Q. What does that road map look like?
First of all, the goals have to be realistic. That’s very important.
You would have goals such as, ‘I want to become a better hair colorist,’ [or] ‘I want to move up so I need to increase my frequent client base.’ So how do we do that? Sometimes it’s a combination of your communication skills and your technical skills. For some people, it’s strictly communication skills. They’ve got the technical skills, but they’re lousy communicators.
Q. What do you do when goals are not being met?
Don’t wait until the goals have not been met. Don’t wait until it’s time for the review and then say, ‘Oh, your goal was to be at 20; you’re only at five. Boy, that sucks.’
This is about leadership. You want to monitor how their numbers are trending. If they’re into the second month and you’re going to have a review in six and you see they’re not getting there, then you need to talk about it.
You need to review and see what’s going on. Why are they trending low? What can we do to help? Is it a class? Sometimes. Is there something going on?
Challenging people is important. And understand when someone’s going through a hard time. If their performance is not hurting you, but they’re not achieving their goal and they are going through a tough time, you have to have a little bit of a leeway.
You want to be proactive in working with them. Discuss; have some ideas. See what’s an opportunity to improve. And if necessary, readjust the goals.
You may have to lower them. Or you’ll say, ‘Let’s do this: Instead of waiting six months, I’ll check with you in two.’ Adjustments should definitely be considered. You can’t wait till the end. You have to monitor.
HOW TO REACH: Philip Pelusi Salons, (888) 263-4720 or www.philippelusi.com
