Here are five useful tips for creating a positive franchise environment that gets the most from its team.
First, though, let’s explain why it matters.
Why Do You Need a Happy and Motivated Franchise Team?
Happiness breeds success. Without it, there’s no point in working hard or going above and beyond basic duties. This is something you cannot do without when leading a franchise team to victory. People should actively want to work for you. They must feel comfortable and cared for. Most importantly, they need to be recognized for their achievements. A business that doesn’t instill a sense of self-worth isn’t worth anyone’s time or effort.
Staff members are willing to put in longer hours, better service, and additional requests if they’re part of a motivated culture. One 2015 report states that productivity can increase from 12-20 percent if people are happy when they’re asked to do something. Another argues that ‘high, hard goals’ are essential for continued improvement. Get the balance right, and you’ll have the opportunity to earn more, buy new territories, and raise wages.
5 Ways to Motivate Your Franchise Team
Now that we’ve established why happiness and motivation are so valuable, let’s go through each of our strategies for seeding it.
1. Define and Monitor Performance Metrics
To give your workers direction, set out how their activity will be quantified over weeks, months, and years. Every business has its own performance metric system. You may be tracking how many meals or drinks a staff member cooks, sells, or distributes. Perhaps they should deal with a set number of inquiries per day. Or it could be the time taken for a service job to be completed, and payments secured as a result.
Define these measurements for yourself. Explain them to every employee in detail, as well as the frequency with which you’ll compare metric scores. Members of the team can then perform different tasks to the best of their ability whilst knowing they’re part of the same overarching framework.
2. Treat People as Individuals
As much as expectations for the work itself should be clearly outlined, good leaders have to remember that everyone learns best (and responds) in their own way. Whether they’re visual, practical, or reading-led learners, never forget that one style of communication can be better for some colleagues than others.
You’ll uncover such quirks as you get to know people. But it’s useful to ask them during the interview process; questions like “How do you describe yourself?” can give you a great starting point. Then, throughout the working day, try to speak to them when you can. Even a quick catch-up can reveal more about how they best communicate, helping you adjust your approaches in a way that aids happiness and motivation.
3. Share Feedback amongst the Group
No matter how many franchises or territories you own, make sure you bring everyone together – once a month maybe – for a debrief. Individual appraisals are brilliant, of course, but these group gatherings put everyone in the spotlight. You can run over the targets you’ve hit as a team, personal achievements, and any updates on the franchise as a whole.
This will lead naturally into an open floor for questions. Does anyone have ideas or feedback? Give them the opportunity to present them, and the rest of the workforce can then contribute their own thoughts. Opinions can be supported or challenged, with full respect for diversity of ideas. When a team is listened to, they feel appreciated – and this is important if they are to be happy at work.
4. Implement a Training Program
The chances are that your franchise staff come with certain credentials. Aside from basic things like health and safety or first aid training, however, you should motivate people to learn about the industry for themselves. Competitors, innovations, and new clients form the crux of what you do. The more you let colleagues make their own judgments on these factors – as well as allow them to influence the business directly – the more satisfied they may feel.
It doesn’t have to be extensive. Just spare some time for personal development in the context of the franchise. Let a few workers try their hand at another aspect of operations. Better still, allow them to study online courses and industry material during work hours now and then.
5. Join the Team on the Job
Often, separation breeds resentment between boss and employee. If they don’t think you have any real sense of what it’s like to do the regular, labor-intensive tasks, leading them is harder. A franchise owner who is willing to join atheteam on-site every now and again can do wonders for team morale.
Additionally, you can see how well workers are adhering to the franchise’s playbook. That leaves plenty of room to focus on big administrative duties for the rest of the week. Leave a day or two aside, as often as you can spare them (even when the franchise expands), to get back in the trenches.
Top Takeaways
In summary, happiness and motivation are about stretching capabilities as much as it is making people feel valued for the work they’re doing now. Here’s how to achieve that within your franchise team:
- Forge a way to gather, analyze, and compare performance data.
- Modify the way you speak to and teach staff because everyone responds and learns in their own way.
- Bring the team together for a mutual feedback session at least once a month.
- Encourage training and development that feeds back into the business.
- Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty once in a while – reminding yourself that the work of your franchise team has a direct link from the top to the bottom of the business.
