This post originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com - #Growing Your Business
Commitment, perspective and balance are among your most crucial tools.
6 min read
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I have been coaching franchisors and their respective executive and support teams, as well as franchise owners and their staff members, for more than 20 years. Working with these dedicated professionals in the trenches gave me the real-world experience to identify the franchise-industry best practices and our own proprietary strategies to help them grow and thrive.
In my coaching practice, I get to work with franchisors and franchisees as they face the good, the bad and the ugly. I always say that you will see the true leadership skills of an individual when they are on the battlefield under fire. This current crisis has forced most leaders onto the battlefield.
The very first thing we focus on after we get the goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to measure progress is to get everyone in the right mindset. The best resources and tools have very little value otherwise. It would be like offering a brand-new, high-powered fighter jet to a pilot who is convinced he or she is going to fail the mission before they get in the cockpit. The awesome plane won’t win the fight. Only the pilot can win the fight.
You are the pilot of your business. How you choose to move through this crisis will determine the outcome. I always say that the most important factor in the success or failure of a franchise organization is leadership, leadership, leadership.
Related: Fight for Your Franchise
Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the franchise industry’s superstars, Anthony Geisler from Xponential Fitness. When I asked him about his leadership strategy, he surprised me with his answer. Since he was the founder and CEO of the LA Boxing franchise system, it was appropriate that he quoted his favorite movie. which, naturally, is Rocky: “It is not how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and get back up.”
He then gave me several examples of how he faced challenges and beatings over the years and never gave up. He has the same commitment to his team and franchise owners. This refusal to fail has been the guiding light for their organization. Anthony was our first guest on our Franchise Bible Coch Radio Podcast with Rick and Rob, which is this week’s podcast homework. You can learn more about Xponential and Anthony’s story in the original article from last year titled “Use These Three Strategies to Build Your Franchise Organization.”
This mindset is what sets Xponential leaders apart. It is their compass that guides them through the good, the bad and the ugly. Now that we are all in the “ugly,” let’s identify some tips and strategies to help you get in the right mindset for success so you can use the coaching, advice, tools, tips and resources that we will present over the next 90 days to get you through this challenging time.
- Commitment factor. Commitment to this challenge will be a huge part of the outcome. Carolyn Miller, founder of the National Franchise Institute, always says, “Reluctant participation produces inferior results.” Last week, I gave you some homework to get ready for the 90-day Fight for Your Franchise Challenge. This included watching the weekly coaching video, reading the article, listen to the podcast, joining our Facebook community, setting your 90-day goals and breaking them down into KPIs so you can measure progress. This is a free program, but only you can manage the effort to get the most out of it. You will get out of it what you put in to it. The first mindset tip is the commitment factor.
- Refuse to quit. Remove the words “quit” and “fail” from your vocabulary. Keep getting up when you get beat down. The most inspirational leadership quality that you want your team to see in you is your commitment to win the race against all odds. Nobody in their right mind will follow a leader onto the battlefield if they don’t believe they are going to win. Be a leader who people will enthusiastically follow. In our conversation, Geisler added that many things in life will try to get you to quit, but you must commit to move through the challenge instead of letting it stop you.
- Stay balanced. Make sure that you take care of yourself and the ones you love. Physical, mental and spiritual balance are critical to getting through tough times. You cannot operate at your best if you feel exhausted, stressed and sick. Exercise, prayer, meditation, talking and giving to others are all tips from last week’s coaching session. You must feel good to perform. Be good to yourself.
- Acknowledge that this is temporary. My mom always told me, “This too will pass” whenever I had to face hard or scary times. I have heard many people say the same words recently. The positive-mindset individual looks at this crisis as a time to get better, innovate new ways to serve their customers and adapt to different revenue opportunities.
Next week we will focus on building your tribe and getting everyone rowing in the same direction. This is the key to getting extraordinary outcomes from your team. Crisis brings people together like no other phenomena. Fighting a common enemy galvanizes teams. This is an opportunity to come out the other end of this pandemic stronger than ever before. How you choose to face this will determine the condition of your business and team members.
Related: Success Comes When You’ve Mastered Your Mindset
Join the Fight For Your Franchise Challenge! This initiative is a free 90-day program to keep people focused on positive strategies to get them through the stress and negative circumstances that are currently hitting small businesses. I will be providing a free weekly executive-coaching session video, article and podcast access for the entire 90 days. The goal of this program is to save businesses and jobs by keeping the owners focused on winning straegies and moving forward. Learn more and join the fight at www.franchisebiblecoach.com.
