20 Dec How Your Management Style Affects Your Salon
How Your Management Style Affects Your Salon
There are numerous management styles that you can adapt as a salon owner/manager. Management can be approached from many different angles in the salon, depending on what culture and team you are trying to develop. Whether you’re behind the chair or not, it’s important to understand what type of leadership styles exist and what qualities you have when teaching, guiding, and managing your salon team. It’s beneficial to know the pros and cons of each management style, as you can then decide whether a particular style is fitting.
To break it down, we’ve listed four different styles of leadership that are used and required in the salon, as well as a collection of qualities that a successful salon owner will have in their skill set!
Participative
A participative approach to leading and managing a team is exactly as it sounds: involved. Simply put, this style is a collaboration between you and your staff, making the decision-making process a group effort. Having everyone involved in the development of your salon from a participative management perspective can be great for team morale, but beware of time-sensitive decisions. While boosting morale through team collaboration is great, often times it can slow down getting to the solution promptly.
Coach
Aside from making play calls, having a coach-like management style in the salon is quite similar to that of a sports coach. A good coach will take the time to identify and foster the strengths of individual team members and learn their weaknesses. This form of leadership teaches your team to embrace each other’s skills, as you’re already surrounding yourself with a diverse group of creative people! Having a coach-like leadership mentality as a salon owner is a very supportive method, but is also time-consuming. If too much time is given to individual staff members, it’s possible to lose sight of the bigger vision you have for your salon.
Directive/Authoritative
If you do happen to lose sight of the vision you have for your salon, a directive/authoritative approach to management is an effective way of restructuring it again. Unlike a participative approach, a direct/authoritative outlook on management doesn’t revolve around collaboration. Rather, this management style is most effective during times of urgent change, as it allows you to reach your objectives quicker with clear expectations and explanations. Because you aren’t focusing on individual support, you’re able to cut right to the point. While this style lacks in team-building, it is beneficial for anything time-sensitive.
Passive
Not participative and not directive, a passive salon owner will step back and give the team the steering wheel. Nearly all of the authority will be given to your staff because this style is the least hands-on. The pro of taking this step back is that you’re encouraging your team to be individualistic. The con is that there may be a lack of clarity on what is required of each member, as there is little to no direction coming from your end.
Skill sets that are good to have in your management style as a salon owner:
Clear communication
Team-building strategies
Training/mentoring systems
Conflict management
Key Takeaway’s for Your Salon
Whether you’re behind the chair or not, it’s important to understand what type of leadership styles exist and what qualities you have when teaching, guiding, and managing your salon team.
Participative, coach, directive/authoritative, and passive are all leadership and management styles that you can adopt as a salon owner. It’s crucial to know when to execute which style.
Having clear communication, team-building strategies, training/mentoring methods, and the ability to manage conflict are all skills and plans that a successful salon owner would have.
