GF Issue 54

oming on the heels of his popular book, The Wealthy Franchisee: Game-Changing Steps to Becoming a Thriving Franchise Superstar , franchise speaker and writer Scott Greenberg is about to release his new title, Stop The Shift Show: Turn Your Struggling Hourly Workers Into a Top-Performing Team . As the title suggests, the book is about how to manage this unique but massive sector of the franchise industry—hourly workers. We caught up with Scott to learn more about the book and how it might help franchisees. Your first book, The Wealthy Franchisee , focused on how to become a high-performance franchise owner. What inspired you to write about managing hourlyworkers ? Of all the topics I write and speak about, it’s employee management that generates the most questions. Managers have always struggled with (and complained about) hourly workers. It’s a pain point I wanted to relieve. We made a lot of progress with our team when I had my franchises (after years of struggling), and I’ve met many franchisees who’ve cracked the code. I wanted to codify all these best practices and share them. How are hourlyworkers different from those earning a salary? The obvious one is how they’re paid. But their relationships with management tend to be more transactional than relational. They often have fewer opportunities for growth and advancement. Many are younger and less experienced. They have brains that are still developing. They’re also more likely to be working other jobs or going to school. That’s hard when their work schedule (sports schedule, class schedule, etc.) is constantly changing. They must always reshuffle their lives. They have many different needs, abilities, motivations, and expectations compared to those on salary. These differences require a different approach to management. Many franchisees with considerable experience managing employees in a white-collar, corporate environment struggle with hourly workers because their tactics don’t apply to this population. What are the most common complaints from franchisees and managers about their hourlyworkers? You’ve heard them. You’ve probably said them! I know I have. “Kids these days! This generation is so lazy! No one wants to work. They have no common sense. Cell phones have ruined this generation. They don’t have the same work ethic I had at their age. They’re so entitled.” Older people forget that many of these things were said about them! And it’s not that there’s no truth to these observations. I’m a Generation X-er, and there’s a lot about today’s workers I struggle to accept. But if we’re going to manage them, we need to stop looking at them with judgment and start looking at them with curiosity. That doesn’t mean we enable unprofessional behaviors. It just means gaining a deeper understanding of how they think so we can better influence how they work. Do you think some franchisees make employee management harder for themselves? Some do. They unknowingly bring biases into the workplace that cloud their perspective. They also forget how they were earlier in their lives, falsely believing they were better. But undoubtedly their parents and former bosses complained about them. I share a number of quotes from various publications over the generations, and even research that discusses this selective forgetfulness. It’s not that I disagree with their observations about today’s workforce. It’s just that the harsh opinions aren’t constructive. If we want to manage today’s workforce, we need to spend less time complaining about them and more time understanding them. We need to adapt our leadership to their sensibility. Outdated management practices (just like outdated technology, marketing, and products) just aren’t going to cut it. C WHYMANAGEMENTMATTERS Employee performance isn’t just a reflection of who they are, but also how they’re managed Managers must adapt to the changing needs, desires, and expectations of the workplace, just as they adapt to changes in the marketplace Every business has a culture, some by design, most by default Teammembers change, but culture remains (until it’s changed) Culture must be reinforced in the head, in their heart, and on the floor People must be managed, and performance must be measured. “If franchisors are serious about supporting their owners’ success, they need to find a way to provide them with training and resources to manage their teams” GLOBAL FRANCHISE.COM 31