How to be an effective leader

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We all know that running a successful salon team requires strong leadership from the top, salon management consultant, Ryan Fox, explores what makes an effective leader. Some believe leaders are born, others believe good leadership can be learned. It’s a bit like the old question is it nurture or nature. The truth is it’s probably a combination of both. There are many ways to lead a team and often it’s about picking the right approach at the right time. In today’s world, being flexible is often the key, however there are some fundamental principles that apply to the art of leadership. What is your natural approach? One of the first things is to know how you naturally come across as a leader. Are you hard and assertive with people or are you a soft touch? Are you consistent with your actions or do you act on impulse depending on how you feel that day? Do you have a natural sense of fairness or do you have your favourites who always get a better response from you? It’s worth doing a SWOT analysis on yourself to identify your own natural Strengths and Weaknesses in your leadership ability so you know what you need to work on i.e. your Opportunities for personal growth and to know the Threats to your influence as leader. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” This quote from the famous management guru Peter Drucker explains the difference between management and leadership and makes an important distinction. It’s the manager’s job to implement the salon policies and procedures, make sure client service is up to standard, ensure all the daily, weekly, monthly jobs are done, to keep the team focused and happy and ensure the smooth running of the salon. The job of the leader is to decide on the policy, define the procedures, set the standards, write the job lists and inspire the team to take pride in their work and aim high. What’s your style? Another aspect of leadership is deciding which style to adopt for different situations. These fall into three categories:

• Autocratic – an autocratic style will be very directive offering clear instructions
• Consulting – a consultative style will be a combination of delegating and supporting
• Participative – and participative will be collaborative in style

  These work on a spectrum with Autocratic at the left end, Consulting in the middle and Participative on the right. These different styles can be adopted by a leader depending on what they are doing and what they want to achieve. For example certain situations require you to be very directive in your approach i.e. the fire alarm goes off, you need to offer quick and clear instruction. Some situations suit a consultative approach for example carrying our staff appraisals and some situations require a participative style, like coming up with ideas for your latest creative collection. Situational Leadership As a leader you will have some natural tendencies, firstly be aware of what they are and then manage them, but as we have seen you also need to be flexible and use different styles depending on the situation. This will also depend on who you are addressing and their level of competence and confidence. Highly skilled and confident stylists and therapists will require less direction than more junior members of the team who will require much more support. It’s important to know what the styles are and what style to adopt for each situation. Be yourself Leadership is an art not a science and there are things you can learn to improve and tools you can use to help you. It’s worth gaining an understanding of the fundamental principles and taking aspects from how other people do it, but at the end of the day you have be true to yourself and put the time in to develop your own style of leadership. Ryan Fox is a consultant who improves salon performance through training and innovation. For further help and advice on developing your leadership skills contact him by visiting www.umbrellaconsulting.co.uk