Motivating your salon staff doesn’t have to be complicated. If team morale is slipping and you notice a change of mood within your team, it’s time to think about how you can bring back the magic. Working in a salon is a fun and creative role, so low morale could lead to poor motivation and a decline in creative spirit.
Spotting the signs of low morale is one of the first challenges for management. To be an effective leader, you need to be aware of your team and how they are feeling. Check in with them, find out what their biggest concerns are, and make it easy for them to raise issues when they arise. From there, you can determine the best ways to bring back the motivation and the fun. Here are 8 ways you can motivate your team to do their best possible work.
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Nothing is more demotivating for staff than when the company owner is never around. You need to be present in your business and make it clear that you are approachable and there to help. The salon owner who only drops in to criticise something that has gone wrong will quickly find that their team no longer want to do their best work.
By being present in your business, you’ll also have the chance to define the company culture. If you aren’t around, the company culture will be defined by the people working there, and this could lead to a disconnect between your vision and reality. Avoid any disconnect by staying present in your company and helping to shape the culture.
You hire stylists for their unique skills, so make sure they feel encouraged to express their individuality at work. If all your stylists are offering the exact same thing, your clients may get bored of the offering.
By encouraging your staff to explore their individuality, you can improve morale and motivation. If they are interested in learning new skills, encourage their curiosity, even if you aren’t sure if it would be the ideal fit for your salon. You never know, they could be onto the next trend ahead of the competition.
You know good work when you see it, so don’t be afraid to sing their praises. Finding a way to acknowledge your stylist’s best work will mean something different for every salon. You might feature them on social media, host a monthly award for the best transformation, or add their work to your website.
Reflecting on the work your team is doing is one of the best ways to keep everyone motivated. You should host a skillshare between your team and allow one person to lead a workshop every month. This will allow your team to learn from one another, but also help to motivate those who have natural leadership potential.
If your team members feel stagnant in their roles, they will quickly lose motivation. You should always be investing in your team’s development. If a team member is keen to learn more and you ignore these requests, don’t be surprised if they quickly lose motivation. And this could quickly be followed by them looking for another job.
If you’re worried about investing in staff that could one day leave you, you should be more concerned about not investing in staff that stick around. Individuals who are unhappy in their role and feel unqualified to move on could do more damage to your business than someone who has undergone company training and then left for a new role.
A little bit of competition between your staff couldn’t hurt. Running a monthly competition between your staff with a prize such as a bonus, pampering voucher, or an extra day off is an excellent way to keep your team motivated. You could make the competition related to sales, social media interactions, or upells. Use Salon Iris to see a breakdown of billings between your staff members to make it easy to choose a winner.
Keep a close eye on the competition to make sure that individuals don’t get overly-competitive. This could be damaging to your business, particularly if your team is more focused on the competition than they are on customer service.
Include your key staff in important decisions and always ask for their input. You could even invite your entire team to monthly management meetings to help them to understand what goes on in the upper levels of management. When staff feel involved in the bigger picture, they will be far more motivated to give it their all on the day-to-day stuff.
Meetings might take longer, and you might have to sit through a lot of bad suggestions, but you could gain some incredible insight about what is really happening in your business. If you’ve taken a step back from styling and have a purely managerial role, you might be disconnected from what’s happening with your clients.
Finding a way to mark special milestones with your team is important. Time spent with the company, new qualifications, awards and sales goals are all excellent milestones that should be celebrated. Giving your team the day off on their birthday is another great way to say thank you. And when they're back in the office, make sure you spoil them with cake.
Your salon needs to be a place where your staff can feel confident doing their best work. Make sure it is a creative and inviting place that your staff and customers love to be in. Interior design can go a long way to improving motivation. And investing in quality equipment will help your staff to feel proud of where they work. If motivation is lacking, ask your team what small things would make their day easier. Perhaps they want a fancy coffee machine? Or maybe they’d love a change of scenery with some new art for the walls.
