The general public sees the salon industry as one of free-thinking, care-free, kind-of-out-there, individuals who come and go when they please. What the customer sees is the fun and creativity of the industry. But a successful salon/spa business is so much more than the excitement that comes from creating beauty for a client.
Behind every successful business is a leader that is dedicated to:
- Developing the talent of their service providers
- Systematizing their training
- Creating a team that works together
- Focuses on the discipline necessary to direct a creative team of individuals
How do we do all that? Our team is the core and heart of our business.
They aren’t merchandise to place out on shelves and you can’t pack them away at the end of the season if they haven’t sold. Let us give you our mantra again, “You can’t manage people, you can only manage systems!”
What the heck does that mean?
In a nutshell, it means that you must put in writing exactly what it is you expect your staff to do – from the moment they walk into the salon until they leave at the end of the day; the training they will take on; and your expectations of their performance.
The human element is what makes our businesses unique and it is also the element that makes it difficult!
We are all thinking and feeling individuals who carry around our own baggage and our own gifts! It is what happens when we all walk through that door that everything changes; it is and will always be our greatest challenge, .and that is dealing with the individual’s SELF-ESTEEM.
Self-esteem is at the core of every individual and that self-esteem, whether it is negative or positive can play a role in the atmosphere of your salon.
As business owners we can help our staff in developing a positive self-image and a healthy self-esteem. There is nothing more destructive in a team setting than a team member who doesn’t value their own worth. Low self-esteem translates into unhappiness and the inability to cope with the day-to-day stress of a busy salon.
In our industry low self-esteem looks like this:
- Back-room gossiping, because why should anyone else be happy when they aren’t?
- The inability to develop healthy relationships with either team members or with their clients
- The inability to rate themselves or move themselves up the ladder
- The inability to charge clients for their true worth
- They are afraid to re-book or sell retail for fear of rejection
- Poor performance reviews; and a myriad of other negative behaviors that can be detrimental to the emotional atmosphere in the salon
How do we deal with it? It is in our scope to make or break a service provider, with our words and our actions!
Self-esteem is fed by language; the language we speak to ourselves and the language we use to communicate with other people! Someone with low self-esteem sees themselves as unworthy and the self-talk they use reinforces that negative image of self.
Self-talk sounds like this… “what an idiot! I forgot Peter’s birthday”, or “I am so stupid, I mixed level 6 instead of level 8”. All of us make mistakes and when we reinforce those mistakes with negative self-talk it has a long term effect on our self-esteem. Say these things often enough to yourself and you will believe you are stupid, dumb, ugly, etc.
Be mindful for a day and see how many times you catch yourself in the act! The good news is that we can change our self-talk and therefore our self-esteem. As employers we can aid in the positive development of our employees. To encourage a positive self-esteem we will need to help our employees understand themselves, believe in themselves and encourage them to become their own power source.
Setting realistic goals is an opportunity for the individual to attain and achieve knowledge and skill. It grants them the beginning of an internal power source, and an acknowledgement of having accomplished a particular goal. Praise and acknowledgement go a long way to giving a lift to someone’s spirit!
Understand that some of the behaviours that we see in our salon is from the lack of self-esteem in our employees. It’s our responsibility as leaders to guide, encourage, and coach our team to a belief in themselves.
Be ever mindful of the impact that you have on someone else’s self-esteem!