đź•’: Four minutes
2019 is here and in order to highlight the key areas that your business should focus upon for success this year, it is important to reflect upon the last year. Whether you are an aspiring franchisee or a well-established franchisor, dialogue and advice are hugely important elements of successful development.
Every year TED Talks offer exemplary insights into companies, foundations and individuals throughout the world. The key aims of TED Talks are to “spur innovation and transform organisations” and innovation and transformation are imperative for the success of any business.
Below we have compiled a selection of five exemplary TED Talks from 2018, each of which is a must-watch for anybody currently involved with or considering franchising.
1. Three Lessons on Decision-Making from a Poker Champion – Liv Boeree
In this fascinating talk, champion poker player, Liv Boeree, discusses intuition versus information and luck versus talent whilst sharing how the strategies she applies to professional game-play can be applied to everyday situations. This talk is particularly applicable to individuals considering starting their own franchise or joining a franchise opportunity. Questioning the value of intuition is always a complex proposition and Boeree clearly posits that intuition cannot match data-driven information.
This is an essential consideration for anybody considering entering an industry, a product market or a new geographic location. It is important to gather hard data on any new opportunity and to objectively research all findings to ensure the best chance for success in the future. There is, of course, a time and place for gut feelings and intuition, but the tumultuous period of investing in your future is unlikely to be that time.
2. The Simple Genius of a Good Graphic – Tommy McCall
Tommy McCall is a renowned information designer who specialises in presenting complex data sets in highly accessible formats. This talk discusses the three original strands of communication – oracy, literacy and numeracy – and relays the role of graphics in the future of communication.
This talk should be of particular interest to franchisors who are looking to develop the reach of their business and attract new franchisees to their opportunity. An infographic is an attractive and accessible means of depicting a large amount of useful data in a limited amount of space. This is important, not merely for displaying franchise information and attracting investment, but also as a means of inviting increased customer interaction.
3. How to Train Employees to Have Difficult Conversations – Tamekia MizLadi Smith
This powerful talk features the dynamic speaker Tamekia MizLadi Smith who is seeking to start new conversations about non-clinical staff in healthcare. There is something here for anyone involved in the supervision or training of other staff members but this speech is of especial importance to anybody in employment in a sensitive sector, such as care, children’s services or education.
Smith’s talk emphasises the role of person-to-person training as a means of ensuring that an employee’s communication with the customer is always tactful and caring. Poor communication leads to bad data collection, according to Smith, and this in turn costs a business money, time and resources. Striking up the right dialogue with your employees means informing them of the relevancy of their role and impressing upon them the importance of their position in the context of the wider company.
4. How to Build and Rebuild Trust – Frances Frei
Trust is essential in every facet of life, and trust in business has long been rightly evaluated as a key indicator of successful development. If a consumer loses trust in the company, it is difficult to rebuild that trust but, as Frances Frei denotes, it is not impossible. As with any other opportunity, a franchise must emphasise the value of trust, not merely between the business and the customer but also between the franchisor and the franchisee.
Frei is a professor of technology and operations management at the Harvard Business School and possesses a wealth of experience on the subject of building and maintaining trust in an organisation. This video is uniquely rewarding and essential viewing for anybody looking to build a new business, or re-establish faith in an existing business model.
5. How to Disagree Productively and Find Common Ground – Julie Dhar
Julia Dhar, principal at the global management consultancy firm Boston Consulting Group, is a three-time winner of the World Schools Debating Championships. During this engaging speech, Dhar invites us to debate better, to listen more and to open our minds.
Debate over policies, strategies and future development is an integral part of all business management. In franchising, in particular, it is important to learn how to disagree productively, both as a franchisor and as a franchisee. This is because, though the franchisor always retains ownership of the business model, there is great variance in how much freedom is given to the franchisee.
Therefore, it is essential that a clear channel of communication is established and maintained between the franchisor and the franchisee(s). Dhar speaks of the imperative of separating the individual from the idea and the need for “structured disagreement”, and suggests that any conversation starts with you asking yourself the question, 'what will it take to change my mind?'.