Managing Change with Franchisees

POINTS TO REMEMBER IN MANAGING CHANGE
    •    Change can be threatening to many people, including your Franchisees.
    •    Franchisees pay service fees partly to ensure change.
    •    Change is tolerated better when Franchisees have a say in formulating it.
    •    The bottom line in accepting change is "WIIFM" (What's in it for me?).

ACCEPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
It is readily acknowledged in business circles that in a healthy organization, change is and will continue to be a constant. Effective Support Representatives realize this and have learned to harness the positive side of change as a powerful force to make things better. They successfully get their staff and colleagues involved in making change happen, and carefully lead them through all major changes.

But Support Representatives must also learn to deal with the Dark Side of change. For even the most necessary, logical and welcome changes can be threatening to people because they feel required to readjust their thinking and/or behaviour to the new situation. And if the negative feelings that Franchisees feel about the uncertainties associated with change are not dealt with effectively, the change itself may be thwarted.

One reason that many people feel so threatened by change in an organization is that, far too often, even though they may be the ones most affected by the decision, the have had no input in formulating it. Support Representatives themselves often may not have personally made or helped make a "change decision", yet they are required to implement it through the franchise network as successfully as possible. In such an event, you will have to be resourceful enough to build support for the required change, first within yourself, then within your Franchisees.

A SIX-STEP PROCESS FOR MANAGING CHANGE
    1.    Describe why the change is needed and be specific about what the actual changes will be.
    2.    Ask for your Franchisees' reactions.
    3.    Answer questions, clear up any misunderstandings, and acknowledge any objections.
    4.    Ask your Franchisees for suggestions on how to implement the changes smoothly.
    5.    Ask them for their support for the change.
    6.    Follow through by monitoring the changes and reinforcing the Franchisees' progress.

PLANNING QUESTIONS
Before discussing any change with a Franchisee, think through your "change strategy" by addressing the following questions:
    1.    What specific problem(s) has this change been designed to solve?
    2.    Exactly what is going to change?
    3.    How will Franchisees be affected by the change (both positively and negatively)?
    4.    What questions or objections are people likely to have regarding this change?
    5.    How can these questions and/or objections be countered?
    6.    What pitfalls might occur in the course of managing the implementation of this change?
    7.    How can these pitfalls be avoided or overcome?

In our next segment on the role of the Franchise Support Representative, we will discuss how to understand and counter resistance to change by Franchisees.