Christina Coyle founded Accelerated Talent to help organizations build frontline‑ready talent systems. These systems serve the operators closest to the work. Field‑first design matters because it addresses the root causes of inconsistency, burnout, and turnover rather than the symptoms. To understand the power of this approach, it helps to grasp the realities facing her clients, primarily franchise and multi‑unit operations. These brands contend with persistent challenges, including chronic understaffing, uneven manager readiness, high hourly turnover, and the operational strain that comes with scaling while maintaining consistent guest experience.
However, when organizations treat people strategy as the backbone of performance rather than a compliance function, they gain stability, stronger unit economics, and the ability to grow. “Most franchise and multi‑unit brands are fighting the same battle: managers overwhelmed, hiring inconsistent, and frontline teams stretched thin,” says Coyle, who’s spent her career architecting systems inside major global brands and across franchise networks. From building AI‑enabled hiring engines at McDonald’s to supporting large‑scale transformations for enterprise operators, her work shows how field‑first design becomes the foundation for consistent performance.
Treating talent as an administrative function obscures its impact on the metrics operators care about most. Workforce strength shapes every operational outcome: drive‑through speed, table turns, hospitality consistency, food safety compliance, and the real cost of turnover. Workers who feel supported, trusted, and given growth opportunities are more likely to stay. That kind of retention, especially in frontline-heavy fields, directly strengthens operational consistency and performance.
Coyle’s field‑first lens reframes people systems as an essential driver of EBITDA. When new hire time‑to‑proficiency decreases or when frontline retention stabilizes, the effect ripples through labor costs, quality assurance, and revenue. “Leaders see the through line between workforce strength and unit performance, which allows them to design talent systems that actually deliver,” says Coyle.
Building a Field‑First Coalition That Sticks
A talent framework succeeds only when the field sees it as their own. When operators help shape the system, talent becomes a shared operational priority. Coyle advocates for a standing coalition that brings together operations leaders, franchise partners, HR and training teams, and high‑performing general managers. Adding finance and analytics creates the accountability and ROI grounding needed to scale new ideas.
“When ops feels ownership, talent becomes a shared priority and not a policy or an SOP pushed in from the outside,” says Coyle. This is where cross‑functional collaboration becomes essential, ensuring that operators, HR, finance, and analytics are working from the same playbook. PwC’s Workforce Radar underscores this point, noting that organizations gain the greatest traction when workforce priorities are aligned across functions.
Designing Systems Built for Agility, Mobility, and Real Constraints
Field‑first talent systems must be agile and mobility‑driven so operators can respond quickly to real‑world constraints and reduce crisis‑driven staffing. This is especially true in high‑turnover sectors such as restaurants and hospitality, where even small gaps in staffing or training can ripple instantly across performance. Coyle believes that talent systems in these environments need to operate like a field command center: responsive, grounded, and adaptable. This means piloting new workflows quickly, refining hiring processes in real time, and identifying emerging skill gaps before they become performance issues.
A critical pillar is mobility tracking. Internal promotions increase retention, strengthen culture, and create a sense of upward momentum. When mobility rises, staffing becomes predictable rather than crisis‑driven, and managers regain the bandwidth to lead instead of firefight. Coyle’s approach shifts talent work from episodic to systemic, a shift she has seen play out repeatedly in the field. “When managers know exactly how to coach and what good looks like, teams don’t just perform better, they stay.”
From Firefighting to Foresight
The lesson is simple: build systems that fit the field, not the other way around. For organizations facing turnover, operational inconsistency, or manager overload, a field‑first talent framework is not just a strategy. It is a competitive advantage grounded in the realities of how work gets done. Momentum is more powerful than meetings. “When the frontline is supported, everything else gets better.” Her work across major global brands and early stage companies shows that a well‑designed talent engine reduces turnover, strengthens manager capability, and lifts overall guest experience.
For more insights from Christine Coyle, connect with her on LinkedIn or visit her website.
