The year was 1997, and I had officially started my first “real job”. Technically this was my second job, but I refer to it as my first simply because it was the first time my job would be supporting myself and my child. This new job was a receptionist in a hair salon. The manager that ran the salon, had a personality that was larger than life. Treon was as unique as her name. You couldn’t help but like her. She was positive, vivacious, and could charm a bald man into buying shampoo. She cared about her employees, she nurtured their development, and she genuinely wanted each member of her staff to succeed (Northouse, 2016, p225). What I didn’t know until much later in life, she was a textbook servant leader.
One of the hardest behaviors to learn is how to listen to your employees, and communicate with them. In a hair salon, it is critical to be able to listen to the wants and needs of your clients. She understood the importance of listening to her employees (Northouse, 2016, p227), as well as the clients of the salon. Listening was something she taught as well as performed. Conceptualizing in a salon requires a high level of communication with the employees (Northouse, 2016, p233). That high level of communication made it possible for her to go beyond managing the day to day issues that would come up from time to time. When there were problem clients, her staff would turn to her for leadership. After an assessment in her chair, and a plan to correct any problems, she would turn that unhappy client into a repeat customer. Customers returning for service was one of our overall goals.
Helping followers to grow and succeed was another of her goals as a leader (Northouse, 2016, p234). In this salon, the money earned is split between the shop and the stylists. The more a stylists earns, the more the salon earns. Top stylist require extensive training beyond beauty school. Treon understood this balance, and strived to keep her team at the top of the fashion trends. When a new stylist joined, she helped them to build their clients lists. She sent them to training, and she often taught training classes. She hosted events in the salon with the new stylists in an effort to bring in new customers. The success of the salon was entirely dependent on the success of the employees.
Once a stylist had built their client lists, she empowered her employees to drive their own individual businesses. They had the freedom to make their own choices (Northouse, 2016, p233). As long as they upheld the integrity of the salon and their clients, they had complete creative control. They had the freedom to adjust their hours to suit their client’s needs. When problems would come up, they knew they had Treon’s support. They felt they could turn to her, and she would coach them through difficult challenges.
Ultimately, the servant style of leadership is perfect for the application of salon management. It encourages communication, which in turn, helps the leader run the business. This style of leadership also allows for a commitment to the employees to help them to grow and develop their skills (Northouse, 2016, p228). It empowers the employees to become leaders in their own right, which increases the success of the stylists and the salon overall. Lastly, It puts the employees first (Northouse, 2016, p234), which is something not always experienced in a corporate environment.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
James Burgess says
This is a great post and shows us that the servant leadership style can be a part of any business or organization. I spent 10 years in retail selling shoes and found that If my people were well trained and supported, they were better at providing great service and this helped our sales grow from year to year. Back then I thought of the mood and atmosphere as one that was fun and inviting for people to work in and that what made things successful. What I didn’t realize was that the support I was providing to the staff was one of the reasons for our success. My goal then was not to be see as a manager who was concerned with how many items they sold per transaction, but as someone that would help them understand how the products beyond the shoes we sold would also benefit the customer. According to our Servant Leadership Theory lesson “Servant leadership will backfire if a leader tries to engage this process while actually being a power oriented or domineering personality” (PSU, 2017). This holds true with my example as well as your Blog about Treon. It sounds like she was seen as someone who empowered her workers to succeed which was done in an informal way, but still highly successful. The real power of her leadership was how everyone worked toward the same goal as she supported them and allowed them to grow.
References:
Penn State World Campus (n.d.). Lesson 4: Skills Approach. Retrieved September 16, 2017, 2017 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867456/modules/items/22975771
Kerrie Ann Caison Bagg says
Hello Amy.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Your boss, Treon, seems like that she is the type of employer who places an emphasis on her employees to make their work experience a success, which in turn will make her business a success. Northouse (2016) suggests, “ Servant leaders put followers first, empower them, and help them to develop their full personal capacities” (p.225). You described your boss as positive, vivacious, and charming, all appropriate qualities that are important to be a servant leader.
Along with Treon’s personality and leadership traits you mentioned the importance of ensuring that the new stylists understand the concept and expectations of the salon as well as understand their value as a stylist. She seems to place an enormous amount of time and effort to make sure that each a stylist is empowered. As Northouse (2016) states, “Empowerment builds followers confidence in their own capacities to think and act on their own because there are given the freedom to handle difficult situations in the way that they feel is best” (p.234).
In addition to empowering her staff Treon seems that she has established community value within her salon. Northouse (2016) states, “ Servant leaders create value for the community by consciously and intentionally giving back to the community”(p.235). A leader who is positive and promotes success in every employee is an asset to have on your team.
Do you feel that all of the employees felt the same way about Treon? Did every employee have the same success that you had within the company? I would imagine that they did. Northouse (2016) suggest, “ Servant leadership would produce a ripple effect in which servant leaders create more servant leaders. Would you consider yourself as a servant leader now, having such a great teacher?
In conclusion, having a strong leader at your first job has seemed to be extremely beneficial for you in your work life. Treo helped your realize and understand what you were capable of on your first job and nurtured your strong points as a new employee. Her positive values and behavior had an impact on your work life and most likely have provided you with an additional professional work tool throughout your life.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
Jodi Rafalko says
Amy,
You spoke about how your leader at the salon put employees first and empowered them to become their own leaders. Were there any criticisms you felt as a follower of a servant leader? In our text, a potential downfall of this kind of leadership is that it is more concerned with morals than production (Northouse, 2016). Where I could imagine that playing out in the work environment that you described above is with quality of work. For example, if your leader is more concerned with empowering her employees to try out their own styles of work, what if some customers don’t like the new style of work and stop visiting the salon? Did this kind of situation ever present itself? Or, was your leader aware of the potential that being too “altruistic” as Northouse puts it, could lead to a fall in production (Northouse, 2016). If this situation did occur, I think your leader at the salon could manage it while still embodying her servant style of leadership. While servant leaders do empower their followers above themselves, a minor but important aspect of this style is honesty (Northouse, 2016). If your leader were to notice that a certain style wasn’t working for an employee and it was hurting the business, she could increase the clarity of what kind of style she was looking for and what process to use to get there (Northouse, 2016). Northouse warns though, that if the leader clarifies the process and leaves the situation, the followers are less likely to achieve their goal efficiently (Northouse, 2016), but it sounds like your leader at the salon was usually pretty present, so this method of providing clarity might mitigate any issues of being “too” empowering.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.