Getting Away from it All

In a couple of weeks my managers and I are leaving town for a two-day planning retreat. It's going to be a busy two days in which we plan to tackle:

• 2013 financial projections
• Equipment purchases / upgrades
• Staffing levels and compensation
• Updated job descriptions for all positions
• Marketing and promotion plan for all of 2013

We'll also spend quite a bit of time trying to solve some of our biggest problems.

• Updating our employee manual so everyone is on the same page
• Designing a training program that works given our small size and limited resources
• Discussing our retailing system and how it should be revised to be more effective

We won't have all the answers in just two days, but hopefully we'll come out of it with a game plan.

We are going about one hour out of town and staying at a hotel where we have also reserved a meeting room. Just so it's not all work and no play it happens to be near a huge outlet mall.

It will be challenging to stay on task in order to push through our full agenda. If our retreat is successful I think we will be starting out 2013 in a good place and may make this an annual event.

How to develop great salon managers

I am grateful every day that our salon has such terrific managers. I'm also regularly shocked at what I hear about managers at other salons. Typical complaints are that the manager plays favorites, cuts hours without explanation, disciplines in front of others (including clients), or does nothing at all. The most common complaint I've heard from individuals who have held manager or assistant manager positions at other other salons is that they are given responsibility without authority.

So the first place to look for a good salon manager is in the mirror. No, I don't mean the owner needs to be the salon manager. I mean you must be committed to letting them do their job and providing appropriate training and support to help them succeed. Taking a reliable stylist and naming them manager with little guidance and support is a recipe for failure.

None of my managers had any supervisory experience before taking on a management role at our salons. And they are shockingly young to have so much responsibility. I can't imagine my 25 year old self successfully managing a team.

The individuals we chose as managers share some qualities. They are each mature and reliable, they hold themselves to a high standard, and they care about the success of the business. But I'd say the single most important quality they possess is that they don't shy away from difficult conversations. They don't LIKE to have tough conversations, but they don't avoid them.

One of the keys to the success of our management team is that we do, in fact, act as a team. Each week, the four of us meet for two hours. Because we don't have appropriate meeting facilities, our bank is kind enough to allow us to use their conference room. If you can find a way to meet offsite, I highly recommend it. At each meeting, among other things, we discuss any personnel issues that arose in the past week. Sometimes issues have already been handled, other times we discuss a plan of action.  If the action plan includes having one of those tough conversations, we decide who will have the conversation with the team member and we discuss the best way to approach the conversation, based on our knowledge of the employee and their personality. If we've had an on-going issue with a team member the conversation may be escalated to me as the owner. Otherwise, the direct supervisor will speak with the employee. Conversations are always done privately and respectfully (they can be firm and still meet those criteria). Depending on the offense, a follow-up conversation may be scheduled. We also make sure if the problem can be solved with additional training, we not only provide training, but remind the employee that it is their responsibility to let us know if we are not giving them what they need to succeed.

Our weekly meeting provides the managers with the support they need to succeed. It's not fair to toss a young, managerially inexperienced person into a leadership role and expect them to succeed without support. The weekly cost of the meetings is not insignificant when you consider the hourly rates the managers are paid (remember, we're Team Based Pay so everyone is hourly). But the intangible cost of NOT having the meetings would be considerable.

Running a 2-location business

Obviously you can't be two places at one time, so how do you manage a two-location business? Well, you don't do it alone. Our success relies on a team of leaders, each with specific responsibilities, but supported by the group.

Each of our salons has a Stylist Manager who is the direct supervisor of the stylists in her location. Previously we had a Spa Manager who supervised the spa staff at both locations, however, with her recent departure, the stylist managers have taken on the additional team members.

In addition to the two stylist managers, we have a Director of Operations and the owner. The Director of Ops manages the front desk team (at both locations), does all purchasing of retail and professional supplies, manages the schedule (days off, etc.). As owner, I handle bookkeeping and finances, technology, marketing and strategic planning.

Each manager conducts one on one conversations with their team on a regular basis. One location conducts them every month, the other has decided to go every two months. As owner, I have one on ones with the management team but also with each employee at least 4 times per year. If a team member is having a 1 on 1 with me, they will not have one with their direct supervisor that month. Having 1 on 1's directly with the owner allows each person a chance to communicate directly with me and to discuss any issues they may have with other managers. Of course, we have an open door policy and team members are encouraged to come to us with issues as they arise, but the formality of scheduled 1 on 1's ensures we will have regular time with each of our team members.

The four members of the management group meet each week for two hours. Our meetings cover personnel issues, upcoming leaves, future training or meeting agendas, necessary purchases, incentives or contests, compensation, monthly specials, etc. The group acts as a sounding board for a manager who has a particular personnel issue to deal with. Together we will form a strategy for dealing with a particular problem. Sometimes the stylist manager or DOO will deal with the issue alone, other times we will tag team and talk with someone together, or an issue will be escalated to the owner - it all depends on the situation and our desired outcome. The regular meetings and support of the fellow managers has helped each of us become more effective in our roles, and helps to hold us accountable for our particular responsibilities.

It's important to note that these meetings are not an opportunity for the owner to preach or push down decisions. The four of us work as a team to run the business. I truly want and respect their opinions often defer to their wisdom. Too many times an owner will assemble a management group in name only, but they are actually closed to new ideas generated by the group.

If you don't want the entire burden of running the salon on your shoulders, you must assemble a group of trusted team members and work with them.

Developing Leaders

There's a lot to think about when you are considering adding a location. Real estate, contractors, financing, furniture and equipment, hiring staff...

It would be easy to overlook one of the most important elements - once you have your new location who's going to run it? Do you have the leaders necessary to grow and expand? When we asked ourselves this question, the answer was "no." We have several people with a lot of potential, but we don't have anyone who is ready to step into a leadership role.

Back in the old days of our salon, that didn't seem to matter. If a salon manager was needed, someone was told the job was theirs. No job description, no clear expectations, no guidance - the company survived, but it certainly didn't thrive. That is a mistake we will not repeat. To support our growth, we are conducting a Leadership Development Series of classes. Anyone who is interested in learning more about leadership and salon management may attend. We meet weekly for one hour (although bi-weekly for 2 hours would probably be better). Since we've never done this before we are, to some extent, making it up as we go. So far our curriculum is:

Trust - Based on the book The Speed of Trust.
Cash Flow - Understanding the cash flow of the salon
Culture and No Compromise Leadership - What culture do we need to achieve our vision and our mission? Is that the culture we have?
Four Business Outcomes - Productivity, Profitability, Staff Retention, Client Service (1 week on each)
Coaching and Employee evaluations - how to mentor and coach in a positive way
Difficult conversations - How to have effective conversations about performance
Team Based Pay - What it is and why we do it

So far the classes have been well-attended. When we are ready to expand our management team, interested employees will need to apply for the positions and go through an interview process. It's important to us that our leaders not only know what we do, but why we do it. They need to understand our vision for the company and how we are going to achieve it.

Scheduling Issues

Our Salon Manager, who is also a stylist, is responsible for preparing the schedule for all our technicians. Our salon has never had a full-time manager - it's always been someone who is also behind the chair. The prior manager (before I owned the salon) took advantage of her scheduling responsibilities by giving herself every Saturday off and cutting back to four days a week. You can imagine how that went over with the troops - nothing like leading by example!

Our current manager has scheduling policies to follow to assist in preparing the schedule. She also has certain staffing requirements she tries to maintain (like a minimum number of stylists on a Saturday). In spite of policies and good intentions, there are still sometimes issues with the schedule. Any time you have someone with their own column in the book preparing the schedule it leaves you open for criticism.

We've decided to tackle this issue (and others) by moving our lead front desk person into an administrative position. In addition to supervising the front desk, she will be responsible for scheduling (with input from the salon mgr). Since the administrator has no skin in the game, she can be more impartial than a technician could be. Plus it frees up my salon manager to work more closely with the team instead of being cooped up in the office trying to figure out how to staff Saturdays and vacations.

Our goal here is to put people in positions that best utilize their strengths. My salon manager is a people-person. She is a great coach and motivator. She catches people doing something well and praises them. She addresses little issues before they become big issues. The person we are shifting from the Front Desk is a great administrator. She is organized and thorough and very task-oriented. Putting people in positions where they can excel is one thing we can do to help our business succeed and grow.

Leadership Training

My salon manager and I just returned from a 3 day leadership training session with Strategies in Connecticut. We meet with the same group quarterly for additional training. It's great to catch up with other salon owners from around the country, dealing with many of the same issues. Most of the salons are already team-based pay; others are in the process of converting.

We spend a lot of time this session on Leadership and Coaching Techniques and the distinction between Managing and Leading. You MANAGE systems, you LEAD people. It sounds simple, or even unimportant, but it seems that each attendee has a lightbulb moment when they start to see the difference and the importance.

I realized that I've been doing a lot of things wrong! For example, I have a team member who, in spite of my telling how much I appreciate her, feels unappreciated. I feel like she feels unappreciated every time she doesn't get her way. I do appreciate her, so the problem must lie with her, right? Well it occurs to me during this class that not once have I asked her what "appreciation" looks like to her. I'm appreciating her in my own way, but it is not how she wants to be appreciated. Our old conversation might have gone something like this:

"I feel like you don't appreciate me."
"But I do, I think you're great. We're really lucky to have you on board."

If we had that conversation today my reply would be:

"What can I do to show my appreciation? What does appreciation look like to you...describe it to me."

My original answer was defensive. I basically told her she was wrong. I'm sure she felt really appreciated (and listened to) after that! We both left the conversation frustrated.

I will be trying to put what I learned into practice and hopefull I will have much more productive conversations with my team!

Leadership

We're trying to identify leaders in our salon. Now that we are Team Based Pay (TBP) everyone needs to quit thinking about only their own column in the appointment book and start thinking of the goals of the entire salon. Together we can accomplish so much more, and we will all benefit. We need people to step up in the salon and set a good example. To live team based pay; to help motivate people to work the systems.

Our business coach from Stategies shared something he did in his own salon when they converted to TBP. He had a voluntary weekly leadership meeting to discuss salon issues. We're going to follow his example and have our first leadership meeting scheduled for this Monday! (I need to figure out what we're going to talk about). The meeting is totally optional and will be paid time. My hope is that these meetings will empower the team and make them feel like they have a say in what we do and how we do it.