To be a leader, you take on the job of doing whatever it takes to guide your followers to success. As a franchisor, you take on the added job of guiding your franchisees to become leaders themselves, so they can make good decisions, even without your guidance.

Here are the 6 most important traits of a good franchise leader:

1. They Have Vision

Truly, the difference between a leader and a follower is the follower’s job is to watch the leader; the leader’s job is to watch everything. A franchisor must see the road ahead and where it’s going to properly guide franchisees to success. Without vision, there can be no goal, and without a goal, there can be no strategy. Vision is a critical job of the successful franchisor.

2. They Listen to Their Franchisees

Franchisees have the benefit of being in the field, every day, working directly with customers and employees while taking note of the victories and struggles of the business as it relates to customer experience. This is the most valuable data a franchisor has access to. Being a powerful listener as a leader gives you insights into how to progress faster, and further.

3. They Understand the Business Completely

The sales funnel, the up-sell, the user experience, the payment methods. Franchise success takes a full understanding of how the business operates. When a franchisor doesn’t understand every detail and methodology of the small business, the franchisor lacks the knowledge to make it better.

4. They Are Accessible 

The best franchisors will hit the road to visit and strengthen franchisor relations. This gives franchisors an opportunity to build rapport, and critical trust with their franchisees by simply making themselves available to communicate.

5. They Have Respect

The best way to get someone to work hard for you is to show great respect for them and the work they do. Leaders don’t hand out orders and demands, they communicate and listen, and then make decisions based on logic and understanding. A good franchisor considers their franchisees as business partners, not employees.

6. They Embrace Change

Not only is it important to roll with the punches when something doesn’t go the way you envision, a true leader will seek out and force change in order to progress the business faster and make it stronger. Upgrading technology, watching trends, moving with the times and changing with the times as the customer evolves their methods of how they buy.

Franchise success comes with strong leadership, and a strong leader never stops learning, listening, and changing to progress and grow their company. Remember that leadership means dedication to being the visionary, the communicator, the decision maker, and the clean-up crew all at once. And in the franchise game, you must understand leadership because you have the added task of teaching your followers to also be leaders.