard together is oftena bonding experience for the two
of you, and people that havethe achiever strength can be
annoyed by slackers, which Idefinitely would say that to me.
It's interesting because I didgive this assessment to the
managers that I had working withme, which are some of my close
(18:28):
friends, and I wrote their namesdown in the book and one of my
good friends has the achieverstrength.
So I think about how ourrelationship had developed and
crossed the multiple conceptsthat we worked with and it
really did develop and workingside by side with each other.
So that was a pretty cooltakeaway.
So, again, I wish I would haveincluded these more in
(18:49):
one-on-ones.
I think what I would have donewith that to take it one step
further was once the managersreally started to dive in and
develop each of their strengthsand leaned into them and really
led with confidence around thesestrengths, I would have taken
the strength finders assessmentto the next level and given it
to our entire team.
I would have bought a book foreverybody, had them take the
(19:12):
assessment and then I would haveprobably selected four or five
employees for each manager toown and then do the same thing,
have some one-on-ones workthrough each of their strengths
and start to start teaching themanagers how to develop people.
You know, I can only imaginewhat our restaurant would have
(19:32):
looked like had we focused on,you know, supporting each other,
building each other up,identifying strengths, calling
them out, celebrating those,rather than focusing on our
weaknesses or cutting each otherdown or, more often,
recognizing moments where weneeded to impact change or or
(19:54):
solve other problems.
So I really hope that this is.
If you've heard of this resource, I would highly recommend that
you go back and just revisit it.
It's definitely a feel goodbook.
It feels great again to reallyhave this self discovery around
what you're really good at andwhy you are the way that you are
(20:15):
and what makes you tick.
And again, there's there'salways an opportunity for us to
get better and to grow right andalso to look at the people that
we're currently work with andhelp understand what makes them
tick and and how we can helpsupport them and lift them up.
And if you haven't heard of thisbook, I highly recommend you go
(20:36):
pick it up at Strengthfindersby Tom Rath.
The website is awesome.
There are there are a lot ofadditional resources and tools
that this can provide you, sothere's a ton that you can do
with this.
You can be certified in this asa coach.
There are there's just a lotthat you can do with this in
your career.
So I hope that you have foundthis valuable today.
(20:57):
I really appreciate your timeand again, thank you so much for
listening and be sure to sharethis podcast with any leaders
that you know in the restaurantindustry, and be sure to check
out my step-by-step guide on howto retain your employees at my
website at ChristinMarvin.
com.
Thanks everybody, we'll talk toyou next week.
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