As COVID restrictions continue to ease, many people have mixed feelings about how best to adapt to some sense of normality in the future. CEO and founder of Why Leadership, Graeme McKinnon, believes that leading and coaching with compassion is an essential skill that those in leadership positions will need to develop over the months and years ahead. Leading with compassion depends on leaders making a strong positive connection with those around them and using their emotional intelligence to tune into other people’s needs. He believes this is the type of leadership that will help franchisors and franchisees to develop enhanced levels of mutual trust, leading to improved relationships and performance across the business.
Graeme shares his top tips on how franchisors can create a revised strategy for growth, planning for a post-pandemic world, whilst still making sure that people’s individual needs are managed in a caring and compassionate way.
- Establishing the plan. Revisiting your strategy for growth, whilst considering how your customers’ and teams’ view of the world has changed, is essential if you want to optimise your chances of success for the future. This includes the logistics and the mindset challenges of how you should create new routines and workspaces that are designed to balance the evolving needs of the business with the equally important evolving needs of your team.
- Extending the sense of support. Especially in today’s fast-paced world, many franchisees dedicate their lives to running their businesses in a way that has a negative impact on their personal lives. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to do everything in your power to help the people in your care to find the right balance between their work and personal lives. This may require new habits to be established, including putting new systems and procedures in place, which will probably require an investment of time and money.
- Taking care of your own wellbeing. Don’t forget that to be the best leader you can be, you need to make sure that you are looking after your own wellbeing too. The metaphor of ‘putting on your own oxygen mask first before helping others’ is an essential element of being a great leader, so it’s important to take time out and recharge. This includes setting time aside in your schedule to breathe and step back from the day-to-day activities, so you have dedicated thinking time. Slowing down to speed up is another great leadership trait.
- When negativity strikes. There’s bound to be situations when people are facing challenges at work or in their personal life. Coaching with compassion, in these situations, has the power to help individuals find the clarity they need, as well as empowering them to find the solutions required to return to peak performance. Setting time aside to factor these events into your plan is one of the inspiring traits of great leadership.
Taking time to reflect on the points listed above has the potential to lead to sustainable improvements, reducing stress and increasing feelings of wellbeing. From a leadership perspective, this will also provide you with an opportunity to invoke a psychological state that could lead to new possibilities and improved working relationships between you and your team.
Having conversations that connect purpose, passion and values for the franchisor, support teams and franchisees can accelerate personal and business growth. Connecting these things for both yourself, your team and the brand mission, ultimately help you to excel in both your personal and professional lives while delivering for your customers. Encouraging conversations and leading with compassion will ensure you are best equipped to meet the demanding needs of the business world, whilst also retaining the best people to help you achieve your vision.
Graeme believes that it’s important to involve your team and franchisees within this process, remembering that every individual franchisee may require tailored support. Delivered effectively, leading with compassion can help teams, individuals and organisations to establish a clear sense of purpose (their WHY) and a caring supportive environment to accelerate personal and organisational growth.
