Is training all it is cracked up to be?

• Is training all it is cracked up to be.pdf

Is training all it is cracked up to be.pdf

Training, coaching, seminars, HR, franchisee development and people development are but a few of the terms that have been used over recent years to describe the process of transferring knowledge and developing people.

Is training all it is cracked up to be? The answer is naturally very subjective, but at this point, I personally suggest it is not. Should it be? My answer would be yes.

This article details why training within the context of business, including franchising, is critical but too often poorly executed, and how steps could be taken to enhance the benefits to your business.

No matter what the organisation, whether it is service or product based, anywhere in the world, business is about two things:

People

Processes

The simplicity of these two points is appreciated, but few would deny people are the foundation of any business.

Given this fact, the future success or failure of any business is significantly dependent on the effectiveness of the people involved, whether they are franchisees, employees or the franchisor.

Where is training going wrong?

From a macro perspective, two key areas continue to dominate the examples of poor training effectiveness. Firstly, the “design’ of the training program, and secondly, the execution’.

Design is the process of identifying the intended audience, content and process of delivery. It could be the content of the initial franchisee training or a seminar or conference for all franchisees.

Execution is the process of delivery including the style or manner in which the training is completed and the people who facilitate the training. It could be an Operation or Sales Manager utilising PowerPoint or a hands-on roundtable session to deliver the training.

In franchise systems in both “design’ and execution’ there are often key mistakes that continue to occur with three key areas including initial, ongoing and head office training.

Initial franchisee training

• inadequate depth and detail of content
• outsourcing to inappropriate people who fail to customise the content to the business
• induction too short in length
• poor written content for the trainee to take away
• inappropriate people designated to train the franchisee
• format of training not a blend of theory and practical
• inadequate operations manual to distribute prior to attending the training

Ongoing franchisee training

• too infrequent
• outsourcing to a continued variety of people that removes any element of consistency in focus
• content not relevant to the needs of the franchisee
• all franchisees grouped which fails to respect different needs and experience
• duplication of content over a given time period
• content not addressing the key performance indicators of the business

Head office team

• not respected enough by franchisees for their impact on the company and franchised operations
• training not focused enough to be practical to the immediate needs of the business
• lack of alignment of the training with the key objectives of each business unit
• lack of relevance to the needs of the people that the head office staff lead including company staff and franchisees

The impact of the issues outlined can successfully dilute the effectiveness of the training and consequently stagnate the development of franchisees, the head office team and the business. Consider the impact of an initial franchisee induction program that is too brief, providing insufficient micro detail about operating the business and leaving the franchisee with an incomplete operations manual to walk away with. The reality is that the franchisee underperforms during this post-training period until he or she learns, by a potentially costly experience, the relevant information to maximise sales and profits. Time is spent by the franchisee trying to understand issues required to run the business rather than actually running the business itself. This can prove costly as maximisation of performance across the network fails to occur, especially in fast growing organisations.

Ongoing training presents its own unique challenges. What seems clear is that franchisors typically approach the ongoing training with a distinctively different mindset. Initial training appears to attract more focus, possibly due to the fact that the franchisee relationship is new, a franchise fee has recently been paid and promises made during the recruitment process are fresh in the memory.

The real challenge associated with ongoing training is relevance. Too often businesses are allocating precious resources to training for the sake of training. Training that is not focused on the objectives of the business and does not consider the key performance indicators, risks alienating people from future training initiatives. This includes head office staff and franchisees.

Outsourcing the training can prove beneficial, but not if the brief was insufficient, the objective of the training poorly considered and the outsourcing party fails to understand the business or the intricacies of franchising. Outsourcing to a specialist has become increasingly popular in recent years, but often for reasons of a lack of resource or a lack of planning that can create a dynamic of training without purpose.

Despite the best intentions, training experiences have seen franchisees disappointed or even frustrated at the perceived time and dollars wasted by attending training that was not relevant, a repeat from a year ago, or delivered by an outsourced party who failed to understand the business and respect the franchisees. Franchisees vary in terms of skills and needs. The challenge is relevance.

It should be noted, that there will be some overlap and not all people at the training will benefit to the same extent. Reality also suggests some people are almost untrainable because of their preconceptions or attitude.

However, as one former franchisee of the year recently commented to me at a presentation, “Even after 10 years if I learn one new thing when I attend each conference, then it was worth attending”.

The foundation of effective training requires a consideration of the objective. I define this as the process of ensuring people maintain a fresh and current perspective of the attributes of the business that will drive the sustainable profitable performance of the business over the long-term.

Each training proposal, seminar, HR idea, conference or franchisee development initiative should be balanced against this overriding objective.

Training costs money, not only in cash for wages or course content, but importantly the valuable time away from the business for those attending the training.

In any franchise system the franchisor is completely accountable for the effectiveness of the training for franchisees. Given the critical nature of franchisee and people development, the training program needs to address the key performance indicators of the business and balance the immediate short-term needs with the future direction of the business.

The training must be effective. Franchisees and staff should leave the training with a benefit “” something that can be used in the business to increase service, profitability, create efficiency or create a performance attitude.

The following are points to consider when approaching the topic of training within your business.

They are not intended to be exhaustive, prescriptive or a 1 to 5 how to guide. Each business will have some form of formal or informal training, which will be providing benefits. The objective is to fine-tune it to increase the benefits to all people involved p the business and ultimately impact the business performance.

     Appoint a “Gatekeeper’ of recruitment

The most effective training program in the world will fail to address issues arising from poor initial franchisee or people selection. It is the right people that form the foundation of a successful business not just people. Consequently, it is critical that there is an appointment of a “Gatekeeper’ for the recruitment of people and franchisees. In smaller businesses this will likely be a founder or senior manager, whilst in larger organisations there will be multiple roles. In situations of multiple roles, it remains critical that senior management ensures the “Gatekeeper’ understands the need for the right people. The “Gatekeeper’ may actually be an operations person whilst the recruitment officer conducts the actual recruitment process.

 Appoint a training champion

As training transcends many areas of any business it is critical to appoint a training champion to run an approval process to ensure overall effectiveness and focus. Training should recognise the different objectives of each business unit such as sales, operations or induction, and the different needs of the franchisees and staff. The training champion can provide a level of consistency across the entire business. This will ensure the design and execution of each proposed training or franchisee development initiative is aligned with the objectives of the business and the key performance indicators, and any areas of overlap are identified. The training champion is typically not a separate role but a responsibility of a key head office team member.

Define objectives, time frame and budget for the training program

The training program should have identified objectives that the team identify. These will evolve over time to reflect the future needs of the business. By defining the objectives the training approval process will be more effective and people across the business will have a reference point when considering the relevance of any suggestion. The training program should be identified well in advance and respect the budget that has been allocated.

 Understand franchisees

The training program should not be designed in a vacuum. Franchisors should be encouraged to engage franchisees and company owned operators to understand their needs in training. Not all requests can be catered for and the element of surprise that is often sought after will be reduced.
However, decisions about content, delivery method and the trainer can be more informed.

 Create a feedback process

Feedback is generally in the form of an evaluation sheet or direct communication. Feedback is challenging but is critical to ensuring the relevance of the training program in terms of content, format, and delivery is measured. Often however, head office is the last to be informed of people’s actual views. Direct approaches by senior management in an informal setting often yield the most uninhibited feedback.

 Franchise development – leadership

In franchise networks the accountability of the franchisor for the progress of the network is undeniable. Franchisees drive the performance of their individual businesses and many become very autonomous over time. Irrespective of this the franchisor must continue to provide leadership to the network. Businesses do not last forever, but they do not typically slide from dominant market positions overnight. Even the very best franchisees within a network will face the challenge of sustained profitable performance given a long enough time frame.

Leadership of the network commences with the development of a performance-orientated team at head office who are committed to the progress of the network. A quality head office team are the key to the long-term future success of the network as they provide an active level of communication and leadership across the entire network. There are countless examples of leadership whether it is formal training, site visits, sales management, staff management, or financial and marketing advice. The head office team face the task of recognising the future challenges in the business and responding in advance. A consistent focus on franchisee development, if done properly, will enhance the responsiveness of the business.

Training, coaching, seminars, HR, franchisee development and people development can be all they are cracked up to be if a professional approach is taken to the “design’ and “execution’ of the training program.

DCS Consulting is your business growth specialist. For more information in relation to our quality business analysis, please contact:

Level 5, 530 Collins Street,
Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
growth@dcstrategy.com
+61 (0)3 8102 9200