Salon team building to boost your business

Salon team building is essential to building a productive, professional hairdressing business - but how do you go about ensuring you're all working on the same goals? A talented and unified team is the bedrock of any successful salon. Forget about how amazing your décor is, how extensive your drinks menu, and how much you’re paying for a prime location. If you don’t have great staff and excellent standards you’re sunk, but accomplishing this feat is not without its challenges. Establishing a group dynamic that works on all levels requires careful managing and the right people at the right time with the right attitude. Customer satisfaction is defined by the stylist/client relationship, underlining why it’s crucial to keep staff motivated and on message. Having fun at work does wonders for positive vibes and productivity levels; plus clients love being part of one big happy family. A salon environment established on rules, respect and reasons to smile is very seductive, whichever side of the backwash you happen to be. It’s also a great foundation for building the very best standards of care and service. Every hairdresser is an ambassador for the industry. Every salon is the setting for creative professionals to invent, inspire, improve and impress on a daily basis. These are things worth thinking about and celebrating together on a daily basis. Staff motivation begins with the boss. Being positive about your business, passionate about the industry, and proud of your protégées encourages everyone else involved to follow your example. Leadership styles may vary, but being someone who can identify, work alongside, and build on the talents of others goes a long way to winning hearts and minds. Your belief makes your brand one that employees want to invest their futures in big time. Teams with a diverse age range dovetail with a multi-generational client base and encourage a culture of inclusion. Blending youthful exuberance with the experience and wisdom of middle age and beyond creates a sense of balance and a framework for impeccable standards. Praise and plaudits help make happy people. Workers of all ages enjoy a metaphorical pat on the back for a job well done. Show appreciation for hard work and accomplishments whenever it’s warranted, however hectic things are. Make it your mission to create champions of the craft. Incentives, healthy competition and in-house awards propel a team to higher levels of performance and keep career blues at bay. Too much ‘downtime’ diminishes drive so keep the team focused through the use of targets and incentives. Use quiet trading times to test product knowledge or finesse finishing techniques. Education is the heart and soul of hairdressing, and the crux of any successful salon. Sitting down with staff members, mapping out individual training programmes will encourage greater job satisfaction and loyalty. Weaknesses can be eradicated, strengths played to, specialist skills polished. Saturday staff need supporting: They shouldn’t be cut loose with a broom or a bottle of shampoo and then ignored by the manager and more senior members of staff. It should also be recognised that these naïve ‘kids’ can potentially be led astray or even be bullied by 17 and 18 year olds who don’t know any better despite being on the payroll. First jobs can be frightening and that shouldn’t be forgotten. A couple of bad experiences and a formerly eager youngster could be put off a hairdressing career for life. Similarly, apprentices can experience multiple ‘rabbit in headlights’ moments. Sweet natured supervision is crucial in all these circumstances. Correctly initiating novices into your company culture removes the fear factor. Creating rules of behaviour and boundaries that benefit everyone provides a fit for purpose launch-pad for the careers of future stars.