From Knowledge in Storage to Fuel in Action: How to Share Know-How That Franchisees Actually Use

jantimms3
Aug 19, 2025
6 min read

A few years ago, two senior leaders from a franchise group came to me with a problem. They remembered some fantastic business development programs their network had run in the past - programs they knew could help them again. But there was one issue: no one could find them.

The knowledge had existed, but it wasn’t captured, stored, or shared in any way that made it easy to retrieve. All that valuable know-how had quietly disappeared, leaving the franchisor frustrated and the franchisees without proven tools that could have boosted their results.

This is the reality for many networks. Franchisors invest time, money, and effort into capturing and refining knowledge, but then it sits buried in inboxes, scattered across platforms, or locked inside people’s heads. Without effective sharing, it never fuels performance.

That’s why the “S” in GRASP stands for Share. It’s about delivering knowledge in ways that are engaging, accessible, and reinforced - so franchisees don’t just hear it once, they can use it every day.

Why Sharing Know-How Matters

Franchise networks thrive on consistency and capability. Both depend on how well knowledge is shared.

When knowledge isn’t delivered effectively, three things happen:

It gets lost - buried in old emails, forgotten after a one-off training session, or stored in documents nobody opens.
It doesn’t stick - franchisees might hear something once but without reinforcement, it never turns into habit or action.
It becomes fragmented - different parts of the network do things their own way, eroding consistency and brand strength.

On the other hand, when know-how is shared well, it fuels growth:

Faster onboarding - new franchisees feel supported and get up to speed quickly.
Consistent standards - everyone knows the right way to do things, reducing costly errors.
Stronger confidence - franchisees trust the system because they can easily access the knowledge they need, when they need it.

In short, captured knowledge has no value until it’s shared. This stage of GRASP ensures that the refined and added knowledge doesn’t just sit in a “tank” - it flows to the people who need it most.

The Key Fuel Delivery Systems

Sharing knowledge isn’t just about sending out information and hoping it lands. It requires clear, structured delivery systems that ensure franchisees not only receive the knowledge, but also understand it, apply it, and see results from it.

There are three main “fuel delivery systems” franchisors can rely on:

Field Support Teams

These are the front-line messengers of knowledge. Through coaching, consulting, and performance analysis, field managers translate central know-how into local action. But this only works if their visits are structured, purposeful, and aligned with the network’s unifying vision.

Learning & Development Teams

These teams design and deliver structured programs - from onboarding to advanced business growth initiatives. Their role is to ensure learning isn’t a one-off event, but a process reinforced over time through blended approaches (eLearning, workshops, coaching, and mentoring).

The FIVE Star Franchisee Success System

This is the structured framework that ties everything together. Instead of leaving knowledge delivery to chance, it builds rhythm and rigour into the way support is offered. It ensures that every franchisee, no matter where they are in their journey, receives the right knowledge, at the right time, in the right way.

Without these delivery systems, knowledge remains trapped in manuals, PowerPoints, or good intentions. With them, it becomes fuel for franchisee confidence, performance, and growth.

Knowledge Sharing Forums

Forums are one of the most effective - yet often underutilised - ways to share know-how across a franchise network. Done well, they create a rhythm for learning and collaboration that goes beyond one-off training sessions.

The key is to keep forums focused and purposeful. Generic catch-ups or information dumps rarely work. Instead, structure forums around clear themes that franchisees care about, such as:

Grow Your Business - practical strategies for driving sales and profitability
Develop Your Team - sharing approaches to recruitment, training, and staff retention
Boost Customer Experience - examples of service excellence from across the network

For forums to deliver real value, franchisors need to make them interactive. Encourage franchisees to bring examples, share what’s worked in their businesses, and ask questions. Provide summaries or action points after each session, and feed highlights back into the central knowledge tank so they don’t disappear.

When forums are treated as part of the franchise’s knowledge delivery system, they become more than a meeting. They become a tool for reinforcing standards, building capability, and strengthening the culture of shared success.

Conferences – More Than Just Presentations

Annual franchise conferences are often seen as the highlight of the year. They bring everyone together, celebrate success, and provide a platform for new initiatives. But too often, they fall into the trap of being all presentation and no transformation.

When conferences are treated as little more than a speaking roster, they risk:

Information overload - franchisees leave with notebooks full of ideas but no clear next steps.
Passive audiences - hours of back-to-back PowerPoints result in low engagement and limited recall.
Supplier-heavy agendas - conferences become sales events for partners rather than learning opportunities for franchisees.

To make conferences genuine fuel delivery systems, franchisors must approach them differently. Successful conferences strike a balance between:

Learning - practical, relevant sessions that franchisees can apply straight away.
Connection - time and space for relationship-building across the network.
Energy - fun, engaging activities that make the event memorable and reinforce culture.

When franchisors build conferences around real learning outcomes, supported by interactive delivery, they transform from “annual events” into catalysts for long-term franchisee performance.

Webinars and Ongoing Learning

In today’s franchise networks, knowledge can’t be delivered once a year and forgotten. Franchisees need ongoing opportunities to refresh, revisit, and apply know-how as challenges evolve. That’s where webinars and digital learning come in.

Webinars are powerful because they are:

Timely - franchisors can deliver knowledge quickly in response to emerging needs.
Accessible - franchisees can join from anywhere, reducing travel costs and time barriers.
Interactive - with polls, Q&A, and breakout discussions, learning becomes a two-way process.

But like conferences, webinars can also fail if they become passive broadcasts. The key is to keep them short, practical, and action-oriented. Think “just-in-time knowledge delivery” rather than long lectures.

Beyond webinars, franchisors should build a rhythm of continuous learning:

Short online modules for bite-sized knowledge transfer
Podcasts or video snippets highlighting tips and success stories
Regular newsletters or knowledge alerts linked back to the central knowledge tank

When ongoing learning is embedded into the fabric of the franchise, knowledge stops being an occasional input. It becomes part of how the network operates day to day.

Embedding Knowledge into Daily Habits

The most effective knowledge sharing doesn’t happen at a conference, in a webinar, or during a field visit - it happens in the daily rhythm of how franchisees run their businesses.

Knowledge needs to be easy to access and reinforced through action so that it becomes second nature. This means:

Accessible systems - franchisees know exactly where to go for the latest resources, and the information there is always up to date.
Coaching and support - field teams don’t just check compliance; they coach franchisees on how to apply the knowledge in real situations.
Reinforcement loops - lessons from training or forums are revisited in follow-ups, reviews, and team meetings until they stick.
Cultural expectation - learning and sharing are seen as part of “how we do things here,” not optional extras.

When franchisors embed knowledge into daily habits, it moves from being abstract content to becoming part of the lived experience of running a franchise. That’s when knowledge truly fuels consistent performance and growth.

Conclusion – Turning Shared Knowledge into Shared Success

Knowledge is only as powerful as its ability to be shared. If it stays hidden in manuals, scattered across emails, or lost in one-off training sessions, it adds no value. But when franchisors build clear delivery systems, create engaging forums, design impactful conferences, and reinforce learning through daily habits, knowledge becomes a living force that drives performance across the network.

Sharing isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s the difference between a network where franchisees thrive together and one where inconsistency, confusion, and wasted effort erode growth.

If you’re ready to take the next step in making knowledge sharing a true competitive advantage, the Franchise Growth Bundle will help you to get started.

With the bundle, you’ll get:

A hardcopy of the bestselling book The Ultimate Franchising Success Formula
Full access to the audiobook version for learning on the go
Two months of membership to the Get Smart Learning Academy, with practical tools, strategies, and real-world examples to help you embed knowledge sharing across your network
Two live 1:1 60-minute Coaching Sessions for personalised guidance
Access to the Five Magic F’s Success Diagnostic, giving you a clear, tailored roadmap for where to focus your energy