Inspirational Leadership

Whether you own your salon, are a salon manager or have leadership aspirations for your career, how we inspire others is a large part of motivating your team and clients to a positive outcome, no matter the situation.

Christine Ireland, Head of People and Culture for the Haircare Group talks through inspirational leadership traits and how you can make them part of your everyday leadership role.

Inspirational leaders can be seen from miles away!

As we welcome in 2021 with positivity, we are aware that there will be challenges ahead, something 2020 taught us many times over! While we can’t control what the year will bring, we can own how we lead through the year, to achieve great success.

If 2020 knocked inspirational leadership off your agenda, then here are a few reminders on how we can all reset.

Optimism, authenticity and resilience are some of the key ingredients to inspirational leadership and what the hair industry is renowned for. We were reminded last year that some things we thought were impossible are more achievable than we realised, which is where optimism and resilience starts.

I like to think of optimism as looking for the silver lining in the situation and resilience as the ability to adapt to what the situation is. For me this is understanding the full scenario (positives and challenges), then making the most of it with what you have, who’s around you and thinking differently to create new opportunities.

Continue sharing your optimism with others (your team, clients, community and loved ones). Sometimes we forget the positive influence our behaviour has on others. We all know our positive approach is infectious - the great variety of infection that is!

Maintaining authenticity is another key agenda item - authentically connecting with others, checking-in with them, creating space to listen, having open conversations and genuinely expressing gratitude and appreciation in the moment. Staying consistently true to your values and core priorities as a business when you make decisions, problem solve and communicate.

Make sure you also schedule regular personal time for yourself to stay healthy and regenerate, for things that are important to you.

As an industry we have again shown how resilient we are in adjusting to new situations and congratulations for adapting to the new landscape. It was great to see news articles highlighting and acknowledging the significant role hairdressers and barbers play in the space of optimism and authenticity. As salon professionals, you are emphasising the client value of ‘in the chair’ moments, talking to someone they trust through personal trying times.

As a community, lets continue to collectively shine and inspirationally lead the way.

At Haircare, we endeavour to put our customers at the heart of everything we do, and we look forward to working with you and your team for a monumental 2021.