One afternoon many years ago, when I was still at uni and living in a shared house, one of my housemates came home early from work looking dejected. He had recently got a job as a field manager with a franchise network and had just been kicked out of a franchisee’s business for something he said.
This was my first encounter with the nitty gritty of franchising and I remember thinking “Wow, this sounds like a tough job”.
Because I was a studying psychology I also remember being very curious about what had happened to upset the franchisee so much.
Little did I know that 34 years later I would be sitting in a plane writing this article. In fact I am returning from training field managers in some of the USA’s leading franchise companies on how to handle these types of tough situations.
PASSIONATE PEOPLE
What I have learned since my young friend’s encounter with that angry franchisee, is that the franchising sector is full of passionate people with strong opinions. In the case of franchisees, these people have often invested their life’s savings in the business and generally work long hours under significant emotional pressure to ensure their business is a success.
On reflection, this is why I love franchising so much. I love that we deal with real people, often husbands and wives, who genuinely care about what they do and the impact they have on their staff and their local community.
I love the honesty, that people speak their minds and don’t play petty politics. And that everyone, franchisees and franchisor staff included, is held accountable for the value they deliver.
I have also learned how leadership – particularly by franchisor CEOs – makes all the difference to a company’s culture and performance.
For instance, how the behaviour and values of the leader either creates a network full of people with brand passion, or a self-serving culture characterised by individualism, mistrust and power struggles.
COLLABORATION AND SUCCESS
Through our work with hundreds of companies, it has been particularly fascinating to see how an effective franchisor CEO can quickly create a culture of collaboration and success.
These people respect their franchisees and what they have at stake, they tell the truth about what’s going on in the company or the market, even if it is unpalatable, and they make sure their team adds genuine value in how they support their franchisees.
We have also discovered through our research with thousands of franchisees, that those who nurture positive relationships with their staff, their customers, their family, their suppliers and their franchisor are the ones that achieve the highest levels of success.
We call this behaviour “building supporters”, and its power comes from the realisation that no-one succeeds on their own in life, especially in the interdependent world of franchising.
I feel lucky to have stumbled onto and into the franchising sector those many years ago, and am grateful to the people who have allowed me into their businesses and their lives.
Because, what I have most learned about franchising, and what makes it such a special part of our economy, is the people in this sector genuinely care about what they do.
Franchising smashes the myth about business not being personal. It is precisely because it is personal, that gives franchising its power. We all need to remember this.