Are Your Franchise Operations Manuals up to Snuff?

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Lizette Pirtle

Operation Manuals are sometimes regarded as a nuisance by both franchisors and franchisees. However, successful franchisors understand that their Operations Manuals are one of their most valuable assets. They grasp the fact that these documents are an extension of their franchise agreements and treat them accordingly, yet they also know that operations manuals must be easy to read and understand and shouldn’t use the formal language of the legal agreement. In other words, Operations Manuals should be accessible to all franchisees.

When franchisors regard their Operations Manuals in a respectful manner, their franchisees will appreciate these documents as well. On the other hand, when franchisors think of their Operations Manuals as just another requirement of franchising and not as the backbone of their business models and training programs, their franchisees will mirror this poor attitude.

Following are some important questions to ask yourself to know whether or not your franchise Operations Manual is up to snuff:

  1. Does your Operations Manual cover every aspect of how to be a franchisee including how to communicate with you, the franchisor? Does it refer to other documents that may augment the technical knowlege of the franchisee?
  2. Does your manual break down every task and concept into small pieces and steps so every franchisee can understand the concepts and replicate the actions it describes?
  3. Is your Operations Manual the basis and text of your training program? Or, do you have a training manual that is the only document you use during training? If you don’t have your franchisees use the Operations Manual during training, do you think they will use it after they leave the training session?
  4. Does your Operations Manual incorporate pictures, drawings, charts and graphs to illustrate concepts and processes?
  5. Does your Operations Manual include checklists and lists to make the tasks easy to learn and implement?
  6. Is your Operations Manual up-to-date at all times?
  7. Is your Operations Manual formatted in a way that is easy to read using a font that is friendly to the eyes and enough white space to aid comprehension?
  8. Is the reading level of your Operations Manual compatible with the education level required of  your franchisees? In other words, is the language used in your Operations Manual easy to comprehend by all of your franchisees?
  9. Do you have printed as well as online versions of your Operations Manual?
  10. Does your Operations Manual reflect the culture and style of the company?

There are many characteristic of good Operations Manuals but if you manage to answer affirmatively to all of the above  questions your manuals are most likely up to snuff.  Congratulations. Now, make sure to keep them this way.

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