Is Your Team Willing to Follow You?

blue butterfly header It's Time to Get Focused! Get Crystal Focused in 2011!

Dear ,

Wow! 2011! It's a New Year and time for a fresh start. In our last eNewsletter, we talked about goals and how to set them.

Leadership, and becoming a better leader, is an area that salon owners and managers sometimes forget to include on their goals for the year.

Successful businesses need leaders that others are willing to follow! Is your team willing to follow you? At Crystal Focus, we always say that the biggest mirror you need to hold up is the one you hold up to yourself.

Our article for this month's eNewsletter contains ideas to quickly assess whether your leadership style is working.

You can also take save on our featured products, SUCCESS INSIGHTS FOR SALON OWNERS and CONVERSATIONS ON SUCCESS.

Hold Up that "BIG MIRROR" & Assess Yourself as a Leader

woman-mirror-self-reflection Leaders are made, not born. To be great, you need to continuously learn and develop your skills as a leader. To help identify areas for improvement, do a self assessment. Hold up that BIG MIRROR and ask yourself about your performance as a leader.

Harvard Business Review columnist, Melissa Raffoni, wrote an article, "Eight Things Your Employees Want From You." Below, please find eight questions, based on the article, that you can include in your self-assessment.

Do I provide clear direction with specific information about my expectations without micromanaging?
Do I hold people accountable for their behaviors, actions and performance?
Do I get people excited about the company, their job, and our products/services?
Do I recognize and praise my team regularly and in the presence of their colleagues?
Do I share too much information with my team or ridicule team members in front of their peers when they underperform or make a mistake?
Am I the type of leader that others look up to? Would I want to be led by me?
Do I extend trust to my team and get out of the way so that they can do their jobs?
Do I set individuals up for success?

After conducting your own self assessment, take it one step further and ask those that matter most about your performance as a leader. That's right, ASK YOUR TEAM. The feedback that you get from your team will help you confirm what you are doing well and identify any weak areas that may be "hidden" to you.

For example, you might be great at giving recognition, but you might not be communicating your expectations clearly or often enough. Maybe you have let your one-on-one time with your team members slide because you've been too busy. As a result, you are missing out on an opportunity to get them excited about their job. Whatever the case might be, you can get their feedback quickly and easily. Try this:

Give each of your team members an index card.
On one side, have them write three things that you are doing well or things that they want you to continue doing.
On the other side of the card, have them write three things that you are doing that they want you to stop or change in some way.

The simple act of asking for your team's feedback about you, as a leader, will reinforce your character as a strong leader. It shows that you value the perceptions of others and believe in continual growth and development of skills.

However, there is one precaution to keep in mind before you embark on a path of self improvement as a leader. If you never take any action and you don't work to make any changes, you can do more damage than good. Once you ask for input, realize that you must be committed to making changes.

We hope you found this information useful. You can use this quick and easy evaluation technique to gather other types of information from your team such as: what your salon is doing well/not well or ways in which the salon team is effective/ineffective. If you use it for this purpose, also ask for solutions or suggestions to challenges or weaknesses.

Finally, Crystal Focus will announce the release our totally new elearning series at the REDKEN Symposium January 16-18, 2011.

Please stop by the REDKEN Business Resource Booth for Crystal Focus/Summit Salon Business Center and see a sneak peek of the first episode of our new interactive video series for the front desk. Ask about our special Symposium pricing for an incredible discount on our new product offering.

We are excited about bringing you new information, tips, and training to take your front desk team to the next level.

Colorfully Yours,

Coach Kristi