We’ve been diagnosing the wrong problem in franchising.

When franchisees aren’t growing, aren’t engaged, or aren’t following the system, it’s easy to conclude that the franchisee is the issue. After all, they’re the ones missing targets. They’re the ones not showing up prepared for coaching calls. They’re the ones resisting change. It’s a logical conclusion, but it’s also incomplete.

A major shift is happening in franchising. The strongest brands are beginning to realize that franchisee performance isn’t primarily a franchisee problem. It’s a field support capability problem.

After spending my career in franchising, first in field support, then as a multi-unit franchisee, and now having worked with more than 130 franchise brands, I’ve seen the same pattern over and over again.

When I first became a field coach, I felt completely confident teaching franchisees how to operate their businesses. I knew the systems. I knew the standards. I knew how to solve operational problems, but I wasn’t prepared to help a franchisee, who already knew what to do, actually want to do it.

When a franchisee stopped caring about their numbers, wasn’t engaged in local marketing, or simply wasn’t taking action, I realized that I’d never been taught how to coach an adult business owner. I could answer questions. I could solve problems. But, influencing behaviour, creating buy-in, and helping someone reconnect with their own goals required a completely different skill set.

We put people in field support roles and expect them to change franchisee behaviour. Yet, most of their development focuses on the business itself, not on motivating, coaching, and holding franchisees accountable.

Most field coaches are promoted because they were exceptional operators. They had technical knowledge such as insight into the business model, understanding the systems, and solving operational problems. To truly help franchisees take ownership of their business requires an entirely different skill: human connection.

Without human connection, even the best field coaches naturally default to what they know: answering questions, troubleshooting problems, reviewing KPIs, and putting out fires. The result is that field support stays reactive instead of developmental.

I’ve experienced this from the other side, too. As a franchisee, there came a point when the support I was receiving no longer helped me grow. The conversations became predictable. It felt like no one was challenging my thinking or helping me move my business forward.

I found myself wondering why I was making time for meetings that weren’t creating value. That’s an uncomfortable thing to admit, but it’s an important reminder. In my experience, it’s possible for the most dedicated franchisees to become disengaged when support becomes routine instead of strategic.

The most compelling evidence is what happens when the coaching changes.

Across the brands we’ve worked with, we’ve seen franchisee engagement in coaching increase from 38 per cent to 93 per cent after redesigning the coaching approach and developing field coaches. We’ve seen a 45-time return on field support investment alongside a 35 per cent improvement in compliance. We have seen participating brands report same-store sales growth of 56 per cent and 35 per cent after franchisees participated in coaching and peer support groups.

Franchisees didn’t suddenly become more capable. Field coaches became more capable. That’s an important distinction. For years, franchisors have invested heavily in better systems, stronger training, improved technology, and more sophisticated reporting. Those investments matter, but they don’t change behaviour on their own.

Behaviour changes when field coaches know how to build trust, create buy-in, ask better questions, hold meaningful accountability conversations, and develop franchisees into stronger business owners.

That’s why I believe field support is undergoing one of the biggest shifts our industry has seen in years. The role is evolving from operational support to strategic growth coaching, and the brands embracing that shift aren’t just building better field teams. They’re building stronger franchisees.

So, perhaps the next time a franchisee isn’t performing, the question isn’t: “How do we get this franchisee to care more?”

Perhaps it’s: “Have we actually taught our field coaches how to coach?”