There’s a reason small businesses are often compared to team sports – you have a small group, a shared goal, a leader (or leaders), and countless additional similarities. Sure, you might not have an opponent (unless you consider competing salons “opponents”), but the overlap is undeniable.
There’s a lot a salon can take from team sports. I’m specifically thinking about the huddle in football, or the coming together of a team before the start of a game. This “pump up” that happens is as much physical as anything else. The group comes together in a circle, locks arms, chants or cheers, and generally psyches one another up for the game ahead.
Our Morning Pow-Wow
We’ve implemented a similar strategy in our salon called the “Morning Pow-Wow” and I have to say it’s made a huge difference in morale and productivity. In the business/corporate world it’s often called a “stand up” meeting or a “daily scrum.” They’ve become cornerstones of highly effective teams. Think of it as a daily salon meeting to get everyone on the same page.
Our Daily Pow-Wow takes place first thing in the morning and is led by the managers. We get all the employees together and motivate one another to have a great day. We keep it to 10 minutes or less and we always set a goal for the day. Something like:
- We’re going to rebook every client today
- We’re going to sell product to every client today
- Every client will get a “wow” experience today
It might sound a little kumbaya, but take my word that it can make all the difference in the world. The real point of the Morning Pow-Wow is to remind each employee, each stylist, that we’re all in this together. That we have one another’s back. We leave our problems at the door, we get through the day together, and together we get it done.
Pick a time that works for you
We choose to do our pow-wow first thing in the morning because we find it kicks off the day on a great note. There’s nothing that says you couldn’t do it in the middle of the day, however, when energy/focus/motivation is flagging (and the caffeine is wearing off). The “stand up” aspect of the Pow-Wow – meaning all participants are standing, not sitting – lends itself to fighting off the afternoon doldrums and putting in a productive second half of each day.
Bottom line: It’s worth trying for a couple weeks to see how the staff receives it. Maybe implement it for a month and then add it as an agenda item to your quarterly salon meeting as a way of checking in.
