Nobody teaches you how to go from GM to Regional
Nobody teaches you how to go from GM to Regional.
They just hand you the keys and say "good luck."
That was me. I knew operations inside and out. I could run a restaurant with my eyes closed. But suddenly I had multiple buildings, multiple GMs, and no playbook for how to lead at that level.
I spent my first few months doing it wrong.
I'd show up to a location and jump on the line or on the floor. I'd fix the problem myself instead of coaching the manager to fix it. I'd leave feeling productive — but nothing actually changed.
The buildings weren't getting better. The managers weren't growing. And I was exhausted.
If you're stepping into a multi-unit role and feeling like you're making it up as you go, book a free coaching session with me here.
And my one-on-ones? They were a mess.
I had company agenda items I needed to cover. But my GMs had real issues they needed to talk through. I didn't know how to balance both. So I'd either steamroll them with my checklist or let the conversation go off the rails with no structure.
Neither approach worked.
When I steamrolled, my managers felt unheard. When I let it go off the rails, nothing got accomplished. I walked away from those meetings feeling like I was failing at the one thing that was supposed to make me effective — developing my people.
It took time to figure out what actually mattered at the regional level:
Where to spend my energy during visits. Hint: not on the line. When I jumped in to fix things, I was sending the message that I didn't trust my GM to handle it. And I was robbing them of the opportunity to solve problems themselves.
How to coach instead of do. This was the hardest shift. My instinct was to fix. But my job had changed. Now my job was to develop the people who fix.
How to structure one-on-ones. I learned to split the time — part for company priorities, part for what's on their mind. Both matter. Neither should dominate.
How to develop leaders instead of managing buildings. The buildings don't get better unless the leaders get better. That's the whole job.
No one taught me this. I had to learn it the hard way — through trial and error, through frustrated GMs, through visits that didn't move the needle.
But here's what I know now: the transition from GM to Regional is one of the hardest jumps in our industry. You go from being the expert in the building to being the person who has to develop experts in multiple buildings. It's a completely different skill set.
And most people are left to figure it out alone.
You don't have to.
If you're a new Regional Manager or multi-unit operator struggling with the transition, let's talk. Book a free coaching session here and I'll help you build a playbook that actually works.
Rooting for you,
Christin
