How to Motivate Your Salon Team

Hello, I'm a salon coach and a mentor, so I do lots of talking to salon owners and managers, either through my networking or through my one-to-one coaching. And what you start to find over time is that lots of salon owners and managers face the same struggles, which is why I do these videos in the first place. And one conversation that I keep having, one thing that I keep hearing, is that salon owners and managers' lives will be so much easier if only their teams would do their job properly. What they think they're facing is an attitude problem. Actually, what I think they've got is a motivation problem, and I want to share a few tips to help you with that. Welcome. My name is Phil Jackson. I'm the founder of Build Your Salon, and I've made it my life's work to help you with the skills you need to master to build the salon business you deserve. And today, I want to help you motivate your teams. Lots of us are struggling. There's been a huge shift in the way we need to motivate and manage our teams recently. And to be honest with you, I don't see that pace of change slowing down any time soon. It's a whole new ballgame now, and we just have to learn the rules. My first tip, and the biggest thing that I think salons get wrong when they're trying to motivate teams, is they're not very clear about what they're trying to achieve in the first place. They're not very good at communicating their vision for the salon and the goals that they have for the business. Lots of salons haven't even set those goals out, so it's no wonder that they can't communicate the goals effectively. And I've done lots of videos and lots of work on goal setting, so please feel free to have a look through the channel and see what you can find. If you've set the goals though, what I see more commonly is they're not very good at connecting those goals to something that their team is particularly interested in. So it's all very well having a lovely staff meeting and sitting down with your team and explaining that your vision for the future is to have 20 salons and employ a team of 250 people and you've got targets in place for their financial gain and all the rest of it. That's not quite enough. What you need to be explaining much more effectively is the impact that's going to have on an individual team member, why it is that you need them to perform at a certain level to achieve that bigger goal, and what opportunities there might be available for them in the future.

By making it relevant, suddenly the employee has a bit more of a reason to perform at that level, they've got more direction, and they know that their direction is part of a bigger picture. So sit back down with your goals, have a look at how you're communicating them to your team and make it relevant, make it exciting, make it interesting for them and see whether that will help with their motivation. Communication is a really big part and that takes me on to point number two. Point number two is all about how we're trying to pick up on the clues around motivation that our employees leave for us all over the place. When you're having a team meeting or a one-to-one, even those informal bits of communication around coffee in the staff room or going for a drink after work, your team are giving you clues to the bigger picture of their lives and the kinds of things that motivate them. Because what we need to appreciate is that motivation is easy when you know what motivates that person. So there's a lot of dialogue, a lot of one-to-one work you're going to have to do to just dig under the skin a little bit, see what else is going on in their lives and how they might be motivated at the moment. Unfortunately, people aren't static. Even though we tend to be motivated by the same things generally most of the time, there are occasions and certain life occasions when our motivations shift. So for example, I had an assistant manager for a lot of years who was very motivated by the social side of our job, got on very well with the clients, really enjoyed team atmosphere, shied away from conflict and actually possibly assistant manager wasn't the best position for him. Having said that, when it came to the stage where he wanted to buy his first home, his motivation shifted enormously for two to three years, completely driven by money. So you need to be aware of those changes in people's lives and the impact that might have on their motivation. It takes me on to point number three though, what you need to appreciate is when you're putting your staff incentives together, you might find that there are one or two team members who you just can't reach with that incentive. Because everyone's going to be slightly different. And what I'm not suggesting you do, let's say we're going to be running an incentive for two months. What I'm saying is you don't have to tailor that individually for every team member. That's an awful lot of work. But what you do need to appreciate is one or two team members might not be switched on by what you've tried to give away. Now, part of the problem is that we try and motivate our teams with what motivates us.

So let me give you an example. I'm a busy guy, okay? I'm a salon owner, I'm a salon coach and I've got two children as well. And I'm the primary carer for those children. So there's an awful lot that I have to squeeze into my week. Now, if I was working in a salon part of the week and there was a team incentive that, let's say, won me a night out, let's say it was going to be a voucher to go out for some dinner and go to the cinema. To be honest with you, that wouldn't be particularly motivating for me, not because I wouldn't enjoy those things. I just don't physically have the time to take advantage of what it is that you're trying to give me. That said, if you tried to give me a half day's paid leave, that would be a completely different ball game. If you were trying to buy me some time, absolutely, I'd be motivated and passionate about that. So what we're trying to do is tap into the things that motivate different people. You're not going to get everybody at once. So if you do run an incentive for a meal and a trip to the cinema, there's going to be one or two people like me that you're just not going to pick up on that incentive, and that's fine. What you can't have though, if you're going to run a few incentives across a year, don't try and motivate in the same way every time, okay? So if I didn't take part in this one, if I didn't get switched on by what you were trying to motivate me with this time around, try and pick me up on the next one, okay? Shift the focus of the team incentive and see if you can switch me on a little bit later. That said, of course, as part of your performance management and your one-to-ones and your appraisals, you're going to be trying to motivate people with what motivates them. So the bigger picture of their year absolutely needs to be tailored to their needs. I hope that's been useful to you. If it has, head over to the Build Your Salon Facebook page and join the conversation. Let me know what you thought of the video. Let me know what was helpful to you. I love hearing about how well my salon owners and managers are doing. If it's been useful, don't forget to subscribe because I do a broadcast like this every single week. I would hate you to miss out on the content that I'm sharing. If you've already subscribed, I will see you next week. Take care.