What are your team’s communication types?

Use business consultant Penny Etheridge’s guide to identify each team member’s key personality traits and get the best out of them in the salon

“Reserved communicators will be your most loyal employees of all. They drink in the information that you give them and quietly, through observation, you’ll see that they’re carrying out new tasks and they’ve taken it upon themselves to do so. They value reliability and these people feel a lot. Reserved people really don’t like being pushed, so when you talk about goals, don’t put any threat underneath them. They are hardworking people, but they’re the ones that will be led by their emotions the most. Reserved members of the team might need extra emotional support compared to other members of the team, however this extra effort on your part will be worth it as this personality type is known for being a team player and will want to help you get the best results for your business.”

“These team members are fun, chatterboxes and quite open about their own private lives. They like to gossip, but they’re kind and friendly people,” says Penny. “On the flipside, they can become a little bit over familiar and can become easily confused or distracted and not carry out the requests that you have asked of them. For a team member who is a socialiser you need to write everything down for them. It would be even better if you could encourage them to write everything down for themselves. In fact, a lot of hairstylists are open communicators so you might have a few in your team. This is positive because they get on with everybody, but you will need to organise this personality type. Otherwise they will not only distract themselves, but they will distract others within your salon team too.

“Directors can be the most motivating but also be the most damaging. The direct communicator is somebody who’s a leader and likes to take control. When this goes wrong they may want to lead and control, but only in the staff room,” says Penny. “These types are tricky because they are normally also highly skilled. You need to be firm and let them know who’s in charge. Look at ways of delegating responsibility, such as giving them tasks where they work independently. Otherwise, they’ll undermine any of the decisions you’re making and will be taking control from underneath you. However, they may just be yearning for more responsibility as they want to be viewed with respect. You have to find out their goals and aspirations and give them a clear career pathway. Set them robust targets because they like to be challenged.”

“Indirect people or ‘thinkers’ are very analytical. They have a real attention to detail, will question everything and have to understand everything before they do it. This type also tends to work alone. You might employ someone within your company who is this type, but they are more likely to be on your admin team than anywhere else,” explains Penny. “They can come across as procrastinating, but it’s because they want no stone unturned. They want to know every single detail and then they will make their decision. This means they’re not agile thinkers – a very good saying is ‘paralysed to analyse’. During an appraisal this personality type will want to know their targets, company goals, visions and career paths down to the minutest detail, so make sure you have everything prepared.”