Feedback can quickly sound like a buzzword for salon businesses and land in our “we’ll do that later category.”
The desire to do it later is often rooted in how uncomfortable it makes us to give feedback to our teams. Most salon owners have had the experience of giving feedback to someone where it didn’t go well. Maybe they ended up in tears or maybe there was anger or maybe there was just shut down.
All of these reactions can create a sense of pending doom anytime we think about giving feedback.
This pending doom is rooted in fear and as leaders there is such a big opportunity to flip our perspective on this and lean into opportunities that come from developing this skill.
Todays workforce is eager, excited, and committed to growth. And growth doesn’t happen without knowing how we can continually get better. That is the very essence of feedback.
If you are struggling with giving feedback there are two things you can ask yourself.
- Is the problem with me? Am I afraid of giving the feedback because I don’t feel like I really know how.
If this is the case then you owe it to yourself to develop your skills.
- Does my team trust me as someone to give them feedback?
If the team is reacting in a negative way when the feedback conversations come up then this may be a place you should dig in. Their trust issues could have nothing to do with you and everything to do with them- BUT- as their leader it is your responsibility to find out what they need from you to help them move through their barriers to feedback so that you can help them grow.
