New Insights into Business Psychology

Franchisors are primarily in the people business so we thought these tips from a recent Australian Psychological Society Conference in Perth would be of interest. We were proud to be invited to also share our work in the franchising sector at this conference.

#1: How to improve motivation and performance. Professor Marylene Gagne, one of Australia's leading experts in workplace motivation, reminded us that, while monetary incentives can increase performance on boring, repetitive tasks, they reduce performance and commitment for more complex roles. They also tend to encourage bad behaviour. Goal setting, ongoing training, autonomy, variety and constructive feedback are more effective for improving performance. A great reminder for franchisors who want to keep franchisees engaged. You can see a fun snippet from this session here.

#2: How to recover from stressful events. Life sometimes delivers some pretty awful situations. Psychologist, Kirsten Bucknell, has been leading a research team on how to help people become more resilient and recover from traumatic or stressful events. She found that while rumination and "gloomy pondering" are not helpful, structured self-reflection where people focus on useful lessons such as what worked or what went well, helps to rebuild confidence and resilience. This validates many of the techniques we teach in our franchise relationships training programs.

#3: How to improve your selection processes. Professor Filip Lievens is a global expert in how to assess people's suitability for various roles. His recent studies show that a series of 3-minute role plays and on-the-job assessment tasks are one of the most effective ways to assess capability and adaptability. Also structured interviews using behavioural questions and Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales remain an important component of sound assessment processes. This validates the use of these in our FranchiseLab assessment tools. (See below).

#4: How to recover from intensive work effort. Associate Professor Stacey Parker has been studying the best ways to regenerate our energy when we are working long and hard. She found that taking frequent micro-breaks of a few minutes at a time before we get tired or depleted works well. She also found that if we push ourselves too much and get overtired, it's very difficult to unwind and recover, so take regular breaks while you can. The best refreshment breaks involve activities that are relaxing, pleasant and absorb the mind. (Unfortunately, binging out on mind-numbing Netflix series doesn't work!)

#5. How to cope with unmanageable stress. A highlight of the conference was a keynote by Professor Michael Leiter, one of the world's leading experts on burnout. He reminded us that we have three choices when faced with a highly stressful workplace. We can adapt by fitting into the environment and accept that our needs will not be met at work. We can transform the environment by being proactive, building on what's working, creating allies and nudging the environment to make things better. Or we can leave. If we do leave, it's important to be clear on why we're quitting and reflect on what happened to make sense of it all. This helps to reduce regret and emotional baggage.

We hope these insights have been useful.