CEO Q&A: What Makes Up a Good Management Team?

In each issue of Franchise Update magazine, we profile franchise CEOs and presidents, asking each the same set of questions. Throughout the year, we'll be selecting one of those questions -- and providing answers from the previous year's profiles. If you want to learn more about these franchise leaders and their thoughts on other topics, just click the links with their responses to read their full profile.

This week we asked them about what they think makes a good management team.

Brian Petranick, CEO and President, RiseMark Brands
Trust. If you have a team that trusts each other, it is much easier to collaborate, provide meaningful feedback, disagree, brainstorm, and evolve. Trust also makes it much easier to align strategic and operational goals. One additional factor is passion. I really want to be surrounded by people who are passionate about our business, our franchisees, our customers, and our partners. Read the full profile here.

Nicole Ossenfort, CEO and President, Liberty Tax
Diversity of skills and strengths. For a management team to work effectively, the members of the team have to complement each other. They can't bring the same strengths to the team or we'll just end up agreeing with each other on everything. We need to debate and disagree and have a dialogue to make decisions in the best interest of the company and our franchisees. Read the full profile here.

Jon Nobis, CEO, Two Men and a Truck
Leaders with common values, but diverse experiences. Read the full profile here.

Michael Poates, President and COO, Mr. Gatti's Pizza
It's important to have best-in-class senior leadership and the redundancy of a succession bench they are helping to cultivate. Talent just does not walk through the door, it must be developed. It's not optimal to see senior talent come from the outside of an organization--it really puts a boulder on the path of the legitimacy of your organization's career pathway mantra. Always inspire your team to hire above themselves. And stand your ground on silos. The folks who create silos are sometimes the hidden culprits of discourse and organizational complacency by refusing to share the secrets that allow others to professionally grow! Remember not to reinvent the wheel -- if it works, use it. Sometimes leaders who can't just feel the heart of their business model add processes to help them understand it on paper. You see this in company cultures that become process rich and action poor. Read the full profile here.

Tammy Whitworth, Chair and CEO, Window World
Leaders who know the importance of being a role model and creating clear channels of communication within their team. As a company, we make an effort to empower people to become leaders and managers. Internal growth is vital to our prolonged success, so when it comes time to fill a certain position we do our best to promote from within. Read the full profile here.

Larry Oberly, CEO and President, SpeedPro Imaging
Everyone wants to make a difference. They want to and can work within a team environment, building synergy and demonstrating positive thinking and actions; thinking team first, yet working effectively on one's own. Read the full profile here.