spa_leadership

Are You An Effective Spa Leader?

The word effective means that you are capable of producing a desired result. In the area of leadership, I believe being effective is the core of our job responsibility. It is not enough to be a good or organized manager, or able to handle our day to day tasks, but to really bring out positive behavior in our staff members. This shows true leadership capability when you can assist someone to become a better person both as an individual and as a professional.

To be a truly effective leader all of your responsibilities and challenges will fall into one of three categories; Problem Solving, Preventing Bad Performance and Maintaining Good Performance.

Problem Solving
When I arrived at my current leadership position, the first order of business was to take stock on all of the problems that existed in my department. Once I had my list, my focus then turned to solutions. Some problems could be resolved quickly and others took many weeks or months to sort out. Some examples could include, problem employees that I inherited from the previous management, poor client care, faulty equipment, lack of education or training with some staff members, high rate of turnover with staff, overspending or waste of resources, underdevelopment of staff scheduling, to name a few. Once these problems were resolved my department immediately improved and business increased. I am still presented with problems that need fixing as a part of my daily work responsibilities but, they are much fewer and far between and are much more minor. Therefore, I have much more time to focus on my ultimate goal of maintaining good performance.

Preventing Bad Performance & Maintaining Good Performance
One of the best ways to start maintaining good performance is to prevent bad performance. This can be accomplished in a number of ways.

1 - Hire the Right Staff to Lead
Hiring the right people is crucial to the success of the business as well as to the success of the Director or Manager. (See our article on Spa Interviewing Techniques) Look to hire people who lead themselves well, are committed and competent, aren’t afraid to make mistakes and hold a high standard. Hiring good performers from the start is your first step in preventing bad performance.

2 - Communicate In Writing
Your staff cannot perform well if they don’t know what is expected of them. The do’s and don’ts for each job position need to be relayed in writing to your staff (See our article on Spa Policy and Procedures) and each staff member must sign documentation that they have received the information in writing, they have read the document and fully understand all spa and department policies and procedures. When your staff clearly know what is expected regarding their performance and have their goals outlined in front of them they will perform well and perform well consistently. Additionally, prior to each employees start date they should receive an orientation. This will manage the transition into their new position smoothly, by setting them up to succeed from the start. Both the written policy and procedure manual and the orientation opens up a lot of time for free communication between you and your new hire. Communication builds trust and withholding information will cause your staff to feel uneasy to open up to you. Lastly, when your staff does trust you and open up to you, it is important to maintain their confidence that they have placed in you with their sensitive information. This will further build trust and confidence in you as their leader.

3 - Do You Inhibit Good Performance In Your Staff?
Perhaps without even realizing it, with your current leadership style, you are actually inhibiting good performance there by creating bad performance. One example of this includes projecting to your staff that you don’t have time for them or that they are bothering you. Remember to let your staff know that you have an open door policy and that you are available the moment they need you to assist them with concerns or problems. Perhaps in your communication style you come off sarcastic or make snide remarks. Perhaps you send out the message that your staff is not equal or as important as you. Do you present only negative comments without also providing positive ones making your staff feel dumb? Do you punish for failure instead of educating and encouraging? Do you broadcast annoyance or frustrations as a technique to correct behavior? If a staff member brings forward an idea or suggestion, do you assign only him/her to carry out the work load? Do you yourself as the leader also follow the spas policies and procedures? Actions speak much louder than words and you cannot expect anyone to do what you ask of them if you are not willing to follow the same rules. These types of actions are guaranteed to inhibit good performance in your staff.

4 - Bad Behavior Must Have Consequences
Inevitably as a Manager or Spa Director, you will have staff members from time to time who will exhibit bad behavior and not follow the “rules” of the spa. This negative behavior must have consequences in order for it to be corrected and the Manager or Director must follow through for all staff members consistently on these consequences. A leader must always remain objective, fair, and consistent and not play favorites. Keep in mind that the consequence must be in proportion to the negative behavior. For some types of bad behavior, a verbal warning should be given, other times, a written warning or even probation is appropriate. In rare cases, termination will be the consequence. In any case, you cannot view delivering consequences for negative behaviors as confrontational. It is merely a matter-of-fact process. I have seen many managers time and time again without the courage to firmly or consistently deliver consequences appropriately to correct their staff’s behavior because they viewed the action as harsh and felt that their staff wouldn’t like them. Instead they attempted to correct the negative behavior by being a friend to their staff and gently nudge them into good performance. It is important to be friendly with your staff, but if they view you as their friend, they will not have the correct influence from you to positively change and maintain good performance. Also, keep in mind that the way people change and grow is by stepping outside of their comfort zone. A slight amount of pressure can be a good thing to create positive change. This is actually how a leader can manage conflict in a positive way. Remember to always deliver negative feedback with positive feedback as this will cushion the disappointment that your staff member will feel. Additionally, always remember to keep your cool. If you feel frustrated or angry, it is not the time to take disciplinary action.

5 - Good Behavior Must Be Rewarded to Be Maintained
Just as negative behavior must have consistent consequences, positive behavior must be reinforced by consistent rewards. Some managers are of the opinion that you should not have to reward someone for doing their job as that is what they were hired to do and get paid to do. Keep in mind that money is a necessary material thing to keep you existing in this world and can bring about comfort and some security, but money cannot bring true happiness to anyone’s heart. To feel happy at work, we all need to feel appreciated, respected, intelligent, valued, accepted as part of the team and important to the success of the company. Money cannot fill these expectations. Therefore it is important that as a leader you make your staff feel these things and it takes very little effort to bring this across to your team when it is well deserved. Little things like encouraging words of praise and compliments every so often or just saying a special ‘thank you’ goes a long way to acknowledging your staff’s hard work. So be creative in the ways that you reward your staff for good behavior. Perhaps to reward your team members you offer flexible hours, outside events or freelance work, employee discounts on retail or treatment services, provide uniforms, or have quarterly or holiday parties. Whatever you choose to do to reward your staff, again consistency is the key. Continue to shower your team with compliments, praise, sincere gratitude and special benefits and you will continue to see excellent performance and appreciation in return!