It’s important to make sure that all your branches are presenting a unified message to your customers. When your branch operations are not delivering the right message, that undermines your position, according to Robert Kaplan in Take Strategy to the Front Lines.
“It’s important to have awareness by every branch manager that they are operating under the umbrella of the parent corporation and have to follow the value proposition in how they work with customers, employees and suppliers,” he said.
It’s not always easy, as branch managers are constantly juggling several tasks, many of them day-to-day and not strategic in nature.
“It’s critical for the corporate leadership to establish not just a clear vision and mission but a clear strategy and communicate that so that every branch manager understands it,” Kaplan said.
Balance is critical. Branch managers have to be great at what they do and operate an efficient location. But they also have to deliver on the corporate strategy and the value proposition to customers. “That is what managers get paid for,” he said.