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Inspect What You Expect: Salon Team Evaluations Part 1

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teamwork

In my role as a business consultant to salon owners, my clients frequently tell me about the many issues they experience in dealing effectively with their staff’s performance. There are countless different and specific situations I help business owners and operators deal with but, in general, I guide the leaders in establishing a system for staff evaluations. This is critical for setting standards, managing them consistently, helping to prevent future problems, and rewarding success.

Here are some guidelines you can use to start managing your salon staff more effectively.

As a  salon owner, your team is critical to your success. Whether you have a team of one or of dozens, their performance is a key factor in the overall performance of the business.

There are many categories of team members – from service providers to reception staff and cleaners. Each position has unique demands and therefor unique performance expectations. Most employees are genuinely motivated to do a good job. But what does that mean exactly? When the definition and expectations of a role are clearly defined, each person can more easily chart their own course to success.

Guiding Your Salon Team to Success

A great way to help your team stay motivated and be successful is by conducting evaluations. They are most effective when done in a formal setting: a sitting down, one-one-one discussion. It’s a useful way to give constructive feedback on how to improve, and also an opportunity to let them know what they are doing well. Evaluations help to keep the staff in line by making them aware that you are looking at their performance. This keeps them ‘on their toes’. Often, employees cut corners if they feel no one is watching, or if they think they can get away with it. Evaluations are a great way to do checks and balances on the staff and also a great way to coach them and help them improve. It also shows that you care about them and their performance. Formal evaluations result in decision making based on facts and data – not emotion.

Why Evaluations are Good for Your Salon and Your Salon Team Members

Evaluations are a critical process in your business practice. They assist both the operation and the spa or salon team members in following a path to success.

Why evaluations are good for the salon

  • They keep lines of communication open.
  • They recognize excellence.
  • They document areas that need improvement.
  • They offer a consistent method of setting and measuring goals.
  • They can be used as a measurement tool for compensation.

 

Why evaluations are good for team members

  • They keep lines of communication open.
  • They provide a different, permanent means of communication rather than just talking.
  • They demonstrate to the team member that the company is interested in their growth and success.
  • They celebrates areas of success.
  • They provide goals.
  • They give team members an opportunity to give feedback.
  • They give guidelines and structure on current and future performance expectations.

How to Not Make a Mess of it All

The information in an evaluation should NEVER come as surprise to the team member. If you are effectively communicating with that person on an ongoing basis, they should – at the very least – have a good idea what you will be talking about regarding their performance. This process should never be used as an opportunity to ‘beat up’ on a team member. 

 Enable the Success of Your Salon Team

In order for your salon staff to succeed, they must have the right support and training. Make sure the standards and expectations of the evaluations have clear definitions. Your staff will have difficulty achieving a goal they don’t understand. Incentives are also important to give your staff motivation to do well on their evaluations.

Be available to your team. If you are available and in communication with them, everyone will have the opportunity to discuss and clarify standards, and to share advice on how to achieve success.

Do you want to take your skills as a salon owner and manager to the next level? Book a consult at rob@salonprophets.com

Leading Your Salon Business to Success: The Role of Salon Owner Part 2

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Salon business owner

The role of the salon owner is key as we saw in Part 1 of this series. Leading your salon to success has many areas that need to be addressed to ensure results. The following key areas are important to build on after you have established your Mission and Vision Statements for your salon business.

Management Training

Once delegation has taken place, the owner must train the manager thoroughly with regards to all standards and expectations. 

The owner must still maintain some control by being informed and aware of daily operations, and by communicating regularly with the manager. Staff meetings and other forms of communications are essential to make sure all staff are working towards the goals, vision, and mission of the salon.

Training should be an ongoing process. Everyone needs to be reminded of standards of service, and everyone should refresh their skills.

If an owner wants to be totally ‘hands-off’, success is only possible if good hiring, delegation and training have taken place.

Staff Training

Even with a manager hired by the owner, the quality of work and the professionalism of all staff is still the ultimate responsibility of the owner.

Remember—the owner must hire and oversee a manager who will lead the staff. If any staff are not performing well, the owner must be able to depend on the manager perform their duties effectively.

Motivational Environment

It is the owner’s responsibility to create an environment conducive to success. Here are the key factors that will determine the success of your salon:

  • The right people must be aligned with your vision.
  • The interview and selection process must enable you to attract and engage people that are the right fit for you and your spa.
  • The Interview and selection process also allows you to weed out and avoid people that are NOT the right fit for you. The wrong people are OUT.
  • It is essential to have a process that can measure people to your vision, mission, values etc. and then have them lead your team based upon these principles.
  • Staff Orientation
  • How is each team member brought into the culture
  • Day 1 to Day 30
  • Staff Training
  • Technical
  • Service
  • Staff Responsibility
  • Teach a skill
  • Assign tasks and roles
  • Get them to select and train their replacement
  • Staff Goal Setting
  • Personal
  • Professional
  • Staff Productivity
  • Evaluations
  • To following the vision
  • To achieve performance targets
  • To achieving personal development
  • Quality Control

What’s Next for You?

These tools and strategies can be useful as a road map for leading your salon business to success. It’s up to you to decide what your role will be as owner.

Will you be involved in the salon on a daily basis? Or will you head off to travel the globe knowing your manager and staff are eager and able to implement your vision?

Or maybe your role will be somewhere between these two examples. There is no right or wrong way to act as an owner. The most important thing is being an active participant in taking steps to ensure that your goals can be achieved regardless of the path you take for your salon business. 

Need Help Getting Results In Your Salon Business?

Contact Salon Prophets at rob@salonprophets.com 

Leading Your Salon to Success: The Role of the Salon Owner Part 1

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Salon owner

Who’s in Charge Here?

Who or what is ultimately responsible for a salon’s success? Is it the manager? The marketing? The staff? The location? The clients?

It’s the owner. Because the owner has influence over all these factors. The owner determines the overall direction of the salon. The owner—who is also often the manager—sets the tone and standards for all the elements that go into creating and running a salon.

There are many duties and responsibilities the owner must oversee for a salon to be successful. Let’s examine the key areas where the owner can lead a salon to success.

The Vision Statement, Mission Statement, and Core Values

An important opportunity for an owner to show leadership is by developing a vision and mission statement. But’s that’s not enough: A leader’s role is also to communicate, and reiterate that statement, and make sure everyone understands its value.

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
-Peter F. Drucker

What is a Vision Statement?

The purpose of a vision statement is to tell the people what you want to become, it defines the desirable or idealistic future state and it is meant to raise the bar. As well, it should inspire and challenge everyone to do great things.

What is a Mission Statement?

A Mission Statement is what you do: your fundamental purpose or your business. It represents the defining focus of your skills, judgment, energy and creativity. When you undertake your mission with conviction and diligence, you will eventually realize that Vision.

What are Core Values?

Core values are the essential principles that will govern your behavior and guide your
day-to-day decisions and actions. As such you’re going to be evaluated on your willingness to embrace and demonstrate these values.

Hiring and Delegation

To have a successful salon, an owner cannot play the ‘blame game’ if that owner is not involved in the day-to-day running of the spa. An owner can achieve success through good hiring, delegating, training, and ongoing supervision of the management and staff. 

People are your greatest asset, greatest expense and the single most time and energy consuming part of any salon business. That said, it is important that there is a clear strategy on how to best select, inspire and recognize the people that will determine the success of the salon.

In order to delegate effectively, good hiring decisions are essential. The owner must hire a salon manager to fulfill their vision and expectations. In turn, the person hired must pass that on to those they supervise.

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
– Ronald Reagan

These are key areas that need to be addressed to ensure the success of your salon business. Book an appointment at rob@salonprophets.com