There are many roles salon owners and managers take on, and one of them is that of mentor, trainer and coach all rolled into one.
Professional development of staff is a must do rather than a nice to do. Yet realistically, when time, energy and resources have been allocated, it leaves little to no time for team development. This is a challenge that can be overcome by creating a dedicated Learning Zone.
We work in two zones, the Learning Zone and Professional Zone. Many people in business allocate a lot of time in the Professional Zone because they believe this is what will make them the most money. The Professional Zone is where we spend a lot of our time doing the job, that is serving our clients or running a business.
Any activities that involve improving the way we work by learning new skills and information should be done in a Learning Zone. It’s important to have the time to learn and practice new skills without distractions and risks under the guidance of a leader, manager or trainer who can coach, mentor and develop skills. You may already be scheduling training time in your salon, spa or clinic, which is fantastic, the key is to do it consistently to realise the benefits.
7 benefits of implementing a Learning Zone:
- Improve business results
- Increase in job satisfaction
- Increase in staff morale
- Increase skill set
- Ability to service your clients better
- Practice new skills in a risk-free situation that won’t impact clients
- Create advocates of the salon – a place where people want to work, and clients want to visit
Your Learning Zone needs to have a dedicated time either at the start or end of a day, not when you are seeing clients. Schedule in reoccurring Learning Zone sessions every week, fortnight or month – whatever you feel you and your team would benefit from. Once this is in place, plan what you want to do in these sessions.
Learning Zone activities can include:
- Product training by reps.
- Training staff to perform a new service.
- Catching up on Kitomba updates, e.g. the Upsell Retail button on the Make Sale tab – discuss how it works and how to position the products naturally in a conversation.
- Use of reports such as the Kitomba Business Summary to highlight what staff are doing well and areas of opportunity in the salon, spa or clinic.
- Coaching sessions using your favorite report on Kitomba to identify areas of skill development for staff members.
- Leadership training for owners and managers to learn new ways of supporting your team to do their jobs.
The learning zone is a time where you and your team can grow through learning, making mistakes, setting goals and achieving them. Once in place, you will start seeing its benefits and how it is linked to the success of your business.
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