CLARIFY YOUR VISION: Your vision for your salon needs to be incredibly strong, with a clear purpose and mission. Where do you want to be in 3-5 years time? Why do you want to be there and what’s your purpose? What are you going to do to help others, which, in turn will also help you achieve your goals? Who are you going to help (who’s your ideal clients) and whom do you need help from (who’s your ideal team)?
Once you’re clear on this, creating a set of core values you can all align with will help you to make decisions and choices that align with your purpose and mission to help you reach your vision.
Having a strong purpose and vision is important for a number of reasons, but it can be especially beneficial when it comes to your recruitment process, and anyone you hire should be aligned with your purpose.
Having a different set of values to a team member doesn’t make either one wrong or a bad person, it just means this can cause conflict and hold you back from your mission. The clearer you are about your purpose and vision, the easier it will become to find other people who share your values and therefore support you on your journey to achieving your goals.
You may fear that if you lose a staff member they might take all the customers with them, which would lead to losing money. Even if losing them does cause you pain in the short term, if they weren’t aligned with your values and weren’t working with you to achieve your salon vision, they would only have caused you greater pain in the long term. Get a marketing plan in place for any eventuality of the actions you will take if you do lose a team member. It’s crucial to do this and will give you greater confidence knowing you don’t need to feel the impact of a stylist leaving your business.
It’s also important not to fear confrontation or communication so as to not lose control of your salon business. Your mind-set plays a big part in this. When you have a growth mind-set with a firm purpose and vision, you’ll know exactly what you want and where you’re going. You’ll have the inner strength to deal with an issue caused by someone who doesn’t share your vision.
A growth mind-set allows you to recognise when someone or something is going against your core values, giving you the strength to ensure you deal with the situation head on. Banishing fear helps you achieve your mission. This is a huge part of what I teach salon owners through my numerous courses. Success is 90%mind-set and 10% skillset, which is why I have dedicated 11 years to this work and share it so widely. It is so important I have even dedicated my second book (Mind-set Magic and Miracles) purely to mind-set and emotional intelligence.
This is key to building a successful salon business and leading a high performing team.
FOCUS ON LONG-TERM GAIN: When we make decisions based on short-term gain, we’re looking for a quick fix. Within salons, it’s common to be short-staffed, but by focusing on short-term gain we make so many recruitment mistakes.
When you’re short-staffed, the short-term gain option is to hire someone based on skills alone to get them into the salon as quickly as possible. It may be that you even have a gut feeling they’re not the right fit for your salon, but you ignore the red flags to get away from the short-term pain of having a lack of staff. Hiring someone when in this state of mind will cost your business more money in the long run.
The alternative is to endure the short-term pain for a little longer and accept you’re going to be short-staffed for a little while. Take the time to recruit someone who is the right fit for you and aligned with your values and you’ll create a better long-term future for your business.
BE PERSISTENT: Persistence is an important element of a growth mind-set. We can all get knocked off track from time to time, that’s life. It might throw you a curveball in your personal or work life, but the difference between someone with a growth mind-set and fixed mind-set is how you deal with those curveballs.
Be persistent and look for solutions to problems rather than focusing on the problem itself. Research shows recruiting the wrong person can cost 6 figures on average through lost revenue, lack of productivity and even loss of business.
So before you think of hiring someone who isn’t right for your business because you are short staffed and think you can’t afford not to…. ask yourself, can I afford to make a recruitment mistake and hire the wrong person? Listen to your gut and hire on values.
Shout about who you are, your vision and purpose as a salon in your recruitment campaigns so you attract the right staff and repel the wrong.
See Caroline’s upcoming courses and pre register for her new book – click here
