Providing Joint Negotiation Training for McDonald's Company and Franchisee Leaders
CBI assesses key opportunities and delivers tailored negotiation training courses on Mutual Gains partnership between corporate and franchise leaders.
BACKGROUND AND CHALLENGES
McDonald's has 31,000 restaurants worldwide; more than 75% of them are owned and operated by local franchisees. Regional corporate teams must work closely with franchisees to make sure that both corporate and franchisee interests are met. In order to improve the company's capacity for negotiation and collaboration, McDonald’s committed to introducing senior leaders to the Mutual Gains Approach to negotiation in a training course tailored to their context.
THE CBI APPROACH
CBI develops tailored training courses for selected leaders and teams, weaving in key concepts from negotiation, collaboration, leadership, and influence.
After conducting confidential conversations with selected executives and franchisee leaders, CBI designed a tailored course combining key ideas from negotiation, leadership, influence, and consensus building. CBI partnered with a McDonald's leadership sponsor – a senior executive who provided operational examples of the concepts and behaviors being taught.
In addition, CBI delivered "joint training" at regional levels for corporate and franchisee leaders, where there was an opportunity to learn a common model and language, and to better understand divergent interests and how to bridge them.
CBI also delivered custom courses for specific events: a one-day negotiation training for 65 McDonald's supply chain managers from around the world; a one-day workshop for senior leaders; and a two-day workshop for Real Estate and Development leaders.
RESULTS
CBI’s course becomes a core offering within McDonald’s U.S. Talent Management curriculum.
The course that CBI developed contributed to a cultural shift within the company and became a core offering within McDonald’s U.S. Talent Management curriculum, delivered to more than 500 executives since 2005.
Financially, estimates of projected savings from course participants have run into the millions of dollars.
Specific participant comments include:
"One of the best and most interactive workshops I have attended. Truly enjoyed being there."
"The workshop was very relevant and collaborative. Involving key operators is essential to success. [We received] great feedback from owner/operators on the overall workshop."
"The workshop was very helpful. It is very encouraging to know that the company is taking the approach of mutual gains to ensure continued success within the owner-operator community."