EXPERT ADVICE: Lucas Frey | CEO | Bella Vista Executive Advisors
The Passionate Franchisee (and Why It’s Important for You) Great leaders possess passion and keep it fresh. Defined by Webster’s as “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.” It is a core fiber of the culture of any successful organization including your franchise. How a leader’s passion appears to others varies greatly depending on their personality. One successful franchisee may exude passion subtly. Another may choose grand gestures so everyone sees their passion. Be authentic. Your underlying “enthusiasm or excitement” is always present…or not. The key for successful franchisees is figuring out how to be passionate about the process of leading their employees. Those you work with want to make a difference. That difference can be as focused as helping a co-worker get a child to school or as broad as saving the whales. Developing and displaying your passion authentically inspires those around you to extraordinary achievements. There is a balance between invigorating passion to fuel your franchise success and unhealthy obsession leading to catastrophic burnout. Ask yourself these 4 questions: • Do you enjoy the process of leading your company? • Do you grind out each day and end up mentally spent? • Do your daily to-do’s pile up with no end in sight? • Are you able to unplug from your franchise 2 weeks on a vacation? Exception for new franchisees developing their business from scratch. This is a spectrum. The questions help you determine where you may fall.
Luke Frey improves franchise owners’ businesses where corporate support alone fails. He brings 26+ years of varied professional experiences including 20 years as a franchise owner of ImageFIRST Cincinnati, 6 years as an industrial engineer for a Fortune 250 company and 19 years as a volunteer firefighter. All of these experiences, in addition to his drive to learn, have brought him to be a positive driving force for other franchise owners’ successes. To learn more about Luke and how Bella Vista Executive Advisors can help, please click HERE www.bellavistaexecutiveadvisors.com
Your passion fosters an inspirational culture These 3 activities are critical to keep your employees enthusiastic at work:
1 Encourage your associates to explore. • How can your franchise make an impact on the industry in general or your franchisor specifically as well as your clients? ImageFIRST - Cincinnati was the first franchisee of the franchisor. There were some differences in the operations manual and the realities of our facilities. My crews helped identify and communicate those differences to the franchisor. This aided subsequent franchise locations overcome locational obstacles more efficiently. • Professional development fuels enthusiasm. Consistently challenge your associates to take “one more step” in their development. Added training to fortify current skills or adding new ones keeps your franchise moving forward. Training the Terrace Park Firefighters beyond the volunteer requirements opened the door to working with other departments on whom we depended. • Internal communications systems encouraging crossdepartmental networking are beneficial for your franchise. Best practices are shared. Forming teams to overcome significant performance challenges is more natural. Camaraderie is enhanced. And wins are celebrated.
2 Create systems that allow experimentation to challenge “this is the way it’s always done.” • An internal feedback system focusing on behaviors rather than feelings, helps your employees identify and improve areas needing help. And establishes a vehicle to recognize wins. • Shared, cross-functional work spaces help establish cohesion to focus on the overall organizational goals. Insulating functional groups is counter-productive to exploit inter-departmental synergies. 48 Franchising MAGAZINE USA
