No man is an island.
We’re sure you’ve heard this phrase before – it essentially means everyone works better together. This is especially true for a franchise business.
Fostering a collaborative environment for franchisees has been an imperative aspect of Stroud Homes’ success as a major player in the Australian and New Zealand home building industry. Without the ability to reach out to others and share knowledge and skills, Stroud Homes would not be market-leading in both countries.
In this article, we look at how Stroud Homes onboards new franchisees into their culture of collaboration.
A Team Environment
Australian Stroud Homes Franchise Development Manager Matthew Wright says Stroud Homes sets expectations from day dot on how people within the company will have to work together and function as a team. This way of working is what’s being reflected in the company’s overall performance and reputation.
“We encourage all our new builders to work together and learn from one another,” says Matthew.
“It can be pretty daunting to start any new business and we hope we give our builders that extra bit of confidence in knowing they have our and the other builders’ support behind them.”
According to Matthew, one of the greatest tools for new home-building franchisees to use is the knowledge and experience the other builders in the company possess.
“The best way to learn the tricks of the trade and avoid the pitfalls is to pick up the phone and talk to some of the builders that have a few years with Stroud Homes under their belt,” Matthew explains.
“They are the ones living it every day and we found that most builders are happy to take the new guys under their wing.”
This way, the company culture can help break down the boundaries between siloed teams, guide decision-making, and improve workflow overall.
Getting to know each other
A well-functioning company culture has great potential to act as an aligning force at any company. This might particularly be the case with new recruits who, more often than not, have put some considerable thought into the type of culture they’re entering into.
Since the culture at the company very much works as a guiding force for its employees and franchisees, it must start with onboarding.
Team work makes the dream work
Every quarter Stroud Homes holds a builder’s conference to offer the franchisees an opportunity to get to know each other, as well as to get to know the management team from the head office.
This will provide new franchisees with the opportunity to ask for advice and guidance from other builders and won’t have to go through the ups and downs of running a building business alone.
The value of support from fellow franchisees who have been through the same trials cannot be underestimated.
Asking for help
The success of your Stroud Homes home building franchise will depend on many factors, not the least being able to listen to other more senior franchisees’ advice, and sometimes it’s necessary to “swallow your pride and ask for help”.
Matthew explains that, even though the company and the support team are doing everything they can to assist the builders in their own business, there’s only so much they can do. An important part of the company culture is also not to hide.
“Key components to the overall success in a franchise is for the owner to ask for help, take responsibility and keep positive,” he says.
“We encourage you to stay positive during tougher times and do the hard work, and we will be there for you every step of the way, including celebrating your success in the end,”
“Asking for help and taking others’ advice on board is only going to make us stronger together.”
Want to know more?
A Stroud Homes franchise is a great way for a builder to evolve their building business while having a support system of other home builders behind them.
Today we have over 40 builders working within a collaborative business environment across Australia and New Zealand. Gain more insights on what it means to run a Stroud Homes franchise by reading our builder testimonials.
Looking for a building business for sale? We have various home building franchises available in prime locations around New Zealand.
Call 0800 4 NZ STROUD or message us below to learn more.
