Your team members are your biggest asset and your number one PR tool. On the flip side, if your team members are not motivated and enthused by your brand, they can cause the most damage.
Every manager has their own methods of motivating their team – there is no miracle answer – but from our experience of working with some of the most successful salon owners out there, here are our top tips for ensuring your team is on board with your brand.
Treat each team member as an individual
Every person in your team has their own distinct personality and will, therefore, react better to certain motivational methods than others. As a manager, you need to get to know these individuals and learn how to get the best from them. Our client Mikaela Martin from Spirit Hair Company uses the Zoo Keeping method of communication to motivate her team members. This works on the basis that everyone falls into one main personality category, each represented by an animal – there’s your Lions who like to be direct and hate wasting time, your dolphins who need to know they are loved and appreciated, your monkeys, who are very emotionally driven and love to be the centre of attention, and your elephants, who need order in their lives and to have a clear structure in everything they do. This is a huge simplification of the method, but it comes down to getting to know each team member’s personality type and learning to communicate with them in a way that will appeal to their specific traits and needs.
Give individual team members areas of responsibility
Responsibility is a great motivational factor for most people. It makes them feel recognised for their hard work and also gives them a goal. Obviously how you allocate this responsibility will, once again, come down to the individual concerned. In an ideal world, you want to give someone responsibility for something they enjoy. If a team member loves the challenge of selling then put them in charge of growing the retail element of the salon. Ask them to come up with ideas of how the consultation process can be improved so that it leads to clients purchasing more homecare, for example. Even those team members who are reticent about taking on responsibility should be given something to oversee, even if its takin charge of the salon’s social calendar and ensuring there are regular team events scheduled in throughout the year.
Reward hard work and success
Again, this all comes down to knowing the individual and what will motivate them. Most people will be motivated by financial reward, but not everyone. The answer, once again, comes down to effective communication. Hold regular one-to-ones with each team member, find out what their personal goals are and what motivates them. It may be a cash bonus, or it might be access to training or time off. I could be as simple as congratulating them in front of the team – recognition goes a long way for most people.