Franchise Your Business
Even if you’re starting with a party of one, your brand has a culture. Consistent evaluation, modeling and growing with the right people will help you maintain it as you scale.
Moving from a corporate location or two to an expansive franchise model, and preserving the brand’s identity along the way, requires an intentional look at culture. While culture may be baked into the teams a founder has built, it’s unlikely an HR packet or operational playbook can fully replicate that culture at franchised locations. As emerging systems grow, safeguarding the brand’s cultural identity requires real intention, consistent modeling from leadership and a franchisee vetting process that considers cultural fit alongside territory and financial compatibility.
“While you can’t force culture, I feel like here at Bee Organized, we’ve been very intentional about it,” said Kristen Christian, co-founder. “We’re looking for ways to strengthen, reinforce and communicate the culture.”
Protecting the culture as you scale your franchise starts with knowing the culture, then using it to help steer future growth decisions.
Every organization has a culture, whether it’s written out or not. Often, this culture will impact both internal operations and the experience of the end user. Identifying the practices and priorities that most clearly define the employee and consumer experience, then solidifying them as a baseline to guide future decisions, keeps the brand cohesive.
“We have three ‘bee-liefs’ that really serve as our compass,” Christian said. “Everything we do is with compassion and confidentiality, and it’s judgement free.”
As part of the early franchise process, isolate a few non-negotiable core beliefs that reflect how you and your business treat people. Then, as you grow, keep a consistent eye on these values. Are they still a part of the consumer’s experience with your brand? How are they demonstrated? Do team members at the home office actively mirror the values?
You have to know what you’re protecting before you consider how you’ll protect it through growth.
Once the culture is established, it must be maintained and strengthened. You must make sure you’re bringing people into the system who can do this. For that reason, the discovery process can’t just be a series of yes or no questions; the selection process can’t hinge only on whether the candidate is financially qualified.
You must evaluate alignment and search for a true cultural fit, and this takes time and attention.
“Our discovery process is lengthy,” Christian said. “It’s a series of conversations, the majority of them over Zoom. I’m looking for that warmth. Can they look me in the eye? Do they have the soft skills and social/emotional intelligence? To me, that’s the biggest thing.”
Christian admits that it may sound a bit abstract, but a large part of evaluating cultural fit is the “gut check.” Do you enjoy talking to the candidate? Do you feel you’ll be able to work well together? When culture is a priority, taking the time to get to know the candidates is invaluable.
The fact that culture is often a feeling that can’t be memorized or immediately mastered from a learning module can be a tough reality to accept for leaders looking to improve or protect culture in their own organizations.
Start small. Breaking abstract goals like “respect” or “care” into more digestible ones and reflecting on the actions that create these feelings on a daily basis can help support the development of culture. Then, once you’ve identified those actions, you must prioritize them yourself.
“Modeling it from the top is what really helps set the culture and the expectation,” Christian said. “Don’t over-complicate it. Make sure it’s authentic to who you are.”
As a leader, a culture that truly aligns is much easier to build and maintain because the daily habits that feed that culture are second nature. For Christian, these little habits are things as small as how she communicates digitally. Rather than a truncated note that can come off as cold, she focuses on warmth and professionalism. And because she models this standard in her own communications, an organizational baseline is set.
As a brand grows with franchise partners, founders must realize that the system will ultimately be made up of (and driven by) a large group of unique, independent business owners. The culture of the brand and franchise system matters, but these small business owners also need to nurture culture in their individual organizations.
“Remembering, honoring and respecting the fact that it’s such an interdependent relationship between franchisee and franchisor [is so important],” Christian said. “In essence, you have the franchise that has this culture, but then you have each of these incredibly independent awesome owners that are creating their own culture.”
Ensuring the system is self-aware enough to feel when something deviates from the brand’s culture and core identity without overpolicing local culture will protect this balance.
And, as you grow, it will almost always come back to showing the culture, not just naming or explaining it. Growth brings challenges and mistakes, and culture can be strengthened or broken in those moments.
“So, when you miss the mark, how do you react?” Christian said. “It’s not defensiveness and anger. It’s ‘Yes, we missed the mark on this. This is what we did, this is how we’re going to pivot, and thanks for the grace.’ If you’re a founder, the culture starts right out of the gate. But to me, developing it as the beast of a franchise grows requires you to spend some good time thinking about what you want your culture to be, and let that guide you in everything.”
Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisors grow their franchises with confidence? Visit www.1851growthclub.com and see what we can do for you.
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