Since the pandemic rocked the world in 2020, many businesses have realized the potential and potency of moving away from traditional business models. That includes running a franchise virtually—or off-site— with a dispersed team, particularly if you are a multi-unit franchisee. While virtual team management has become increasingly popular, it is still a relatively new concept.
If you’re considering your options for virtual franchise management, consider these things as you plan how to manage your dispersed team and clients.
Clarify Your Expectations
Before you dive into a franchise that allows you to manage a virtual team, you’ll need to get clear on what you expect from that virtual team.
- What’s the purpose of running a remote team instead of an in-person team?
- Will you have a hybrid approach?
- What are your main goals with your team?
- How will you track and measure progress and results?
With these goals in place, you can set clear expectations for yourself and your team going forward. The clearer you can be with these expectations, the smoother the startup and hiring process will go. Clarity comes from removing all assumptions from your outline. That means, instead of saying you’ll check in regularly with your team, you’ll want to define how often “regular” is to you so there are no misunderstandings.
Set Yourself Up for Success
A wealth of platforms are available to help franchisees manage virtual teams. While this depth of platforms can be valuable, it can also be overwhelming.
Before you dive into virtual franchise management, clarify which platforms are available to you as the franchisee and which are not. Then, outline your plan for using each platform to share documents, track team progress, ensure brand consistency, and manage customer interactions.
The franchisor must weigh in on these platforms because a level of data governance must be considered. Data governance allows the franchisor and franchisee to oversee the internal information being gathered about customers, brand communications, and more. Knowing how this information will be protected and used appropriately is crucial to your success as a franchisee. Talking to your franchisor beforehand will help you better understand their expectations as you develop your own for your team.
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Create a Communication Plan
Building a team across state lines requires a little extra communication planning. This level of communication planning goes well beyond how often you’ll be in touch, although that matters, too. It also requires you to build trust with your team so they uphold your expectations.
Create a communication plan for how you’ll start each meeting and connection. A few questions to ask yourself are:
- How often will you meet with your team via video?
- How will you communicate between video calls with your team?
- What framework will you use when starting meetings?
The last question in this list is important because it allows you to set the tone and show you care about the people helping build your brand. A few things you can do to help warm up the virtual room are:
- Open the door to share about your personal lives.
- Highlight wins.
- Recognize team members.
- Give constructive feedback over criticism.
- Offer empathy when things aren’t going as planned.
Between calls, you can also infuse humor, emojis, and gifs so team members can let their hair down and connect with you on a more personal level when water cooler chats aren’t as readily available.
Ultimately, having a virtual team allows you to bring the best of the best together to bolster your business. However, without knowing what the management of that team will look like before you enter your franchising journey, you’ll struggle to know how successful it can be. Ask your franchisor about their expectations, platforms, and brand communication guidelines to understand how you’ll successfully manage a remote workforce.
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Kimberly Crossland is the founder of Roadpreneur and Cruisin' + Campfires, two companies designed to keep families together and living in freedom through travel and entrepreneurship. The goal of both businesses is to inspire meaningful change through the power of a strategic, thoughtful approach to life and business. In her free time, you can find her looking for a new adventure together with her two boys.