Building Blocks to a Great Culture P2

Hi Everyone!

Last time we spoke I was telling you the importance of creating a culture for your business. Establishing your Vision and Mission Statements, as well as coming up with your core values. Now once you have a good idea of the above then you need to create this atmosphere, this usually includes more than you.

You may come to the point where you have a good worker but a bad employee… you know the type. Even though they benefit your overall sales, they are discouraging your other employees and setting bad examples to your employees and in front of your clients. Get rid of them. Trust your vision. If they do not meet your expectations, they do not deserve to work for your company. And pleaaaase, be picky when hiring! These people are the face of your company, they will be contributing to your culture, can they handle it? If you think they are a good fit and you are making the plunge, make sure they know what is entailed by working here. Let them know your vision, mission and core values. Tell stories- you want people to visualize, have emotions towards it, just like you did when you created it. Stories shows that it can work, shows that it pays off to do it your way. It gives people a sense of comfort. Do not underestimate this factor. Even if not all employees are following it yet, explain to the new employee that it is being implemented and that they will be able to help you by living the culture. Building trust with your team is huge. They need to make sure that your path is the right path if they are going to eat, sleep, breathe it.

People will follow. People will not follow overnight. Do not get discouraged if it takes longer than you expected. Culture takes a while to change but it is obtainable. Be patient and believe in your vision. Now, how are you going to communicate your vision?

Activities, events, ways of doing a task, 'rules', a piece of furniture; it all can impact your culture. Think of activities that you can get your team to do. Get people together, get them comfortable voicing their opinions and concerns - as long as its productive. If it is in your control, consider it and what it would mean for the salon. Meet regularly and have people getting involved but also acting as a reminder. Don’t forget to teach it once it is built. Communicating your vision is the biggest way you are going to get people on board. As good as an activity, event, piece of furniture is to your vision, if people do not know the reasoning behind it then it could just be random. If it comes across as random for your team then it will take a lot longer for your culture to become real, they need to understand and believe it.

As I've said above, live it. This begins with you, if you don’t live it then how do you expect your team to live it. Living is a lot different than saying. A repeated action says a lot more about someone than if they repeat a phrase.

Make sure to reward a job well done. Changing your habits is not an easy task so when there is a change for the positive, when someone is positive and contributes to the culture for the better, let them know - better yet, let everyone know!

Make sure to have fun with this journey. It may be frustrating at times but it is also something that can be extremely rewarding. Enjoy!

Elise xox