Changing Your Salon Culture

Change is almost always scary for people, we fear what we cannot see and do not know, and change is the undiscovered country that none of us can know before we visit. While we can’t know what lies ahead through the changes that will take place we can do some visualization and imagine how we would like our salon culture to look and function then craft a plan to accomplish that.

The first step in changing your culture is to evaluate and understand where you are. What are the conditions within your salon today? We have created a list of questions to help you evaluate where you currently are:

Are staff members cooperative or contentious?

Do you allow stylists to operate autonomously or do you oversee every action?

Does salon staff offer opinions or assistance to help other staff members?

Do you and your staff welcome new ideas or are you content to do things the same way?

Does management have a clear vision for the future of the salon?

Does management encourage entrepreneurial endevours and ideas from staff?

Is there a lot of paperwork required to meet salon reporting objectives?

Are employees encouraged to develop new skills?

Are employees empowered to do things on their own initiative?

Does management seek to assign blame for mistakes or seek training to correct them?

Do employees have common goals?

Do employees collaborate on projects and ideas or do they keep ideas to themselves?

Does management provide adequate feedback about job performance?

Does management communicate its goals and objectives to subordinates?

Is there an emphasis on technical skills, or is status quo acceptable?

Does management delegate responsibilities?

Does management delegate authority?

Is experimentation encouraged?

Is staff promoted from within or brought in from outside?

Does salon staff go the extra mile or just do what’s required?

Does staff cross-train to perform secondary roles or does everyone stick to their focus?

How much emphasis is placed on fitting in?
none – a little – average – above average – total

Are stylists mavericks or team players?

Do changes take place spontaneously or are things planned out?

Tell your employees that you are considering making some changes in the way that the salon operates and that you would like their input and opinions on a variety of topics. Have a meeting with all of your employees and go through the list of questions. Let them speak freely, let them know that you are looking for an honest appraisal of where the salon is currently. Encourage them to contribute and perhaps even offer some self-assessment to get the ball rolling.

Alternatively, if you feel that you can honestly answer the questions in above then you may be able to perform the appraisal yourself.

Things That Affect Salon Culture

• Opportunity for Professional Growth

• Rate of Turnover

• Leadership Style

• Dress

• Length of day

• Life/work balance

• Internal Communication

• Values of Organization (i.e. punctuality over creativity)

• Respect for Employees

• Condition and Availability of Facilities (break room, dispensary, laundry, changing rooms, etc.)

• Reputation of Manager or Owner

The above list are some of the things that affect your salon culture but certainly not an exhaustive list. Following are some of the types of cultures compare your answers to the types of cultures and their attributes and try to decide which seems most closely aligned with your salon culture.

Some Types of Culture

Academy Culture
Employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in the organization, while working their way up the ranks. The organization provides a stable environment in which employees can development and exercise their skills, usually with a high degree of learning, tollerated, involved, and expected. Universities, hospitals, large corporations, tend to fall into this category.

Baseball Team Culture
Employees are "free agents" who have highly prized skills. They are in high demand and can rather easily get jobs elsewhere. This type of culture exists in fast-paced, high-risk organizations, such as investment banking and advertising. Many salons fit this cultural model because of the tendency of stylists to work on commission and to be more like contractors rather than employees. The dominant personality type in these groups would be that of a fighter pilot, highly trained, highly confident, highly independent.

Club Culture
The most important requirement for employees in this culture is to fit into the group. Usually employees start at the bottom and stay with the organization. These organizations promote from within and highly value seniority. Examples are the military, some law firms, and corporate chain salons.

Fortress Culture
Employees don't know if they'll be laid off or not, and generally know very little about the decision-making process of management, or direction the company is headed. These organizations often undergo massive reorganization. There are many opportunities for those with timely, specialized skills. Examples are savings and loans, large car companies, etc.

Power Culture
Strong leaders are needed to distribute resources. Leaders are firm, but fair and generous to loyal followers. If badly managed there is rule by fear, abuse of power for personal gain, and political intrigue. Banks, Accounting firms, Law firms, and Government agencies would be good examples of business that lend themselves to this tyoe of culture. Some salons with high profile stylists or owners sould fall into this group.

Achievement Culture
Rewards results, not unproductive efforts. Work teams are self-directed. Rules and structure serve the system, not an end by themselves. A possible downside is sustaining energy and enthusiasm over time. This is a great model for salons that are team oriented.

Support Culture
Employee is valued as a person, as well as a worker. Employee harmony is important. Weakness is a possible internal commitment without an external task focus. A lot of arts organizations fall into this type culture as well as many non-profit organizations.

Rule Culture
Rule of law with clear responsibility and reward system. Provides stability, justice, and efficiency. Weakness is impersonal operating procedures and a stifling of creativity and innovation.

Tough-guy Culture
High risks, quick feedback of results. (Advertising, entertainment)

Work-hard & Play-hard Culture
Few risks, quick feedback. (Sales driven)

Bet-the-Company Culture
High risk, slow feedback. (Aerospace)

Process Culture
Little to no feedback. Concentration is on "how" work is done. (Highly regulated, government)

You can tell a lot about the culture of a salon by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about, what staff members and clients wear, etc. -- similar to the way you might get a feeling about someone's personality.

Once the appraisal is completed it’s time for some soul searching and creative thinking. Given the current status of your salon what would you ideally like to change, what is possible for you to change, and what is practical for you to change. Make some decisions about the direction you want to take the salon and then lay out a plan for how you think your team can get there.

Have another meeting with your staff and let them know what your plans are. Ask for their input, ideas, and opinions; after all this is the team that you want to help you achieve your vision for the future. If you hope to achieve your goals they will have to be involved and committed to achieving those goals. Modify your plan to accommodate their ideas and then take the first steps.

Stop every now and then to re-evaluate, make adjustments, and press on. Changes are never easy when many people are involved and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships can be complicated. But, if change is needed to move your salon into a new realm of success making the changes will surely be worth the effort.

Pro Salon Solutions
pro-salon.com
Dallas, Texas 75248
phone: 469-441-8771