Which of these four communicator types do you have in your team?

Did you know that there are four key communicator types? Within your business, each communicator type has their own weaknesses and strengths, so applying your approach to each individual is key to getting the most out of your team members, as well as keeping your salon team motivated post-lockdown. Here, Penny Etheridge, managing director of Radiant Hair & Beauty Consultancy shares the four key communicator types to look out for in your salon.

The Four Communicator Types

“Within the hair and beauty industry, you will mostly have open socialiser, reserved relator or direct director communication types,” says Etheridge. “We don't get born as a reserved or indirect communicator; however, we can move around these circles with age and life experience,” she says. Here is her guide for recognising the different personality types in your team and how to get the best out of them in the salon.

Open – The Socialiser

“They're fun, they're chatterboxes and they’re quite open about their own private lives. They like to gossip, but they're nice, friendly people,” says Etheridge. “On the flipside, they can become a little bit over familiar. The can become easily confused or distracted and not carry out the requests that you have asked of them. For someone that's a socialiser, you need to write everything down for them – even better if they write it down themselves," she says. "In fact, a lot of salon owners are open communicators, which is great because they get on with everybody, but you need to organise this communicator type. Otherwise, they not only distract themselves, but they distract others too.”

Reserved – The Relator

“Reserved communicators will be your most loyal employees of all. They drink in the information that you give them, and quietly through observation, you will see that they're carrying out new tasks and they’ve taken it upon themselves to do so," she says. "They value reliability and these people feel a lot." However, reserved people really don't like being pushed. "When you talk about goals, don’t put any threat underneath them," says Etheridge. "They are hardworking people, but they’re the ones that will be emotionally led the most. There's so much more that can come from a reserved person that they're worth spending that little bit of emotional input with, because they will be loyal and they're great team players.” 

Direct – The Director 

“Directors can be the most motivating, but also be the most damaging," says Etheridge. "The direct communicator is somebody who's a leader and likes to control. When this goes wrong, they may want to lead and control, but only in the staff room,” she says. “They are the tricky because they are normally also high skilled. “You need to be firm and let them know who's in charge. Look at ways of delegating responsibility, such as giving them tasks where they work independently. Otherwise, they’ll undermine any of the decisions that you're making and will be taking control from underneath you with that team," she says. “However, they may be just yearning for more responsibility; they want to be seen with respect. You have to find out their goals and aspirations and give them a clear career pathway. Set them robust targets to reach because these people like to be challenged."

Indirect – The Thinker

“Indirect people are very analytical. They have a real attention to detail, they will question everything and have to understand everything before they do it and they tend to work alone," says Etheridge. "You might employ someone within your company who is an indirect or thinker person, but they are more likely to be on your admin team than anywhere else. “They can come across as procrastinating, but it's because they want no stone unturned. They want to know every single detail and then they will make their decision. So they're not agile thinkers – a very good saying is ‘paralysed to analyse’", she says. "Within an appraisal, please refine everything about targets, company goals, visions, career paths down to the minutest detail. The other communication styles will not need that amount of detail though, so just bear that in mind.”