The words ‘pivot’, ‘adapt’ and ‘unprecedented’ have become synonymous with the challenging year of 2020. With just two months to go, Justin Nihiser – CEO of kids coding franchise, Code Ninjas – is reflecting on some of the challenges that the brand’s network of franchisees in the UK, US and Canada have had to contend with. For him, adapting is about encouraging a culture of open communication and sharing best practice with peers.
This year has seen all of us making pretty life-altering adaptations to our standard routine, whether that be in a professional or personal sense. For me, joining the world’s fastest-growing kids coding franchise in August this year was just that…a life-altering adaptation. Not only was I the new kid in class, but I was the new kid in class during a global pandemic! There is nothing like a baptism by fire to rapidly integrate yourself into a new role. If the last three months have taught me anything, it’s about the need for open communication and coming together for the greater good of your brand.
When franchisees invest in your franchise opportunity, they want to know that you’ve got their back – that you’re going to put their best interests at heart, whilst making business beneficial decisions that will ultimately lead to the continued growth of the brand. When faced with a challenging situation – and let’s face it, the pandemic has been the most challenging of many people’s lifetime – the easiest solution is to retreat, play it safe, and wait for the storm to pass.
Upon joining Code Ninjas as CEO, I knew the best course of action for successfully integrating myself into the position was to use my voice and engage with our community. Not necessarily in a literal sense – this was more about opening up a forum where franchisees felt they could get to know me, my motives and my plans for the future of the brand. Essentially, it was about implementing a virtual open-door strategy that would span the three countries for which we currently operate.
As well as introducing myself in a more traditional sense (via video conferencing, a nod to life during the age of COVID-19), I made a conscious effort to make myself available for conversations with UK franchisees. First and foremost, Code Ninjas is a brand without borders. Whilst our head office is in the US, we want our UK network to feel heard and included. By integrating myself fully into the communication process, they felt reassured by my presence and were willing to provide essential feedback to help improve and deepen our franchise relationship, I accomplished this strategy in a number of ways, including hosting an initial introductory call with the UK group and by joining international calls with our support team as regularly as possible.
Let’s not forget, alongside this, franchisees were also getting used to their own new normal, lockdown restrictions and – for our UK franchisees – launching businesses of their own! I’m very proud to have witnessed how our UK franchisees have adapted in the wake of such unprecedented circumstances. Since lockdown measures eased in the UK, back in early July, seven location have opened their doors.
However, we’re not out of the woods yet. An additional consideration for any international franchisor right now is the anomalies and differences between country-specific COVID-19 limitations and just how that will impact each respective franchise. Our job, as a credible and ethical franchisor, is to take that on board and communicate openly with our franchisees about how the changes in their region impact their specific businesses. So, whilst 2020 has been a challenge for us all, it has been a challenge I’ve taken on wholeheartedly. I’ve seen our franchisees adapt to a change in environment that makes me contemplate a great future for the Code Ninjas network.
