How to Train Your District Manager

More and more franchise brands are attracting sophisticated and financially able external investors who can buy and operate large areas in different cities to become multi-unit enterprises. They're also approaching their already successful multi-unit franchisees and encouraging them to grow into a larger multi-unit organizations. 

Although the transition makes the brands more efficient at supporting those franchisees, it brings a lot of challenges to the multi-unit investors, because as they're growing, they have to develop the district managers. This key position allows the franchisee to focus on strategy and growth while delegating operations.

These professionals are often promoted from within and the franchisee has the responsibility to train and develop them so they can be successful and effective in this new role. That way, they can grow and delegate operations to them. 

It’s not an easy task, mostly because they lack knowledge of what exactly is that role. But in today's blog, I’ll share five tips on what franchisees can do to help these leaders do their job successfully. 

Tip #1: Understand that the job is completely different

As a supervisor of these individuals, franchisees need to comprehend that the job of the unit manager is completely different from the district manager’s one. 

A unit manager's job is dictated by the day-to-day operations of the brand and business, which means that they know ahead of time what they're supposed to do, and most of their schedule is dictated by the operations. 

The district manager’s role, on the other hand, is defined by the priorities of the district. They oversee multiple units with multiple leaders and diverse teams with different strengths and opportunities. 

Therefore, their job is to analyze those opportunities and prioritize the ones that are the most important. And based on that, they decide what they're going to do day in and day out.

• That significant difference is why the promotion of unit managers into district managers is such a challenge! Because how they approach the job is completely different from how they used to work. 

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Being aware of these differences will allow you to take the necessary steps to support your district manager on how to approach their new role. 

Tip #2: Define the key responsibilities

Franchisees have to clearly define what are the responsibilities of the district managers. Here at The American Franchise Academy, we have defined seven critical responsibilities that these professionals have:

1. Lead: they have to be able to develop themselves as well as their unit leaders into being great leaders. That means they can inspire and motivate their teams to do a great job. 
2. Plan: it is critical that they can plan their time and, tactically and strategically, define what are their priorities and what they’ll do every day. 
3. Staff: their job is not to interview and hire every position, but to manage the staffing levels across the district and ensure that they are being filled on a timely basis by great people. They also have to guide, teach, and coach their unit managers so they can find and hire these outstanding collaborators.

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4. Execute: they have to ensure that the unit managers and their teams are executing the brand and business systems with a high level of excellence every day. And one of the ways to do that is through effective unit visits and feedback. 
5. Maintain: district managers need to ensure that the units are clean and in good working order so that there is no work or product quality interruption. This has to be in all the units across their district. 
6. Market: each unit requires a robust local store marketing plan. This has to be co-created between the district manager and the unit manager and be well executed so that the sales can increase year over year.
7. Results: district manager needs to understand the financials of the business and what to do to change the direction of the results if they're not going where they should. They also have to acknowledge the impact that all of these responsibilities have, and how their actions and activities resonate with the business performance, as well as what the unit managers and their team members do every day. 

Discover more of these seven critical responsibilities here! 

Tip #3: Provide the tools to execute their responsibilities

You spend a lot of time clarifying what those responsibilities should be, so you must give your district managers everything they need to execute the responsibilities properly. 

And that requires processes, procedures, and policies as well as documentation through templates and forms so that they can do their job right. 

Tip #4: Set routines for them

Routines are very important for district managers because they will help these supervisors know what they should be doing every day, every week, and every month to be successful in their responsibilities. 

They need to have that definition so they can plan their time accordingly. 

• Remember: district managers need to define what they are going to do every day to cause a change in their district, and that has to be followed through specific routines. 

Tip #5: Follow up and support 

The district manager is the most challenging role in the retail and franchise industry, and it is easy to get derailed in that job. So as a direct supervisor to that position, you must follow up and encourage your district managers.

And, if you see things that are getting out of focus, you should help them get back on track so that they can continue in their job the way they're supposed to. Also, they have to know that you are there, as their franchisee, to support their success. 

• At the end of the day, having a great district manager gives you the time freedom to focus on growth, strategy, or simply to enjoy the fruits of your labor so far. 

Here’s an extra tip: explore our Multi-Unit Leadership Certification Program, a 10-week best-in-class training for district managers. During this program, we provide the district managers:

• Clarity on what their role is
• Understanding of their seven critical responsibilities. 
• The tools, templates, processes, and procedures on how to execute these tasks well enough.
• The routines that will make them effective at their job.

If you want to learn more about our program, go to www.DistrictManagerTraining.com and register for the next information session, where we'll share all the details about this program. 

Don’t forget to follow us on our YouTube channel, subscribe to our podcast and find us on all of our platforms across social media, where you can find a lot more knowledge, tips, and information for you to be successful. 

Reflections:

• Do you understand the differences between a unit manager and a multi-unit leader?
• Are your district managers properly trained? What are they lacking?
• Are you providing them with the resources they need to succeed?
• Are you getting the results you expected from your franchise business?

WATCH THIS VBLOG on YouTube HERE.