lizmckeonwrites
getting your ideas across LizMcKeon explains how to improve yourmanagement skills
How capable are you of inspiring people to take action on your ideas and recommendations, whether it is encouraging a client to invest in extra treatments or suggesting new business strategies to your fellow therapists?
Did you know that 85 percent of what you accomplish in both your career and in your personal life will be determined by how well you get yourmessage across?
If you can interact effectively with your staff, the future of your salon can be unlimited, even if you are limited in other business aspects, such as industry training and knowledge.
Effective communication is a management and life skill that you can learn. It's like learning electrolysis or waxing. It takes time and practice, over and over. If you are willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of yourmanagement function.
good communication
Firstly, let's clarify what communication is not: talking does not equal
communicating.Manymanagers assume that because they have no problemtalking to others that they are good communicators. Often, the opposite is true -many people who talk a lot are often poor communicators.
What is communication? Communication is simply understanding - without understanding there has been no
communication.The process of communication happens rapidly, and takes place when two ormore people exchange ideas.
However, communication is complicated. About 99 percent of all difficulties between human beings are caused by breakdowns in the communication process. Either the senders do not say what theymean clearly enough, or the receivers do not receive themessage in the formin which it was intended.
Somany factors can interfere in any communication, and every one of them can lead to a distortion of themessage in some
way.As amanager, probably every difficulty you encounter will be associated with a failure or breakdown in the communication process.
There are three elements in any direct face-to-face communication: words, tone of voice and body language.Words count for seven percent, tone of voice 38 percent and body language accounts for 55 percent of themessage. For an effective communication to take place, all three parts of themessagemust be congruent. Otherwise, the receiver will be confused and will tend to accept the predominant formof communication rather than simply the literalmeaning of the words.
While your choice of words is always important, the better you can co-ordinate all three ingredients, words, tone and body language, themore impact your message will have and the greater the likelihood that an employee will both understand and react in themanner you want themto.
The best communicators are excellent
listeners.Themost important part of the message is the part that is conveyed by the pauses youmake between thoughts and
ideas.Themessage is conveyed in the silence that takes place during the lulls in
conversation.All brilliantmanagers learn to be comfortable with silence. Remember, that a person can only absorb a certain amount of information; you must give someone an opportunity to absorb what you are saying, by pausing, waiting quietly and patiently. Otherwise, you run the risk of overwhelming the other person by a continuous streamof thoughts and ideas, distorting themessage andmissing the point.
Preparation is themark of the true professional communicator. In all communication, particularly in
management, the will to prepare in advance of talking and interacting with people is the key to achievingmaximum effectiveness.
Remember, when communicating with your team, people do things for their own reasons, not for yours. 'What's in it for me?'Think through where the other person is coming from.What is her point of view?What are her concerns?What is she trying to accomplish or what is her level of information about the subject under discussion?
The bestmanagers do not use a lot of words, but choose their words carefully in advance; staff appreciate straight talking. When you have a question or concern, or you want something, come right out and say it, directly, without confusion.You will feelmuch better and you will be amazed at howmuchmore positively staff will respond.
The quality of yourmanagement role will be determined by the quality of the questions you ask, so learn to ask, ask for what you want, ask questions to uncover real needs and concerns, ask to expand the conversation and to increase the understanding of where other people are really coming from.You get other people to do the things you want themto do by presenting your arguments in terms of their interests, in terms of what they want to be, have and do.
As a salonmanager, the ability to communicate is a skill that you can learn by becoming genuinely interested in people and by putting their needs ahead of your own when sending amessage or asking themto carry out some tasks. Concentrate your attention on both building trust and on seeking to understand, and not only will you become known for being an effective communicator,more importantly you will be respected as a brilliantmanager.
LizMcKeon is a Business Coach andTrainer, with a long standing and
proven track record in the beauty industry. For further information about upcoming BusinessWorkshops and Consultancy Services, check out
www.lizmckeon.comor telephone 00353 1 892 8007.
GUILD NEWS 99
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