10 Hot Skills to Empower Your Salon or Spa Employees

First, ask yourself...
Would you like to be able to empower your employees to be more productive and make decisions on their own?

From superior customer service to a healthy bottom line, empowered Salon & Spa employees will make your business stronger and more successful. The following 10 skills will help you make sure your employees feel empowered:

1.Create an Inspiring Vision & Shared Values - Your Vision & Values are key tactical assets as the foundation of your business. A strong sense of motivation results from a person adopting the values and beliefs of a group. When people have made these values and beliefs their own, they become the source of their own motivation.

2. Lead by Example - There is no point in demanding high standards of you staff but failing to exhibit them yourself. Demonstrate your own skills of teamwork, pro-activity and generosity and others will follow your example.

3. Train, Train and Train - Invest in your employees’ knowledge, skills, and ability. Failure to train is shortsighted. Training will not only enable your employees to handle the work but also contribute to increased self-esteem, which will make employees more comfortable with greater responsibility.

4. Empower - The three general rules for empowering your employees, is appreciation, approval, and attention. Voice your thanks and gratitude to them on every occasion. Praise them for every accomplishment. And pay close attention to them when they talk and want to interact with you. These three behaviors alone will make you a master of human interaction and will greatly empower the people around you

5. Communicate Openly - Ongoing communication is vital so you and your employees are always in sync. Whether it's an upcoming company expansion, installation of new equipment or the introduction of a new product, don't hold back information which will keep everyone informed. People on the job want to be in the know. You must make sure they get the story.

6. Listen - Active listening assures the other party you understand him or her. It is a necessary part of any exchange if you hope to motivate others. Active listening involves feeding back the information you have been given along with the feelings that have been expressed. Not only is it a clarifying act, it shows empathy.

7. Involve Everyone, Use Team Approach - One of the best ways to generate enthusiasm and job satisfaction is to get people to actively participate in creating new goals/projects. The project is usually kicked off by the forming of a committee which sets a goal and takes steps to reach it. The most interesting and attention-getting goals are: reviewing and updating performance standards, increasing retail sale, improving customer relations and arranging employee activities and parties.

8. Coach, Bring Out The Best In Your People - Empowerment alone is not enough. You must train and coach your people to enhance their learning ability and performance. Coaching is the key to unlocking the potential of your people, your organization, and yourself. It increases your effectiveness as a leader. As a coach, you must help your people grow and achieve more by inspiring them, asking effective questions and providing feedback.

9. Encourage Group Decisions - Solicit opinions and ideas. Ask employees to suggest better ways to do jobs and solve problems.

10. Monitor Progress, But Don’t Micromanage - Recognize employees who do a good job. Do this with verbal or written acknowledgement or give rewards. Avoid micromanaging and show confidence in your staff members’ abilities to perform their jobs well.

Ana Loiselle - Business Coach/Trainer