Shownotes
Author, speaker, and franchising leader Dina Dwyer-Owens opens up about creating a code of values BEFORE you launch a business, re-earning your position every day, how to live R.I.C.H. and scale in franchising, and why to gamify your processes.
Transcripts
I am honored today to introduce to you somebody who is
Host:not only a thought leader, but much more importantly, a
Host:practitioner. Dina Dwyer Owens, you may recognize her as faith
Host:brown on Undercover Boss, which was one of the most popular
Host:episodes from that reality TV show. She's also an author, and
Host:we're going to talk about some of her stuff today around her
Host:first book was called live rich and then values. Inc, her real
Host:life job as the co chair of the Dwyer Group, which is a billion
Host:dollar, well over a billion dollar organization that is in
Host:sort of the franchise space. Anyways, I'm excited and
Host:honored. Dina, welcome to the show.
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: Thank you. I'm the one who's honored here. I so
Host:appreciate the opportunity to share with all your listeners
Host:about what's most important to me at the Dwyer Group.
Host:Yeah. So how did the Dwyer group get started?
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: Well, my father, Don Dwyer founded the
Host:company in 1981 and he had a vision for having a collection
Host:of Franchise Businesses basically serving the same
Host:customer base. And he was just so clear about his vision, his
Host:mission and his values. In fact, his mission statement still
Host:lives on today, and that's to teach our principles and
Host:systems. Franchising is all about systems of personal and
Host:business success, so that all people we touch live happier,
Host:more successful lives. So it's a great way to wake up every day.
Host:We're in the business of helping people have a better quality of
Host:life. We just happen to use franchising as our vehicle to do
Host:that. And when Don founded the company, he also had always been
Host:a student of leadership. Those listening are all students of
Host:leadership. Here. We all want to get better. And Don said, How do
Host:I really start this company off right with the right foundation?
Host:And what he had learned by studying great leaders was that
Host:they were always clear about their values, and that they put
Host:their values in writing, and then they put their values to
Host:work, and they worked hard to practice those values day in and
Host:day. In and day out. So when he launched the business in 81 he
Host:launched it with what he coined his code of values. And you
Host:know, looking back, there are probably more emotionally based
Host:beliefs, things like loyalty as meaning to our lives. We must
Host:count our blessings every day in every way, and one that I will
Host:never forget. And unfortunately, we lost Don in 1994 but one
Host:value as a kid growing up in his business was re earning our
Host:position every day in every way. So he always said, celebrate the
Host:victories of the past. Learn from the mistakes, but be better
Host:today than you were yesterday. So Don, again, had this vision,
Host:and he began to build the company with rainbow
Host:International, which was the flagship Company, which was back
Host:then, a carpet dying and cleaning company. So we could
Host:come into your house, if you had that good old tan shag carpeting
Host:and you wanted it to take care of some stains, we could make
Host:that a nice brown shag carpeting. That industry has
Host:changed. So rainbow today is a restoration and carpet cleaning
Host:company mostly focused on fire and fly restoration. And then he
Host:bought a company called Mr. Reuter, and it was actually a
Host:penny stock that he ended up doing a reverse merger on in 93
Host:and took the company public, started up some brands like Mr.
Host:Electric and air serve and Mr. Appliance. And after his
Host:passing, we bought a company called the glass doctor. And
Host:from there, the grounds guys and Mr. Handyman and Molly made and
Host:five star painting, and I'm probably forgetting some Window
Host:Genie. So today, our key business is being a values
Host:guided world leader of franchise brands that focus on enhancing,
Host:repairing and maintaining customers, homes and businesses.
Host:But my mind still to net it all out. It's about helping anybody
Host:we touch have a better quality of life. And again, franchising
Host:is the vehicle we happen to use to do that, whether it's
Host:touching our franchisees lives, our customers lives, our vendors
Host:lives, it's all about making a positive impact.
Host:Yeah. So talk to me about "live rich". Okay, so you you
Host:use that a lot. Rich is actually an acronym.
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: So in 1993 I mentioned we took our company
Host:public, which was a big step for our founder and my father, and
Host:then, unfortunately, in 1994 he died of a sudden heart attack at
Host:the age of 60. So quite a young man. So one of the things that
Host:we knew as a leadership team was we had to keep this culture
Host:special. It's what attracted the strong franchisees we had. It's
Host:what attracted the great team that. We had, they were aligned
Host:in those values. So we knew we had to keep that foundation
Host:strong. We took Don's original values, his belief system, and
Host:we operationalized it. So that's where rich came from, and rich
Host:stands for respect, integrity, customer focus and having fun in
Host:the process. So when we say we live rich at the Dwyer group. Of
Host:course, we're in business to make money at the end of the
Host:day, but it's about how we treat people, and when we treat people
Host:with respect and dignity, we provide a quality of product or
Host:service profits. The profits are the applause We get. As my
Host:friend Ken Blanchard would say, I have to say we're guilty of,
Host:over the years, going down some bunny trails you get excited
Host:about other businesses that are franchisable or franchise, and
Host:yet our teams had to come back stay focused on what we're
Host:really great at, and that's these home service type
Host:businesses.
Host:What do you think is the difference between the companies
Host:that successfully franchise and they start to successfully
Host:scale, and then the ones that can never really create that
Host:scale?
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: Yeah, a couple of things. You know, it has a
Host:lot to do with the people. People are a pedigree at the
Host:Dwyer group and at all franchise companies, because it takes the
Host:people to create the systems and then coach the franchisees to
Host:those systems. So at Dwyer, and again, a franchise, you're
Host:right. It's all about taking What's complicated about
Host:business and streamlining that into a system or process, then
Host:training to that system or process and making sure people
Host:are living up to it. And then, unfortunately, these are
Host:independent small business owners. Every franchisee is a
Host:small business owner and and even though we want them all to
Host:follow the systems perfectly, that's not going to happen.
Host:It'll never happen. We have 2800 franchises today. The majority
Host:of them do a beautiful job living by the system, and those
Host:are the ones realizing the most success. But unfortunately, some
Host:feel like they've got their own ideas, and you coach them up,
Host:and if you can't coach them up to follow the systems, you have
Host:to coach them out, because it's not fair to the other franchises
Host:who are committed to delivering the brand promise, which is
Host:really what the systems do. And if I talk just for a second
Host:about the distinction about the Dwyer group's core values, we
Host:would not be where we are today. We've grown at a pace of about
Host:50% the last three years, some of that through acquisition, but
Host:a lot of that through organic growth. And if it weren't for
Host:the alignment of our team around our core values, I don't think
Host:we could be here, because it's one thing to have great systems,
Host:but if you don't have great people that really believe in
Host:those systems and believe in delivering that value to the
Host:customer, you're right. That is who we're competing with. We're
Host:competing with who's going to solve the customer's problems,
Host:even around our values, we had to create a system for keeping
Host:those values front and center. We learned our lesson when Don
Host:Dwyer passed away in 94 he was the one who would hold us
Host:accountable to the original values. So he'd let you know if
Host:he felt you were loyal today or you weren't. You know the values
Host:weren't that black and white. Well, today, our values are very
Host:clear. One of our values is continuously striving to
Host:maximize internal and external customer loyalty. And the
Host:internal customers are our employee. The external customer
Host:is you, the person who's calling us to your home or business to
Host:take care of, keeping your again, your home or business
Host:comfortable. So the values really have been the foundation
Host:for our success, but had we not put a system in place, we
Host:wouldn't be where we are today. And I think people make this
Host:more complicated than they need to, but they're not in
Host:franchising. So, you know, as a franchise organization, we
Host:always think about system, systems, systems. If something's
Host:not working, it's probably because the system is not there
Host:or people haven't been trained to it. So we when we created the
Host:operationalized code of values, we knew as a leadership team,
Host:number one, we couldn't just throw them in the face of our
Host:employees and say, hey, look, starting today, these are going
Host:to be the new values we're going to follow. Instead, we said to
Host:our employees, and we didn't realize we were being so smart
Host:when we gamified our values, but we basically said to our
Host:employees, we think this is going to be the solution to
Host:keeping our culture special. We handed them handed them a
Host:laminated card. On one side of the card had the original
Host:values, Don's values. On the other side of the card had the
Host:new operationalized values, the rich values. And we said, we
Host:need your help for the next 90 days. We want you guys to study
Host:these values, and in order to show our commitment to you, we
Host:want you to give us feedback anytime you catch a management
Host:team member violating a value, we want you to give us a beep.
Host:And as silly as that sounds, it worked. So the employees really
Host:studied these values, much more than I would have ever imagined,
Host:because they loved the idea of catching their bosses doing
Host:something wrong. So if you could imagine the Road Runner running
Host:through our building for 90 days, that's what it sounded
Host:like around here. We were being beeped. It's just a verbal beep,
Host:beeped right and left, because we were so bad at the new
Host:operationalized values. So once we played that game, we brought
Host:the team back together, we asked them what they thought, and they
Host:loved it, and they added a value that I think is the toughest one
Host:we have today. But we said, okay, so going forward, because
Host:this, this. Not die. When the CEO of the company dies or the
Host:leadership team dies in this company, it's got to be
Host:sustainable. So let's create a system. We said, anytime we have
Host:the meeting of three or more of our team members or our
Host:franchisees, we're simply going to bring the values front and
Host:center in that meeting. So before we talk about anything
Host:else, we're going to either review all 15 values in our
Host:case, because they're really behavioral statements, if you
Host:want to think about them being that black and white, and
Host:sometimes we might just highlight a value that we're not
Host:so good at. Maybe we've gotten some feedback from a customer
Host:that we're not doing a great job responding in a timely fashion,
Host:for example, or maybe we highlight a team member who's
Host:gotten exceptional feedback. The bottom line is, at the beginning
Host:of every meeting of three or more, we should take a deep
Host:breath and reflect on our values. And most of our team
Host:members, not all of them, because we're a fast growing
Host:company, many of our team members can do that by heart
Host:with heart, as we call it. It's not just a memorization act. We
Host:want people to internalize the values so that when a problem
Host:occurs, what happens in your mind is you could write to a
Host:value, or maybe a number of values that can be the solution
Host:to the problem. We do it out loud, and sometimes, again,
Host:we'll go over all 15 values. Sometimes we'll just highlight
Host:the key areas, showing respect for all people, acting with
Host:integrity and all dealings and serving customers with
Host:enthusiasm. It just kind of depends on how many meetings
Host:you're in in a day. Sometimes it seems, oh, all 15 again. Can we?
Host:Can we just focus on one that we know we need to get better at?
Host:There's one that's very topical. You know, if you think about,
Host:we're having a meeting about customer service, but we want to
Host:talk about one of the values that has to do with customer
Host:loyalty.
Host:Okay, so let me play the devil's advocate here, right?
Host:Like we don't have the extra two minutes to spare to do this.
Host:What do you say to that?
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: This is what I say to the leader. You don't
Host:want to hear the whining. This is who we are. This is the only
Host:way that we're going to keep these values front and center,
Host:and the minute we start getting lazy about it, I liken it to
Host:people who do a good job of brushing their teeth, but they
Host:don't floss their teeth very often. And what happens when you
Host:don't floss your teeth very often? You get rot, you get
Host:decay. And what happens when you start having decay? It not only
Host:affects your teeth, it affects major organs in your body. And
Host:in my mind, it's up to the leader to stay firm on the fact
Host:that you've got to keep the values front and center, because
Host:the minute you quit flossing, you're going to get decay. You
Host:start getting decay. Organs start shutting down. Your body
Host:is not going to be at optimal health. It's the same thing with
Host:a franchise organization or any organization, the values have to
Host:remain front and center, and the minute we start getting lazy
Host:about it, we lose an opportunity to really be great when properly
Host:practice values inflict pain. They make some employees feel
Host:like outcast. They can limit an organization's strategic and
Host:operational freedom and constrain the behavior of its
Host:people. They leave executives open to heavy criticism for even
Host:minor violations, and they demand constant vigilance. So
Host:this value step is not for everybody. It's really not for
Host:the faint of heart. I have a quick example for you. I was
Host:just at a I'm on the board of lead like Jesus, which is a Ken
Host:Blanchard nonprofit organization. It's about
Host:teaching that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model
Host:of all times. It's not about being a believer in Jesus. You
Host:know that then he was a prophet for some but it's about the fact
Host:that he was such a great leader and and the founder and owner of
Host:all the Omni resorts, they shared a story about his values,
Host:and they said, here's the guy who goes up to his values, and
Host:the numbers is not what drives it, it's it's what's right,
Host:doing the right thing. So, you know, they have these terrible
Host:adult stations on TVs in these hotel rooms. They're poison.
Host:They're poison. And this guy was in one of his hotel rooms one
Host:night and realized they had these adult channels. You know,
Host:he doesn't know every single working of the the hotel can't
Host:possibly 30,000 employees a big, big operation. And he says, What
Host:are we doing here? Why do we have this? He got with his
Host:management team, and they disconnected all of the adult
Host:channels. Now that takes courage, but that's following
Host:your values all the way through. You know what? As a customer,
Host:guess where I'm going to stay? Because I respect that. He's got
Host:the courage to make that kind of decision, losing millions a year
Host:but not having the adult stations. But he's not really
Host:losing millions a year because he's living up to his values.
Host:What's most important? Because when you do that, it translates
Host:into financial results. We're proof of it. At the Dwyer group,
Host:we had a private equity partner who took us private in 2003 sold
Host:us in 2010 Three years later, came knocking on our door to buy
Host:us back, because they were having a hard time putting a new
Host:$1.5 billion fund they had raised to work with great
Host:companies, and they said, What we love about Dwyer is your
Host:culture, the mission that you have the leadership team. And of
Host:course, the growth opportunities are huge. Every franchisee has
Host:an opportunity to grow their business. My attitude, and I say
Host:this in the book a couple of times, the rewards are really
Host:too great to ignore. And is it easy? No, it's not easy, getting
Host:clarity about your vows. It's not easy making sure that you're
Host:leading with them, because we are human beings, and we fail
Host:every day. You know, every day, probably somebody could beat me
Host:for not living up to the value, to the degree that I should be,
Host:but I'm doing my best. I'm striving to live those and
Host:that's all we can ask of our team. And we're surrounded by
Host:people at Dwyer who work hard to live up to those values. Is
Host:every day our values have surrounded us with people that
Host:are like minded, that really care about that customer
Host:experience that you talked about early on. Without the values,
Host:though, we wouldn't be able to do this, I'm certain.
Host:Yeah, Dina, I do have one other question that I want to
Host:make sure to ask you. But before I do that, where do you want
Host:people to go to connect with you? You know, learn more.
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: Yeah, they can simply go to Dina Dwyer
Host:owens.com and it's D, W, y, E, R, owens.com.
Host:Okay, so here's our last question. Let's say there's
Host:somebody out there listening, and maybe they run a franchise,
Host:maybe they have a small business, maybe they are mid
Host:level manager at some large public organization, and they're
Host:not, they don't have ownership, but they have leadership to the
Host:leader that's out there listening right now. What action
Host:would you encourage them to immediately take?
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: The first action would be is discover if
Host:you do have clearly written values, because most of the
Host:time, organizations have done a lot of work, whether, again,
Host:it's a church or a for profit business, they've done a lot of
Host:work thinking about what's important to them. So I would
Host:say, dig those up. Dig those values up. Get with key leaders
Host:in that organization. It could even be a family. It could be a
Host:parent who's listening and sit down and talk about those,
Host:revisit them, polish them up, and again, download the Create
Host:your culture workbook, or invest in values. Inc, there's some
Host:very clear directions at the back of values. Inc, too, on how
Host:to then take that to the next level, so that you truly can
Host:create a system around keeping your values front and center so
Host:you don't forget who you are and what you want to stand for in
Host:this world.
Host:Well, Dina, thank you so much for your time today, and we
Host:appreciate you taking the time.
Host:Dina Dwyer-Owens: Thank you for the opportunity, and I hope that
Host:the listeners will join this movement. We really can change
Host:the world one person at a time.
