How do you build a salon culture of freedom and responsibility?
Everyone can handle the truth in your salon business. Especially post Covid, everyone needs to understand where you stand in your salon business, how bad or well things are going, how many clients you lost during the lockdowns, and how much sales are down (or up) every week.
People also perform better when they have the freedom to express themselves and a responsibility to work towards shared goals. Everyone deserves to know and understand where your salon business stands, what you are trying to achieve, and ultimately what it is that is expected of your stylists, receptionists, juniors, and just about everyone in your salon.
I know a person who changed 3 salons within 4 weeks! 3 salons! He kept quitting because either his bosses were unsure where their salon business was heading, or he could not figure out exactly what was expected of them. The results? Not enough clients for the salon not enough clients for his columns to earn a good living. Was it his fault or a poor recruitment and management issue?
Either way, here are some of the questions that can help you build a better culture to attract and retain the best stylists in your salon.
- How open have you been with your team members about your current salon business? The challenges you are facing, especially post Covid, and what do you expect in the next 3 to 6 months from now?
- Do your stylists and other team members have the freedom to disagree with you or a manager openly and in front of everyone?
- Are there any team members who almost never speak up? Have you taken your time to encourage them to come forward with the ideas?
- When was it last time you openly admitted your own mistakes made in your salon business?
- Are there any team members who underperform but you have not discussed their performance openly with them? Does their performance negatively impact others performance?
- Do you feel understood by your staff?
- How would you benefited if you created a culture of cross sharing experiances among team members?
Start asking those questions and introducing a culture of freedom and responsibility in your salon today, but do it consistantly.
There is an entire section dedicated in Salon Extreme 21 on staff, recruitment, building a culture of responsibility and accountability. Head over to learn more and order here.
Start asking these questions and listen to the answers
Tamara Forrest-Smith from Salon Punk
