When purchasing a master franchise, the buyer is taking on so much more than an investment. Every business relies on its people, and in a franchise it is those people who maintain the brand’s integrity and ethos. For the purposes of this article, I will refer to any master licence holder as the ‘franchisor’, as this advice relates to single tier franchisors as much as international networks.
Problematic for the franchisor is the level of dilution between them and the troops on the ground. In a simple, corporately-owned business, the head office is directly responsible for the recruitment, training and retention of staff. This isn’t appropriate for a franchise network, as the franchised units are in business in their own right, and as such they hold the responsibility for managing their own team (the potential for franchisors to overstep the mark in this respect has been highlighted recently by the joint employment disputes currently in the U.S.) While franchisors will naturally be hesitant to perform the hiring, paying and firing of employees, they can certainly set the recommended processes and procedures.
More importantly, it is essential for the franchisor to set a very firm culture across the organisation. Some of you will know that a franchise consists of four components, three items which are fairly tangible (the legal agreement, the operations manual and the licence to use the brand and trademark), and the largely unspoken matter of “the way we do things”. So how can a franchisor help to ensure that staff are trained, motivated and managed in a way that maintains the brand ethos? Here are my top tips:
Ensure that your franchisees are trained, motivated and managed
It might seem obvious, but if you allow your franchisees to do their own thing, you’ll be very lucky to have a network of franchisees and staff that are pulling in the same direction. You need to make sure that your franchisees are both brand and system ambassadors. Be sure that you include staff recruitment and retention as part of your initial and ongoing training, and look at how you can manage them in this area. One way that many corporate franchisors keep an eye on staff morale and motivation is to implement staff engagement surveys. These will highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly in your network, and will also allow you to identify any worrying trends before they jeopardise your brand.
Build a strong culture in your head office team
Without having a strong culture, you can have the very best training and systems but these are unlikely to be implemented. There is no right culture for every organisation, and the tone will always be set from the very top. You need to work on understanding your core vision and values, and then find a way to get your senior head office team to fully buy into them. Once your head office is aligned with these, you are in a good position to set the culture across the network. Some organisations set these autocratically, others involve team members at all levels. Again, there is no right way and you need to decide how you will go about this important task.
Spread the love across the network
It’s all well and good having a great culture at head office, but this culture must be shared across the network and all team members. Think about how you can increase touch points with your franchisees and how your regional managers can move from checklist tickers to sources of support for your franchisees. Initiatives such as franchise councils are a great way of involving your franchisees with the strategy, governance and direction of your brand, but they also help franchisees feel a sense of inclusion.
Use your events to your advantage
Another way of increasing franchisee engagement is to run a series of regional events, together with a landmark annual conference. As these are focused on the franchisees, you will help ensure that your franchisees are engaged with “the way we do things”, which in turn will help them implement your processes and best practice when it comes to staff matters. Your regional events should focus on topical areas such as staff recruitment, motivation and retention. Finally, at your annual conference, look at how you could present awards for staff members of your franchisees’ businesses, as well as to your franchisees themselves.
Centralise training where possible
While it’s impossible for head office to train every individual new employee in a large network, you can always find ways to provide centralised training. Consider whether there is the option to run regional workshops for the employees in a certain area, so that they can meet representatives from the head office team and hear things ‘from the horse’s mouth’. Also, look at whether you can provide e-learning for the employees of your franchisees. If done properly, your franchisees, their teams, and your brand should all benefit from these initiatives.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carl Reader has worked with franchisors and franchisees since 2004 and is the best- selling author of both The StartUp Coach and The Franchising Handbook, the resident business advisor at express.co.uk and is an accomplished international keynote speaker. Carl serves as an elected board member of the British Franchise Association.
