Strengthen communication on your team to bolster your business’s big picture growth.

Communication is the foundation of a successful workplace, but not everyone does it effectively. Leaders in virtually every industry know that investing in communication moves the needle for company culture and revenue follows. In the salon and spa world, effective communication is the key to providing extraordinary client experiences. When communication crumbles behind the scenes, clients — and, ultimately, your business — pay the price.

 Business owners should avoid these five common communication mistakes to become better leaders, build stronger teams, and achieve faster, more sustainable growth.

Pitfall #1: Unclear accountability

Effective hiring requires a special kind of calculus for beauty businesses. You go to great lengths to vet, hire, and train the best possible talent for each role, and work hard to ensure there is unity and synchronicity among the team. Keeping the details of that equation from employees is a major communication pitfall for salons. 

Everyone on your team needs to understand precisely what their responsibilities are — and are not. Clear accountability will help salon operations run smoothly and foster harmony throughout the team. Whether your salon or spa is a small shop where everyone wears multiple hats, or a multi-location chain where service providers, managers, assistants, and receptionists all stay in their lane, teamwork makes the dream work.

Pitfall #2: Forgetting to share feedback

You may think everyone on your staff is doing a stellar job, but if you don’t tell them explicitly, there’s no way to guarantee that they share that understanding. When someone makes a mistake or something in the salon isn’t working as it should, you speak up without hesitation. Positive feedback should be shared in the same way — freely and frequently. 

It’s important for employees at every level to know when they’ve done a good job or made a difference to the business. Think of feedback as the fuel that a high-performing team runs on; sharing it will give employees an opportunity to feel proud of their contributions and encourage a positive work environment. It also increases employee retention, protecting your investment and keeping your team intact.

Pitfall #3: Assuming culture translates

Creating the right culture is hard work. But if that culture can’t carry on without you, all that work goes out the door as soon as you do! Culture isn’t just a question of the perfect vibe, it’s also an issue of scalability. Ensuring that your culture stays strong no matter who’s on the floor takes extra effort in the short term that pays off in the long run. 

Instead of assuming your staff will speak to clients the same way you do, for example, support them in learning how you expect common interactions to go by offering training, providing sales scripts, etc. Putting the right processes in place will support your team so your culture can scale and your clients can receive red carpet treatment from every employee.

Pitfall #4: One-way communication

Spa and salon owners have to learn to delegate early on in the growth process. Doing everything yourself isn’t a sustainable business practice, and it also leads to company-wide stagnation and frustration. But delegating can’t be a one-way street. Once you’ve trained managers to run operations as you would if you could be everywhere at once, make sure to open lines of communication that go both up and down the chain of command. Employees should feel as comfortable coming to you with questions or concerns as you do going to them with delegated tasks.

Two-way communication makes it easier for owners to empower employees to own their corner of the business and make job-appropriate decisions that help move the whole team forward. You’ll be able to stay in the loop without bottleneck progress or slipping into the bad habit of micromanagement. Instituting regular check-ins like daily standups or bi-weekly reports will also help standardize that flow of information so that people with different communication styles will feel equally supported and welcome at the table.

Pitfall #5: Secrecy around reporting

Whatever your business goals are, success will stay a long way off without the support of your staff. Getting your whole team aligned behind ambitious sales goals, growth benchmarks, and other major milestones means multiplying all your individual efforts toward a shared destination. To do that, you’ll need to share some level of reporting. 

Giving your team visibility into the journey will keep everyone inspired and motivated to push forward toward the finish line. It may not be appropriate to open the books to everyone on your team, but reporting on small wins toward the big goal and communicating the costs of key inefficiencies will ensure that everyone is aware of business realities and aligned on the approach to success.

Regardless of whether or not it comes naturally to you, strong communication can make you a better leader and help your business grow smoothly and sustainably. Fortunately, plenty of businesses have already encountered these common mistakes, demonstrating what not to do. Avoiding communication pitfalls takes practice and attention, but the investment will strengthen operations and streamline your growth for the long haul.