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by Douglas Preston
 Here it comes again. As if you didn’t have enough to manage as a spa owner, you’re facing another cycle of low employee morale, enthusiasm and productivity. Regardless of what you’ve tried—the outside training classes, the guest motivational speaker, that staff party—nothing seems to keep your employees’ petals upright for long. And the consequences are evident to everyone—poor energy, declining sales and tips, conflicts with coworkers—why do they want to be like this? If they’re professionals, why is it that you must continually get after them to turn in quality performance? Where are the good employees out there? What does it take to make them appreciate their job and your investment in them? Why can’t they be more like YOU? Uh oh, maybe they are acting like you or, at least, responding to something you are–or are not–doing. Rather than fire the crew and attempt to find a full compliment of truly passionate and self-motivated replacements, it’s probably better to make this an opportunity to identify your real problem so a lasting solution can be found.
To begin with, think about the qualities you might expect of someone defined as a leader. Early American pioneers relied on the guidance of pathfinders or leads to get them through the wild and harsh terrain of an overland crossing. What would you require of someone charged to inspire and direct you through a challenging situation? Here’s a potential list of a leader’s strengths:
| Experience: knowledge of the task at hand, past success in achieving
the desired goal |
| Credibility: is the person they claim to be |
| Reliable: won’t abandon you along the trail |
| Integrity: their intentions are honest and true to their promise |
| Patient: won’t crumble under pressure, avoids impulsive reactions |
Prepared: has a plan—a smart plan, is organized,
delegates wisely |
Responsible: accepts the results of their own actions,
doesn’t blame others |
| Communicates well: shares information, emotion, criticism, and praise |
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Clearly, leadership is more than a duty, such as writing payroll or ordering supplies. It is a set of superior skills possessed by someone positioned to produce the best performance from those they are leading. The leader must be a near-perfect model of the behavior they expect from others, a sterling example of company standards, goals, and individual growth. For a leader to lead, others must be willing to follow—voluntarily. A leader cannot tow people behind her and hope for a positive result. In The Leadership Pill Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick point out that "People are more apt to trust and respect you when what you say and what you do are one and the same.1" To quote a worn but still meaningful analogy: you’ve got to walk your talk, and be a leader and example for your employees.
While your employees share many of your career goals and income needs, their circumstances as workers in your spa or salon differ tremendously from yours— particularly in terms of power and commitment. Think of yourself as the conductor of an orchestra. While the various musicians have talent in their instrument, the overall quality of the concerted music—the performance—is highly dependent on your skilled direction. And while there’s sheet music in front of every player they’ll still need to look up at you to maintain the correct tempo and syncopation. In other words, their product is a reflection of your leadership, and that leadership role is a full-time occupation—you can’t just check it off your daily list like returning a phone call. And yet, for the average spa owner/manager, leadership is more of an act of commanding than leading.
 If you ever repeated the great management lament, “How many times do I have to tell them?” regarding employees’ failure to follow instructions, then you have discovered one of the most typical symptoms of absent or ineffective leadership. Why don’t employees listen to you? They hear you all right, but they’re not inspired or compelled to act on your instructions. You’ve become like the bothersome buzz of a bad fluorescent bulb—they wish it would go away but it’s easier to try and ignore it. Eventually you learn to live with the nuisance. And poor leaders are nuisances or worse to employees who borrow drive and direction of the woman or man in charge. So, are you a nuisance or a leader with the patience and know-how to make a positive difference?
Take my quality leadership test to discover if you have “the right stuff” to lead a team:
| I know exactly what inspires my employees |
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Yes |
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No |
| I spend adequate time supervising employees |
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Yes |
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No |
| I act quickly on, and keep, my promises |
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Yes |
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No |
| I don’t display double standards |
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Yes |
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No |
| I provide frequent and motivating employee training |
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Yes |
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No |
| I don’t display frustration or anger toward employees |
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Yes |
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No |
| I never share or offer negative gossip with employees |
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Yes |
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No |
| I praise my employees often, even for the small stuff |
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Yes |
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No |
| I conduct regular and constructive employee meetings |
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Yes |
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No |
| I help employees set and achieve professional goals |
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Yes |
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No |
| I think I’m a strong and effective manager |
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Yes |
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No |
| I’m not afraid to face employees over difficult problems |
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Yes |
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No |
| I get enough personal management education |
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Yes |
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No |
| I actually enjoy the role and duties of a manager |
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Yes |
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No |
| I would want to work for me if I were someone else |
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Yes |
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No |
If you answered "No" to more than a third of these questions you’re probably not well prepared as a leader for your employees. It matters little if you can’t afford to hire someone to manage your business for you—the fact is that management is your responsibility as a business owner and it’s up to you alone to perform that function well.
But let’s face it, you want a "leadership pill" of your own—a fast and simple solution to the daily grind of keeping your employees focused, positive, and productive. And while such a solution doesn’t really exist (or won’t work if some expert has created this "solution") there are ways to vastly improve your results as a leader even if you never completely master the skill. Ready?
Make A Vow of Commitment. Net cost: nothing. Net gain: everything!
 Beginning today, right after reading this article, make a commitment to improving yourself, and therefore, your leadership ability. I’m not talking about a temporary diet plan or a fad management technique, but a true dedication to becoming the person you must be in the role you play for others. Allow small steps to be counted as quantum gains, and celebrate your achievements. In the leadership game even a tiny decision can lead to deep and lasting consequences for a business, either good or bad. Remember—the plan is to learn, grow, and improve. As we say in the human development industry: progress, not perfection.
Read and change your mind! Net cost: $30-$40.
Net gain: a new and improved you
Do more than just decide to change the present. You need to plow up the bedrock of patterned thinking, procrastination, excuses, and your own limited ideas if you want to move beyond the borders of routine. There are some excellent books available on positive management and leadership (see my reading list at the end of the article) that can shed some needed light on your former approach to handling employees. Many of these books are written to appeal to the non-CEOs of the world—like you. Let your book "mentors" help you to break out of your behavior patterns, and get control over reactivity or avoidance. Soon someone’s example will resonate with you, like hearing a great song for the first time, and will inspire you to move forward and stick to the process. Go to the bookstore and head to the business management section—today!
Start with A Clear and Achievable Goal. Net cost: nothing.
Net gain: real progress
 What am I talking about here? In order for a goal to be motivating for you it has to be believable and, eventually, within reach. If your goal is to have a perfectly functioning team that doesn’t need much of your time and attention you’ll quickly discover the futility of your effort, and you’ll lose interest in it. But if one of your goals is to improve attendance and participation at your staff meetings you can make meaningful gains very quickly with the right method. Build brick by brick, not wall by wall. You’ll want to make a list of management duties that need improvement, prioritize the listed items by their impact on the company, and tackle each one separately. Be patient, take your time, and do it right. After all, you’ve survived up to now with what you had.
Understand and Accept What You’re Working With
The spa and salon industry is heavily populated with professionals who are not always well equipped with self-discipline, positive attitude, confidence, and far-reaching goals. They can move around a lot, refuse to take the initiative, and may see more problems than opportunities as employees. They’re not machines that you can simply program, aim, and rely upon to do the job accurately or consistently.  Leading a working team is similar to driving a car—lots of small corrections in steering gets you along without an accident. But take your eyes off the road even for a second and you’ll be in a ditch before you know it. This is leadership and management, and it’s why you’ll always need it full-time.
Write Your Plan of Action
Here’s a fairly simple but worthwhile example to follow for all items on your
goal list:
Goal: To improve the attendance and productivity of our staff meetings
Benefit: Better communication, morale, and service quality (sales!)
Plan:
• Schedule a 90-minute meeting for 3 weeks from today.
• Create an agenda and give everyone a copy
• Agenda includes celebrating Jim’s birthday (bring card and flowers), recognize Sandra’s 1-year anniversary of employment with us (get cake for lunchroom), 15-minutes for general business discussions with team,
and review recent changes to the service menu so all can understand it and answer client questions. Be positive, focused, and keep the action moving so boredom doesn’t set in!
• Ask employees for topic suggestions for future meetings.
• End meeting on a high note: tell the staff (from the heart) just how much I appreciate them as professionals and people. They do so much good for the world in their work and I’m very proud to have them represent the spa!
• Thank everyone for being so responsible in attending today.
• End the meeting on time!
Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback on how the meeting went. Never assume that not hearing negative comments means that you’ve done a great job. You need this input to plan and conduct a better meeting next time. And avoid the indulgent and destructive blame game that can arise when employees criticize something positive that you tried to do for them—"Why those selfish, ungrateful little…!!!" Be prepared to take your knocks and get it right later, especially if your company has been suffering from listless leadership. They’ll catch on if you keep on! There’s no room in management for the tough or fragile ego.
Take Action!
Have the meeting as scheduled and as planned. Do everything possible to avoid postponing it or allowing it to digress into a battle of will and complaint. Blow this one and you’ll lose even more credibility and control with your team—making it all the harder to accomplish your goal!
 Repeat the Above
With all of the rewards that can come from creating well-trained and enthusiastic employees I hear spa and salon owners all-too-often argue that they can neither find the time nor afford the expense of devoting additional energy to better business management. But the irony is that they’ve been willing to make that very sacrifice through worry, frustration, conflict, and lower-than-needed sales revenue. Pay for it now or you’ll pay for it later with crushing interest added. You can do this. Now, get busy!
Additional reading:
Bob Nelson, 1001 Ways To Energize Employees, Workman Publishing, NY, 1997
Bob Nelson, 1001 Ways To Reward Employees, Workman Publishing, NY, 1994
Ben Saltzman, Rules For Visionary Leaders, Lifestrides Publishing, CA, 2000
Richard Heyman, Ed.D., Why Didn’t You Say That In The First Place, Jossey-Bass Publishers, CA, 1994
David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates, Please Understand Me—Character and Temperament Types, Gnosology Books, Ltd. 1984
Robert Bolton and Dorothy Grover Bolton, People Styles at Work: Making Bad Relationships Good and Good Relationships Better, Amacom, 1996
1. Blancard, Ken and Marc Muchnick, The Leadership Pill, Free Press, 2003.
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