Peak performance

Performance appraisals are essential for the effective management and evaluation of all staff members in your salon, writes salon business expert Liz McKeon

Staff appraisals help to develop individuals and improve salon performance. Carried out annually, they enable management to monitor standards, agree salon expectations and objectives, and delegate responsibilities and tasks. They also establish individual training needs.

Appraisals typically feed into organizational annual pay reviews, which commonly coincide with the business planning for the next 12 months. The process is also essential for career and succession planning – both for individuals and for the salon as a whole.

Plan for future development

From an HR perspective, appraisals are important for staff motivation, attitude and behaviour development, communicating and aligning individual and salon aims, and fostering positive relationships between staff and management. They provide a formal, recorded and regular review of an individual’s performance, and a plan for future development.

Managers and appraisees tend to dislike appraisals and try to avoid them, as they regard them as daunting and timeconsuming. The process is seen as a difficult administrative chore that is emotionally challenging. The annual appraisal may be the only time since last year that the two individuals have sat down together for a meaningful one-toone discussion. So it’s no wonder that appraisals are stressful, which defeats the whole purpose.

Appraisals are much more relaxed if the owner/manager meets each of the team members individually and regularly for one-to-one discussions throughout the year. Meaningful discussions about the salon, aims, progress, clients, industry trends, ideas and common interests will ease the appraisal process, and reduce anxiety and uncertainty. Conversations that are repeatedly postponed start to loom very large, so don’t wait for the annual appraisal to sit down and talk.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to help your team understand their natural potential and strengths. There are a lot of employees working in salons that don’t allow them to use and develop their greatest strengths. The more you can help your staff to understand their own potential and find roles to fit them, the happier everyone will be.

Beneficial and appropriate

It is sometimes fashionable in this modern age of technology to dismiss traditional processes such as performance appraisals as being irrelevant or unhelpful. Be very wary, however, if you are considering removing appraisals from your own management and organisational practices. It is likely that the critics of the appraisal process are the ones who can’t conduct them very well. Appraisals, in whatever form, have been a mainstay of management for decades – and for good reasons.

When properly done, performance appraisals are useful in a wide range of areas, including:

• Analysing output within the salon.

• Clarifying and defining the salon’s priorities and business objectives.

• Improving motivation through agreeing financial targets, and by discussing achievement and giving positive feedback.

• Clarifying team goals and team building.

• Delegating additional responsibilities.

• Manager development – all good managers should be able to conduct excellent appraisals.

When designing and conducting appraisals, seek to help the ‘whole person’ to grow in whatever direction they want, rather than just identifying the relevant skills training. Doing this promotes positive attitudes, advancement and motivation, and also develops lots of new skills that can be surprisingly relevant to working productively in any size salon.

It is your job to motivate and inspire your team to achieve great things for themselves, your clients and your salon business. Good communication gives you the vehicle to motivate those around you to achieve your goal. An effective appraisal system is a tried-and-tested management tool to assist you to be the best team leader possible.

Liz McKeon is an author, business coach, trainer and mentor, specialising in the hair, beauty and spa sector. For further information visit lizmckeon.comor call +353 86 386 1243.