Salon Success Secrets

Building Leaders Without Babysitting

• Lindsay Lowe & Jen Booth

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We dive into the essential framework for grooming salon leaders who maintain your salon's soul while scaling operations. Leadership is about transferring clarity, building beliefs, and documenting systems so your mission outlives you.

• Clients come first, systems come next - protect the client experience at all costs
• Great leaders are mirrors, not megaphones - they don't blame but get curious about where systems break
• In team-based salons, don't point fingers - point people back to the system
• Give feedback that builds, not breaks - lead with love, not labels
• Role play is the leadership superpower - you don't rise to potential, you fall to preparation
• Team-based salons earn millions more than individual-focused operations

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Podcast | Salon Success Secrets

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to Salon Success Secrets, the podcast where we raise up leaders who scale Empire's one guest experience at a time, and in today's episode it's for every salon owner or director asking how do I groom my next right hand without losing the soul of my salon? Because let's be clear, leadership isn't about giving somebody the keys and hoping that they figure it all out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's about. You know, leadership is truly about like transferring clarity, building beliefs and documenting systems. So the mission outlives you. It's not so powerful just to think about it Like the mission outlives you. So like if you've ever thought, hey, she's great at her job, but I don't know if she's ready to lead others, or maybe it's hey, why can't anyone just take initiative around here? Or maybe you even said, or worse, I'm the only one who can do it right, then this episode is your wake up call. So let's talk about how to build leaders without babysitting and how to install systems that actually scale.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Systems that actually scale. You know, let's let's turn to step one, which is where you start to share the vision, and that is that clients come first and systems come next. You know, because let's start with the truth the most important asset in any salon or business, really in the world, is the clients. You know, it's not your chairs, it's not your your teammates, it's not your color line, you know.

Speaker 1:

Even I think people sometimes get confused and think, man, if I had a rockstar stylist with a hundred thousand followers on Instagram, that would be amazing. But no, clients are why we exist and they're why we build systems, because without systems to serve them, you're just hoping for a good day, and hoping isn't a strategy. You know, because one thing that we know for sure is your next leader must know this, and that's that we protect the client experience at all costs. You know, and the way that we protect it is with systems. But here's the trap that most salons fall into. You know, they confuse intention with implementation. You know, because you can't just be like, yeah, I think that this is what's happening and it's not actually happening, because if the system isn't written down, if it's not recorded or documented in any way. You guys, it's not a system, it's merely a wish, and wishes don't scale.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, if you can watch this live, I'm shaking my head really big because this is really good. I was like, yes, wishes don't scale. So when you think about this, you know step number two is going to be coaching. Your next leader starts with seeing the system. So great leaders don't just manage people, they fix broken systems. So your future salon leader should be a mirror, not a megaphone. Isn't that so interesting? If you think about it, when something's off maybe a client review drops off, rebooks fall off, or even the energy shifts they don't default to blame. They get curious. Isn't that so good? You know, instead of defaulting to blame, they're going to ask things like hey, where is the system breaking down? Or they might think like what's unclear, or maybe it's. They ask what needs to be role-played, taught or adjusted, because their role isn't to criticize, it's to repair. Because in a team-based salon, we don't point fingers, we point people back to the system.

Speaker 1:

Because in a team-based salon, we don't point fingers. We point people back to the system. I love that we don't point fingers, jen. We point people back to the system. That's so huge in a team-based salon. You know, and I think this is where step three really does come into play. This is where you give feedback that builds, not breaks. Give feedback that builds, not breaks.

Speaker 1:

You know, because let's talk about feedback because this is where most new leaders crumble. You know they try to correct a teammate, but it comes off as controlling, cold or, even worse, condescending. You know, and here's what we like to teach instead Feedback is a team sport. You know, you have to think that we are on the same side of the table. We're not across from each other. You know and this is Brene Brown calls this engaged feedback.

Speaker 1:

You know, it's when you stay in it together and you lead with love and not labels. So it would look like instead of you know you're not doing this right, you would try to say, hey, tell me what's been going on lately. Something feels off and I want to help. You know, because that's not soft, that's strategic, that's leadership, because when you're coming from a place of saying you're not doing this right you're trying to make yourself the hero of the story, but truly, as a leader, you're trying to make the other person with you the hero of the story, and the way that you do that is to really uncover it in that conversation that we just talked about it doing it that way.

Speaker 2:

So good. It even gave me the ick when you said you're not doing this right. So we go on to step four.

Speaker 2:

Role play is the leadership superpower. So if you want a your new leader to grow fast, teach them this one thing role play everything. Let me say that again. Role play everything. And after you role played it again, role play it again.

Speaker 2:

So, like this means everything scripts, scenarios, conversations with guests. You know difficult follow-ups, every part of the sales process. Because here's the truth you don't rise to the level of your potential, you fall to the level of your preparation. Like the salon leader who can say, hey, let's run through that checkout script together real quick is a leader who builds confidence, not just critiques performance. You know, the role play reveals where someone's stuck. You know, maybe it's not the offer, it's the tone, not the words, it's the timing. And once you isolate the breakdown, you can send them back to the right part of the system.

Speaker 2:

And this is where you'll discover if your systems are tight or if they're playing the game of telephone with your legacy. You know, this is when you think about the game of telephone. You know we've probably all played that game where you start with the phrase and by the time it gets, sometimes to the first person, or even to the second or third person, it's a whole, totally different phrase. And so that's the same thing when it comes to, like, answering your phone. Like if someone is answering your phone and everybody has a different script that they're using, that's a break in a system and that's a great opportunity for a leader to step in, to first be aware of that.

Speaker 2:

I think that's one of the first steps to transformation is being aware of it and then having those great conversations and role-playing it with, um, with the person you know. Yesterday we had a new beauty pro who's in our co-stylist training program and she, she was put up front to learn and I walked up there and she was like um, I'm really, really, really nervous, I don't know what's happening. And so, like we did a few more role plays with her they had already done some and you could tell her whole energy shifted, she felt more confident, she felt seen, she felt like she could do it, like we gave her the gift of confidence, and that's what a lot of times role playing does. And like, by the end of the day I was like okay, girl, I'll see you up there. Yeah, you got it going on.

Speaker 1:

So it's just like we forget the power of role playing because it comes natural to us but it's not natural to everyone. I love that, jen, and it is just a beautiful thing when you see that shift in their energy and their transformation, you know. And so helping new leaders to see hey, we're trying to get a positive shift, we're not trying to change every single thing today, we're just trying to get that one next positive shift. So I love that, you know. And? And step five really is like hey, if you're feeling the cracks, it's time to dive into those systems and guess what We've got you.

Speaker 1:

Because, listen, if your stomach just dropped because you realized that your systems aren't written out, your leaders are winging it and you're still the only one who knows how to fix things when they go wrong. That's not your fault, you know, it's P R O 2, 4, 6, 9, 2, 8, 3, 5, 5, 9, 0. And we'll send you over all the details on our brand new training program million dollar beauty pro. You know, this is an on-demand and live training system that turns you know button pushers into brand builders, and it's built for you so that you can finally scale your team without watering down the vision. Just like Jen talked about telephone, you'll eliminate the telephone game forever because you guys, we're not guessing anymore, we know the score. Team-based salons earn millions more, and it starts with leaders who don't just show up but rise up. So, whether you've got one stylist or that, you're eyeing for leadership, you know, or you're trying to build a full blown management pipeline, remember, great leaders aren't born, they're developed inside of a system that actually works.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. It makes it makes you just want to keep seeing it. Team-based salons are millions more. Team-based salons are millions more. So true, so true. You know, so you know. Like Lindsay was saying, great leaders are born, they're developed inside a system that works, and if yours isn't working, let's fix that. So we'll see you next time on the Salon Success Secrets Podcast. Let's continue building this legacy together.