The One Leadership Shift that will calm your salon - featuring Julia Lambert

Chaos can look like confidence. But to your team, it often feels like stress.

In this episode, we sit down with fan favourite Julia Lambert to unpack a deceptively simple leadership shift that changes everything.

What starts as a story about riding a bike quickly turns into a powerful conversation about calm leadership, psychological safety, and why teams perform better when they can trust how you respond, what you prioritise, and whether you follow through.

We explore how unpredictability shows up in everyday leadership. Think vague “quick chats” that instantly create anxiety, shifting priorities that kill momentum, and inconsistent reactions that leave your team second guessing everything. In a salon environment where days are full and pressure is constant, these small habits have a big ripple effect.

Julia shares a practical and grounded approach to leading with more clarity and consistency. From giving your team permission to say no in a way that still supports the business, to a simple framework for handling mistakes without blame or shame.

We also break down our favourite “how to work with me” blueprint. Clear expectations, simple boundaries, and communication preferences that make teamwork smoother and decisions faster.

✨ In this episode, you will learn:
• Why predictability builds trust and psychological safety
• How unpredictable leadership creates stress and confusion
• Simple ways to communicate more clearly with your team
• How to manage up and prioritise without overwhelm
• A better way to handle mistakes without damaging culture
• How to create a “how to work with me” guide for your team

If you want a calmer salon, a stronger team, and more consistent leadership, this episode is your reset.

👉 Follow the show, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Welcome Back Julia Lambert

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Revy P. Welcome back to the Contra Salon. It is fan favorite, host favourite, Julia Lambert in the studio with you. My goodness, lock up your sons, your daughters, and your bicurious non-binary children.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Oh, oh, oh, what an introduction. I just say, for those that are new, they're gonna be like, who is this? Who is this? And why is she on? Julia Lambert is back. First time in the studio. Yes. Already. We're gonna have to put her out. I'm like ready to go. I've just taken my business. I've just had my little top-up of Dexie. Yeah, you had a Dexie, you're already in. I'm on. I think I need one in this next episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Julia has been on the potty one of the historically one of our most downloaded episodes, which I'm so offended by because you're not in our industry. So I'm like, this is a hair and beauty industry podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Do you know why it is though? It's because the episode is called WJL D J. What would Jesus do? That's what we put it as. Yeah. It is a great one. We speak all things about just like honestly being your like inner best friend.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

It's like be your best self when you're really feeling like shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

The Lulu Week. We talk about many things. It's a great app. Go back, search it, actually watch it. Listen to it. Now you can watch. Now it's not just a treat for the ears, it's a treat for the eyes.

Sex And The City Trivia Debrief

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Oh exactly. But the other nine, oh my god, we've got to be so like we're gonna be we're on. We gotta talk about this during the week. We did. Because we went to a Sex in the City themed trivia. We did. Which we did not win, Ant. We didn't robbed. We only lost four points. We only got four answers wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

No. Let's check the maths on that. Okay. We got lost right. I told you from the jump.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Love it. Can't wait that as I said to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I just want to say what our team name was because anyone who's a diehard Sex and City fan will get it. We'll get it. So originally we called that.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

I actually thought about this this morning. I actually think we should have stuck with the original one that you put up. I swear.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

What was that one? Oh yeah. Roganing the speed stick was our first one. Nah, I'm happy with what we chose. We chose Secret Service Swots, which is very funny. If you're not a Sex and City fan, you're not going to get that reference. And then the team next door.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Take the shirt off my back. Take the shirt back. Take the shirt off my back.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

But the team next door to us had Rick 9 Plus as their username, as their um team name, and that was iconic.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

So he didn't win. I can't remember. Someone, oh, it's like a nurse's one because he liked the nurses, and I was like, Yeah, it was like you guys. Anyway, we didn't win, shockingly, because as I said to you, the questions will not be the stock standard. One of the questions was how many men has Carrie dated within the whole seasons? 27, for those of you wondering. We went for 42 at the beginning. We recalibrated. We recalibrated exactly. Yeah, we didn't win, but anyway, that's not the point. We did get to talking as we always do.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

As we do.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

And Julia had some absolute perlers.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

We were having yeah, we were having a talk about leadership, which we talk about often. So Julia is actually you are like a government um person. Yeah, yeah. So I work in in government area. Well, you're always moving departments. It would be wrong of me to get invested in your title every part of the year. Absolutely. My goodness. And also means one thing that you do exceptionally well.

SPEAKER_04 3:34

So you work for the government, but we do. And I will just say uh all my thoughts are my own and not supported by my employer.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

We're gonna separate from that. I've not said that. No, that's fine. We might cut it out. We'll see. We're probably cutting it out from the eyes that I'm getting, we'll cut it out. We might have to do it. Julia is very good at what she does and always has a great brain and mind, and that's what we've got her on for.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

She works in she works for corporate.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Yeah, so I work in a really kind of corporate space and in a space where I have a strong commitment to delivering good public value. Yeah, which I think is very different to the kind of individualized and personalized work that you do and that we see in the hair and beauty industry.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Very good. Did you rehearse that? No, I'm just this is me, baby. Exactly. This is me on a Monday. But one thing that I really admire about what you do is I love your leadership. And every time I see you, we have high-level conversations about leadership, much to Pete Young's dismay. And we talk about how to be a heart-led, compassionate leader who gets results. Yeah. And I think that you do that so well, and you've taught me so much about leadership. Don't all cry. So we're having a conversation the other night, and you were telling us, sharing with us this incredible story. And we said, You need to come on the potty and tell that. And then you said, Well, I'm on I'm on long service leave. Well, my long service leave, having a little rest. So we said, Well, Monday, Doll, you're coming. And you did. Here we are. Here we are. Here we are.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

So you have had prior to that, you've been, so you've just done where this conversation started, you've just gone on one of the big trips of Europe.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

Yeah. I had a little holiday, a little holiday uh in September, October last year, uh, and came back. I'm a big fan of a holiday. I think if you play hard, you've got to rest hard.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Absolutely. And draw the lines between that as you will. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

But in the candle advice sense, always.

Be Predictable Like On A Bike

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Always. So we're not going to get into any of those stories. This is a this is an educational. No, that's right. We're not going to do we're not doing secret service slots. We're not doing. We are not. But I want to talk about you told me a great burla.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Of when we're talking about predictability with leadership.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

So I uh I went on a bike tour as part of my little holiday. I like to ride a bike when I go on holidays. I try to ride a bike when I'm in Melbourne, but I'm not great at it. Like I love the idea of it, but I'm a bit shit at it. And one of the people I was traveling with, she said to me, Julia, when you're riding a bike, be predictable. This is the best piece of advice I can give you. Be predictable. And I thought, well, there's a leadership lesson in that, which I think anytime anyone says anything to me, you know, there's a leadership lesson in that, what is it? And I was thinking about then the predictability of leadership and how important it is to be predictable when we're leaders. And then, you know, I was kind of thinking about that as I rode my bike and tried to be predictable for the cars. And then I was thinking about that as a kind, as a driver. And you know, when you see somebody driving erratically and you're like, I want to get the fuck away from that person. I do not want to be anywhere near them. But when you're in, you know, behind somebody who's driving and they're calm and they can see the things, like they're seeing the things that they're breaking early, they're indicating, they're going a, they're following the road rules. You're like, oh, this is easy. This is breezy. I hope this person's going where I'm going and I can just follow them the whole way. And so I think about leadership in that context of I don't want to be the sort of leader who is erratic, darting in and out of lanes, not indicating, um, when I'm not sure how they're going to react or respond and I'm kind of on edge the whole time. I want to be the kind of leader and work for the kind of leaders who are predictable, deliberate, where I kind of know the vibe of how they're going to respond. And that's really important in the work that I do. The work that I do, I'm often working with uh some of the most senior members of our organization and also some of the most junior. And so there's a real uh, I think, benefit in being predictable in your approach and uh in your in your leadership.

When Erratic Leadership Feels Unsafe

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I loved this for so many reasons, but the fact that when you started like sharing that perla, and I was just thinking about it and I was like, yeah, the when I've had leadership before and it's not predictable, that's super unnerving. I felt really unsafe. I felt really like I share this story often. I remember being a witness to a sacking, but I wasn't informed of it. So it was so confusing. Was it Nikki doing the sacking? She couldn't tell you. I won't do it. No, it wasn't Nikki. But I was summoned. Yeah. Can you just be in here while we have this conversation? Come on in, person.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

Were you there to support the sacker or the sacking?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I was literally the witness. So I just sat there and was like, so I was smiling. And then it happened, and I was like, Oh, what'd you say?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

All the best.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

I did said nothing. I just kept that psycho smile on my face, being like, This is so awkward. Yeah. And I do think like I had really incredible lessons and leadership moments prior to that, and like experiences with the that unnerved me. Because I just after that, every time I was summoned, I was like, oh god, like who else is getting summoned, or like who's already in there? And potentially is that gonna be me that's gonna be stepping through these doors. And I think so. That really got me thinking when you shared this about predictability. It's such a huge part, and this might shock you, Nikki, it's a huge part of what we do and who we are. We're very predictable human beings. Because I've realized that that creates a real safety for us. And when you were referring back to the bike being predictable and then listening to you with the cars, the second that you mentioned that erratic driver, I am breaking like if I'm 30 kilometers under the speed limit, tough luck, because I am not going anywhere near that. Yeah. Because that for me is unsafe.

SPEAKER_04 9:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

And hearing the way that you said that and shared that story, I was like, wow, this is something that needs to be said not just in our industry, but in every industry. Because people think that predictability is boring, or they think it's mundane, or and like, why are we trying to make everything spicy and interesting and like or people like use their chaos as fun.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Oh my god, I'm so chaotic. My team just like think it's so funny, I'm so chaotic.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

And when I hear that, I'm like, babe, take 10 minutes, sort your shit out, and then have your meeting with me.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Totally.

Building Certainty For Salon Teams

SPEAKER_04 10:22

Do not bring me into that chaos because I've got enough things to try and juggle, and I'm trying to make sense of that and bring some structure to it so that when we do get a curveball, someone can catch it. Yeah. Or at least duck their head.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Absolutely. Or not sit there with a big smile on the face.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

It was such an incredible pivotal moment the other night when we were walking, searching for a uh frozen yoga place in St. Kilda. But it was such a pivotal moment when you were talking about that because I was like, oh, I've been that leader. I've been that chaotic leader. And now being on what I like to say is that we're on the other end of that scale in terms of predictability and creating so much certainty and predictability that our team now can say, Oh, this has happened, and I know that Nikki and Tess are going to say this. Or I know that Nikki and Tess will lead in this way. They they've there's so much predictability around that that they know that when change happens, we're gonna have a conversation about it. We're gonna talk about the who, what, when, why, how, and what our path is moving forward.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

They know that whenever you say, Hey, can we have a quick chat, that you're not gonna bring them in to be a witness in a thing. And that you're probably gonna say, Can we have a quick chat about X rather than can we have a quick chat and then the person's going.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Yeah, or they like open their appointment book and they say there's a meeting booked with Nikki and they're like, Oh god, what's that about? Or be like, hey, I'm just scheduling this meeting so we can talk about X. Yeah. And then if you see that, that's why. So it's massive. And I don't think we've realized because as Nikki's saying, we've been on the other side of that, we've experienced it, we've also been a part of it. So we've added to this conversation, we've also been a part of the conversation. I feel this is something that we see so often with salon owners. It's like this dance of I experienced this when I was growing, you know, when I had my apprenticeship, so I'm gonna be the polar opposite. So I experienced horrible boss, so I'm gonna be the friend boss. Which also not safe. Or I experienced, you know, no structure, I'm gonna have heaps of structure, all of these things, and then the predictability of like even sometimes I find with like creating momentum and then dropping it out, and the the team's emotional systems must be like this.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Of like people when we're working with cell owners and they they're on real momentum train and then they just drop off. And I think how confusing for the team to be like, okay, we're going all in on this, and then oh, you've lost interest in that, or you're not organized enough, or you're exhausted. So then we plummet and how difficult that is, or one-on-one meetings. You we always say book them in for the entire year, they don't move for anything. And we have so many selling owners who will say, Oh, I had to move that because a client needed to get in, or I had to do like that, even that in terms of a lack of predictability and it chaotic momentum.

Leading Vs Managing In Real Life

SPEAKER_04 13:10

See, I'm comfy with having them booked in, and then if we need to move it, we move it, but we agree that we're absolutely having one this week and we need and we commit to finding a time. Uh again, with my corporate background, sometimes there are things when I'm working with the most senior people and the most junior people, where if somebody needs me in that moment, I like to think I'm always available. I'm available. And this I think goes to the other part of the conversation that we were having around leading and managing and how they're two kind of different skill sets and approaches and different parts of yourself to tap into because you can lead without being a manager and you can manage without being a leader.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

And I think that's different where our different industries because you guys will have times in the office where person A and person B are like, okay, we'll line it up on Thursday instead because we've both got free time for three hours.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Whereas in our industry, it's like every hour you're booked with a client. So to have that crossover where two people align can be really tricky. Yeah. Um, Julia, yeah, you spoke on, and I want to just throw throw this in there. There you go. You spoke so much about leadership, and there were so many amazing gold nuggets on our like 10-minute walk. And you spoke about um saying to your team, it's okay for you to say no to me.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

And then we had a conversation on that. And I said, What if they so you said uh I am okay with my team saying no to me, and I want you to explain that in a second. And then to that, I said, What if they always say no to you? How do you handle that? Yeah.

Teaching Teams To Say No

SPEAKER_04 14:38

So uh I think communication is really important in any sort of relationship, and in this particular context, we're talking about uh teams and managers uh or teams more broadly, and I think it's really important to be able to manage expectations and manage up. I say to my team, the hardest part of your job is managing me, so let me tell you how to do it. And I give again the predictability that these are the things I'm always, these are the questions I'm always gonna ask. These are the things I'm gonna think about. Oh, sorry, I keep knocking in the microphone. Thank you. Uh I'm always gonna have comments, I'm always gonna have feedback, um, I'm always gonna do this, I'm always gonna do that. If you want me, I'm always available to you. Um so ask if you're looking at the blank page and you're spiraling, you come and you find me, you ring me, you pick up the phone, you don't sit there in that and and this is how I'm usually gonna react. Nine times out of ten, this is how I'm gonna react. So you can predict that. You actually say that to them? Yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

So what can I just I want to like lean into that a little bit more? When you say this is how I'm gonna react, what sort of examples do you say?

The Four Fs For Mistakes

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Yeah, great. So I was actually having a chat with my boss the other day, and she was like, you know, she talked to me about the four P's uh and how she was onboarding another team at the moment, and she was like, Talk about the four P uh four Fs. The four P's. Oh fuck, here we go. Uh you're gonna fuck up, you're gonna fess up, you're gonna fix it, and we're gonna forget about it.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Oh, I love it. How good's that? So good. So fuck it, fuck up, fess it. Fess up, fix it, forget about it. Forget it. Love that.

SPEAKER_04 16:15

Yeah. And so that gives permission to fail. And that's not permission to fail every day at every task. And I think it's really important to say that in your expectation setting, we're not always gonna get it right. We're gonna try to get it right, but sometimes we're not. What are we gonna do about that? What's our accountability? What's our responsibility and accountability to ourselves, to each other, and to our clients and the people that we're serving? So I think they're some of the things to think about. And then then I'd have the yes and no conversation around, you know, our job is to make each other's lives easier or whatever it is. Our job is to give people the best experience when they walk into this building that they can have. We want them to leave feeling fabulous and having a great experience and wanting to come back and to tell their friends about how much they loved it. Great. But not always gonna nail that. So how do we work together so that nine times out of ten we do? And in the one time in the ten that we don't, we're able to catch it, call it out, and kind of address it. And minimize that. So they're the kinds of things. And so that will mean that sometimes you have to say no to me. Do you feel comforta and I always ask, particularly when I'm working with junior people, do you feel comfortable saying no to me? Yes, Julia. And I'm like, do it then. Say no to me. And watch them freeze. I'm like, I know, say no. Say no. And I get them to use the language. Uh, and I said, and that doesn't mean you can say no to me all the time, but it means you've got a kind of handful of magic beans to say, oh, actually, Julia, if you want that by that time, it means you can't have this one. Which one do you want? Can you help me prioritize? Absolutely, I can. Thank you for giving me that visibility. Let's make this decision together. Yeah?

Better Language Than A Hard No

SPEAKER_01 18:01

I love that. That that revolutionized the way that I think about because when we're talking about this, I said, Tay will say no to us. Yeah. And it's not necessarily us saying, you know, can you take on this task? It's more so we'll say, Oh, this, like, what do you think about this idea? And if it's a shit idea, or well, like we think it's like an epic idea, and she's just like, she'll come in and say, That's not a good idea. That's not a good idea, let's see it in this way, or this is how we could do it better. Or she'll say, This is something that's a huge gap for us. We can do this so much better. And it'll be something that we've written and it's been our method, and she'll come in and say, We can do it better than that.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

And so what she's not saying is no full stop. So I have a problem with no full stop. You can't come to me and say no full stop. You come to me with options. So it's no, however, this. Yeah. No, but we could do this. Or so I talk a bit about yes and and no but. There's that theatre degree paying for itself. Finally, they listen. And that might even just be a bit of a language thing as well. You know, hey, Tay, we were thinking about um, you know, painting the whole salon bright red. What do you think about it?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

She just won salon interior design of the year. Hang on, actually, you would love herself.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

Mama West, my mate.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Red, you would actually love herself.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Well, it's a longtime listener, in case you couldn't tell. Um Sheridan. Oh, yeah. You should go there to go there.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Literally your vibe.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

You would love the experience. And everyone's really like fun and extroverted. You'd fit in perfectly. I've absolutely loved all of Mama West's podcasts and every podcast of this program that I've ever listened to. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

You can come back again now.

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Thank you. Uh, so but you know, like for your vibe, that's not the vibe you're going for. And Taya might say, Great. I love that you're thinking about that. And maybe red's not the vibe we're going for. And no. And no.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

I feel like she's super comfortable saying that. And it and it's only the last couple of years that that she has that we've really given her permission, I guess, yeah. To say, no, you've got to look at it from this lens, or no, let me give you a different perspective. Yeah. And it's opened up so many different avenues.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

And sometimes the word no can be a conversation stopper. So if you are hearing no a lot or noticing that you're saying no a lot, I'd encourage you to think about your own language and help your team by giving them language to either push back, manage up, give you visibility, give you options. And that can be as simple as hey, uh yesterday you said when I asked you about this, you said no, Julia, I don't think we should do it that way. Oh, I've I've got a bit of I was reflecting on it, and you can always reflect. Please reflect. And don't just sit with it because then it kind of festers and then you get cranky and then you snap at the wrong thing. So say have the conversation, hey, I've noticed you've been saying no to me a lot. Can we have a bit of a play with language? It's just making it's triggering me, or it's making me really cranky, or it's just kind of getting my hackles up a little bit, whatever it is that it's doing for you, and then have that conversation with what other words can we use? So one of the ones that I use is can I suggest? Can I suggest, which is listen, but you know, like, or or give them that language. So you again, I might say, Oh Tess, if I come to you with something that you think's not a great idea or that you've got a better idea for, or that you just don't have capacity to use, maybe you can say to me, Hey Julia, I know you're really keen on that. However, can we sit on it for a week and revisit it? Or whatever it is, give them the words to say so that then you clock it yourself and you're not gonna be triggered or heightened by the word no or whatever it is that's kind of making you twitch your eye. You know what's interesting?

Give People Your Working Blueprint

SPEAKER_00 21:55

I'm thinking about this from like you're saying it from a like team member bringing it to you. I'm also thinking of it from a team leader to a team. And how often, especially with no, I was a huge one for no. Yeah. Someone would bring an idea in and I'd be like, no. Like because I'm not I'm not amazing with change. So often if things were brought to the table, someone had an idea, rather than saying, that's a good idea, I'd love us to also do X, Y, and Z. Yeah, but I'd just go, no. That wouldn't be.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

That's your predictability. Yeah. I know I can't bring anything to Tess. Exactly. So I'll wait till Nikki's in and I'll just go to Nikki. Because it's easier to work to Nikki because Nikki will say yes and Tess will say no.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Yeah, and I think even with that, as you like, that was what I was sort of thinking with that. That whole thing of that predictability of having like me being known as the no person would be, first of all, not very empowered and inspiring. Then suddenly I'd start complaining about the fact that my team don't give me anything. They don't like have any ideas. They don't, yeah. Or like I can't get anything out of them. They're just like, they're just like a wall. I hear that. That's something we hear all the time, especially in one-on-ones.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah. My team member won't open up. It's just like closed, closed answers, closed answers. And we have to really work with that cell owner. Yeah. What sort of questions are you asking? Yeah. Are you asking questions and then when it gets quiet, you're just filling it with words? Or are you asking questions and actually sitting in that quietness and waiting until they respond?

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

And sometimes some of those things take time. And and again, the predictability of this is how I'm going to work, I'm not going to stop asking you. I'm not going to stop asking you for new ideas.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Would you say to a team member, I want to be predictable for you? So here's what I'm going to do.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Yeah. And so you might say, for example, if I can pick up on your piece around the I'm the no person, um, form a no, no.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Reformed no. Or I'm a like a emerging yes. Definitely. I'd say I'm almost fully qualified, yes. Excuse me. I've really leveled up. But it is one of those things that I've had to really work on because change is not something that I do embrace. I'm I don't that feels uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

But how reflective of you to do that. And I think as as leaders and managers, sometimes we don't want to do that reflective work. So I've spent a lot of time, particularly when I've had to go into new teams or when I've been picked up and put somewhere else to clean up something. Um, I like to give a bit of a heads up. Yeah, because you've been on cleanup crew quite a few times. I've been on cleanup crew, like in some of my ultimates, they called me the janitor. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

What do they call it?

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Corpse cleaner.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Corpse cleaner.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

Yeah. But yeah, I get the janitor a lot. Yeah. We're bringing in the janitor. Okay, great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Good to see everyone. Yes. Hello. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Oh, there's a toilet that needs unclogging. Here we are. Um, and so what I like to do to kind of shortcut some of that, because often when you're in those sorts of roles, you don't have a lot of time. Hey, can you fix this up in six weeks? Um, yep. Sometimes you've got the luxury of six months. Even still, like you want to be building relationships quickly. You want people to learn about you and for you to be approachable, I think. That's my kind of leadership style. And so I'll do a bit of, hey, here are some tips for working with me. Um, my diary's open. Um, I'm available between these times for phone call. Oh, I prefer a phone call or a text message. Um, if you want to chat with me, uh, if you want more than an hour, if you want more than half an hour of my time, send me bullet points of what we're gonna talk about. So that I've got a heads up. I love that. Yeah. If you want feedback, tell me what you want feedback on. If you, you know, if you want to talk to me after hours, no worries, just check my diary and pop it in. If you need me to review something, put time in my diary so that it's in there. Um, if you don't hear from me about something in a week, it's your job to follow me up. It's your job to chase me.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

So you give them a real lay of the land of like this is how I like give you permission. Yeah.

Boundaries Create Room For Innovation

SPEAKER_04 26:07

And so it absolutely gives them permission. It gives them the rules of like the rules of the game. Here's here's our playing area, and whatever you do within that, please be innovative. And you know, I think creating boundaries provides a real opportunity for innovation as well. Whereas if it's like, don't come to me about this, don't come to me about that, or but you might even say, um, don't come to me without Googling it, asking a colleague.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

We always have the if you're coming with a problem, come with a solution. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

We always say to our team, you've got to come with at least two solutions if you've got a problem on your hands. Absolutely. And it's really interesting, even even with our emerging team, they'll come in now and they'll say, well, like they'll bring it to Tay, you know, this is the problem that I'm facing, and here are the things that I see fit. Yeah. This is what I think I'm thinking. Can I bounce it off you?

SPEAKER_04 26:56

Well, here's what I've tried. I love here's what I've tried as well. Hey, I tried these two things and now I'm at a wall. I'm like, okay. And then I also love the opportunity to be reflective with the team. How did it feel? Uh which bits of it didn't work, what can we do to kind of maybe uh tweak it around the edges? Like, or are we chucking the whole thing out? Were there bits of it that might have worked? Do you want to have another crack? Was it timing off? Was it that I was having a shitty day that day, or that I was in back to backs and I didn't have a chance to sit properly with this? Did I misunderstand? Um there are also things like, you know, write it down for me, or actually I want to have a face-to-face, or let's talk in the in let's talk on the phone, thinking about how I best communicate, or I'm a real thinker, so I need the idea and then I need time to reflect. Or I'm really impulsive in my responses. So I might give you a response and then I might change my mind. These don't all have to be amazing traits. It can be a shitty one. Like sometimes I'm like, this is what I think now, but heads up, I might change my mind when I sit on it a bit longer. So don't go too fast and check back in with me tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

You really do like I feel like it just gives like full permission to just this is the best way to communicate with me. This is my expectation, this is like my permission for you. And like potentially they can do the same thing. Absolutely, they should.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

How do I get the best out of you? How do we work best together?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Take the personality tests that we do. Really cool. So similar.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Julia Lambert, I learn so much every time I sit with you and we talk shop and your perspective. I find that you're just such an unbelievably empowering human being. And you speak with such an optimistic lens to your team, like how I'm hearing you speak to your team. You you you do it so positively and so it's such in such an empowering way. And there needs to be so many more leaders like you out there. I'm so grateful that you're here today sharing with our community this wisdom because so many salon owners are missing this and missing this conscious leadership that you have.

Final Takeaways And Farewell

SPEAKER_04 29:06

Your talent is wasted in the secret uh career that we in providing good public uh services and good public value.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

You are doing an exceptional job uh as a janitor, but thank you. With this, I'm so grateful that you've come in to share. But our industry, I feel, needs this permission because we have this like way of being of thinking, putting this expectation that it needs to look one way. And I think just giving the permission of give the people the blueprint as to how to best work with you. So then we can all get along and get their blueprint and let's let's let's compare blueprints and see how we can do it. And have some shared language about that as well.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Absolutely. Guys, thank you so much, Julia Lambert. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing brain. You are a spectacular human being, and we appreciate you coming in on recess. Oh, pleasure. The day of back-to-back unemployment. But uh guys, this has been amazing. So many gold nuggets in here. So many golds. Thank you. And also listen to WWJL D. It's a really good episode. Julia Lambert, too. It's a really good episode. Thank you guys for listening to another episode of Secret Service SLATs. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Stay conscious. Well, love you guys first. Oh, I love you.