Ep. 24: Why Every Business Problem Is Actually a People Problem with Michelle Jagroop, Paris Baguette

"Every opportunity in the business comes back to the conversation around the people."

Michelle Jagroop, Chief People Officer at Paris Baguette North America, joins Rachael Nemeth to explore one of the biggest challenges facing franchise brands today: how do you create a consistent culture, develop leaders, and deliver an exceptional guest experience when the people serving your customers don't technically work for corporate?

With more than 25 years of experience leading people strategy across retail, entertainment, and hospitality, Michelle shares how she's helping one of the fastest-growing bakery café franchises scale without sacrificing culture. From building leadership through franchise operators to creating systems that reinforce brand standards, she explains why every operational challenge ultimately traces back to people.

Michelle discusses why HR leaders must earn their seat at the executive table by deeply understanding the business, why accountability only works when employees are properly trained, and why the strongest organizations focus on developing managers—not just managing employees. She also shares practical lessons on franchise leadership, hiring, coaching, employee engagement, and maintaining consistency across hundreds of locations.

The conversation explores the unique challenges of franchising, measuring culture at scale, balancing compliance with people-first leadership, and creating systems that help operators build stronger teams. Michelle explains why great cultures aren't built through mission statements, but through leadership habits, clear expectations, and intentional training repeated every day.

If you're leading a franchise organization, managing frontline teams, building leadership pipelines, or looking to create a stronger workplace culture that scales, this episode is packed with practical lessons you can apply immediately.

Key Takeaways

• Every Business Problem Is a People Problem: Operational issues often trace back to hiring, training, leadership, or accountability.
• Culture Is Built Through Systems: Strong cultures come from consistent training, leadership habits, and clear expectations—not slogans.
• HR Must Understand the Business: People leaders earn influence by driving measurable business outcomes.
• Train Before You Hold People Accountable: Employees can't meet expectations they were never taught.
• Leadership Scales Through Leaders: Developing managers creates consistency across every location.
• Guest Experience Starts with Employee Experience: Better people practices create better customer experiences.
• Curate Your Team Intentionally: Great leaders actively build teams that strengthen culture and performance.

Perfect For

Franchise executives, restaurant operators, HR leaders, Chief People Officers, learning and development professionals, operations leaders, multi-unit businesses, and anyone responsible for building strong cultures across distributed teams.

Time Stamp Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Michelle Jagroop

00:41 Michelle's leadership journey to Paris Baguette

02:38 Why leadership is about adapting—not unlearning

06:41 Leading through franchise operators at scale

08:27 Why every business problem comes back to people

09:45 Measuring whether culture is actually scaling

10:27 Using guest feedback to improve people performance

15:04 The biggest people mistakes franchisees make

20:14 Why HR deserves a seat at the executive table

24:09 Measuring people strategy through business outcomes

26:55 Why culture is built through systems—not slogans

27:40 Becoming the curator of your team

29:13 Lightning Round

About Us

Opus is the leading training operations platform for multi-unit brands with frontline workforces, helping operators deliver consistent, engaging training that delivers measurable results. Trusted in thousands of locations across restaurants, retail, fitness, healthcare, and consumer services, Opus customers include Smashburger, Craveworthy Brands, Let's Play Soccer, Shipley Do-Nuts, Sound Fun Entertainment, Big Chicken, York Building Services, Gordon Ramsay Group, José Andrés Group, and more.

Learn more at www.opus.so

Have an idea or experience you'd like to share? Keep the conversation going with us on LinkedIn!

About Us
Opus is the leading training operations platform for multi-unit brands with frontline workforces, helping operators deliver consistent, engaging training that delivers measurable results. Trusted in thousands of locations across restaurants, retail, fitness, healthcare and consumer services, Opus customers include Smashburger, Craveworthy Brands, Let’s Play Soccer, Shipley Do-Nuts, Sound Fun Entertainment, Big Chicken, York Building Services, Gordon Ramsay Group, Jose Andres Group and more. 

Learn more at www.opus.so

Have an idea or experience you'd like to share? Keep the conversation going with us on LinkedIn!