Your Scaling Strategy Won’t Work Without This One Crucial Ingredient

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Suppose you own a small retail store and you’ve decided to add e-commerce . You work long and hard with the best consultants around and roll out a brilliant online strategy that you’re sure will bring in stacks of digital dollars — if your team is on board with the innovative, highly responsive approach you need for online sales and customer service.

If they’re still stuck in “the way we’ve always done it” and cling to their 9-to-5-and-home attitude, your forward-looking strategy is doomed to fail.

Related: Considering franchise ownership? Get started now to find your personalized list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.

Company culture eats strategy for lunch every day and every time. Strategies are important but most of them change with the economy, finances, world events and other temporary circumstances. Culture is a consistent, steady force that powers you through the challenges and makes it possible to handle them. If you have the right culture, you can get over anything that comes your way.

Culture kept my company going through the 2008-09 recession that hit hard at so many businesses. We not only had layoffs but also asked our top executives to take less, and they did so without hesitation. We made it through the COVID pandemic by asking our teams to step up to help franchise owners. It’s because of the behaviors and norms we’ve cultivated that we’ve been able to pull together and create success in precarious circumstances.

Related: I’ve Seen How Reckless Franchisors Can Ruin People’s Lives. Here’s How the Best Franchises Grow, Find the Right Franchisees, and Thrive Together

Cultivating the culture

There are many kinds of culture, from casual and family-like to formal and hierarchical — the kind you encourage depends on the results you want to achieve. And you won’t necessarily have a single type of culture but may combine elements from more than one.

For instance, my company thrives on a family culture where everyone knows and likes each other, and we have a lot of social events to help people get to know one another. But we’re also focused on results, so we like to set up friendly but serious competitions … Read More