Is this a crisis, or an opportunity? Franky, it's up to you.“The chains of habit are usually too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

Many of us are creatures of habit, some of us are able to form good work habits, while others develop poor work habits. This is a challenge many salon owners face everyday. It is much easier to prevent bad habits than to break them, especially when you are trying to instill a team culture in your salon. Tardiness, absenteeism, negativity, keeping customers waiting, poor customer service, salon gossip, are just some of the poor work habits salon owners must confront if you want to create a positive and professional salon environment.

As I travel throughout the U.S. and Canada, I am always asked by salon owners, how do I address a worker with poor work habits. My answer is to take preventive measures and address the problem immediately . This is a major challenge of leadership you must cultivate if you want to improve staff performance and productivity.

If not addressed, your top performers and younger members of your team will assume that allowing poor work habits by certain team members is acceptable by management. Eventually, they too will drift into acquiring some of these negative work habits.

It is not easy being a salon owner, you’re not in business to seek acceptance and friendship or to win a popularity contest with your staff; your business is to take your business and team to a higher level. Allowing negative work habits within your business can ruin the morale of your positive team members, and is expensive.

By allowing this type of behavior in your salon, you will not gain the respect as a leader of your team.

Follow these tips:

Poor Hiring Decisions – many salon owners hire people just to fill a chair. Make sure you develop your own staff development program or follow mine. One bad apple can ruin your business Click here.

Training and Education — it is essential that you develop a thorough employee training program, by instilling positive attitudes and strong work habits .Your orientation program is critical at the beginning of their employment. My educational programs for hairdressers will be very effective in helping you develop a team culture. Click here.

Job description — how can you expect your staff to perform if they don’t know your expectations and how they will be measured?

Probation – six month probationary period will allow you to measure their performance and productivity, making sure they share your vision, goals an help your new team member develop positive and professional work habits.

Job Description – make sure you clearly define their job duties, and your expectations in your terms of employment.

Evaluations – one on one evaluation are very effective.

Employee Handbook —your terms of employment should clearly state your expectations as to tardiness, absenteeism, dress code etc. Follow mine. Click here

Courage — Sadly many salon owners fail to address this challenge in fear of losing a worker , especially with a following to a competitor. What they are really doing is holding you hostage. One bad apple will eventually affect your efforts in developing a team culture.

When a member of your team starts develop some of these negative work habits, address this problem on a one to one meeting, letting them know of your concern. If they continue this behavior, then you must have the courage to terminate this individual, your other team members will respect your efforts. Strong leadership sends a clear message to your other team members that you will not tolerate this kind of behavior, you don’t have time to be a baby sitter.

I will soon be presenting my upcoming seminar for your staff and address this and other challenges for you. My Hairdresser’s Guide to Making Money will be available soon. Click here.