While most franchise systems invest heavily in operations training, they leave Unit Managers largely on their own to figure out the human side of the job. That “soft skills” gap delivers hard cuts to the bottom line.

Field Consultants are central to the success of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, yet their role is often misunderstood. When properly qualified, trained, empowered, and deployed with intent, the Field Consultant is not an enforcer – their role is strategic.

Successful franchisors understand they cannot fully eliminate the risk of co-employment liability in franchise training. This article explains ways to minimize that risk, including filtering decisions about training programs and content based on their impact on brand execution.

Why franchisors provide training programs, who is trained and how, typical duration of training, and additional training after launch of a new franchise location.

Unfortunately, when managers fail to coach, employees’ continued poor performance can have negative consequences on customers as well as morale. For managers who may have come to the position without coaching skills, as is the case for most first-time managers in a franchise as well as some franchisees, a structured approach to training is the best path forward.

Though problems in training execution can be the source of service or product issues, take the time to sort out whether other factors in your system are to blame. There may be multiple obstacles to effective training execution, each of them requiring careful analysis.

If pre-training assignments are of value, how do we ensure that program participants are not surprised by them, and also recognize the benefits of completing them?