It’s one thing to be a manager; it’s another to be a leader. As your spa or massage practice owner, keeping your business on track requires good management skills. However, to grow your business to achieve your long-term goals requires leadership.
In today’s fast-moving business climate, being a leader is more demanding than it ever was. Still, leadership's fundamental remains the same – influencing and inspiring others to help achieve your vision. To that end, the traits of leadership include:
Be Results Owned
Effort counts, but at the end of the day, leadership is about achieving desired results. That’s why you have to identify and guide others to the activities that will be most effective.
Plan
Being a good leader requires being able to plan. It involves looking ahead to challenges and opportunities and being able to adapt to them. Don’t wait for crises to happen. Identify potential problems and have a resolution in place to avert them or keep them contained should they arise.
Be Trustworthy
To get people to follow you, you must gain their trust. That means following up on promises and demonstrating in your dealings with your team and customers, and other business associates that you are reliable and have high standards of integrity.
Motivate Others
Being a good leader requires motivating others to take action. While compensation is important, your team also is motivated by your appreciation, recognition for a job well done, and praise for their performance. Giving others honest feedback – even if it’s negative but constructive – is an important leadership trait.
Empower Others
Leadership means empowering others to take on responsibility and to effect change for themselves and the good of your spa or massage practice. You empower your team when you set out clear goals for everyone; encourage risk-taking; provide necessary training, whether it’s training on new types of massage you want to offer or the use of new products for new skin treatments; and provide guidance along the way when it’s needed.
Take Risks
Risk-taking can mean overcoming fears, but it is a critical element of leadership. To move forward, you often need to get out of your comfort zone. But unless you do, you may find yourself rooted in the same place. By taking risks, you will stretch yourself in ways you might not have imagined. You also set an example for your team to take risks – not haphazard ones but calculated ones – to grow and affect the change you desire.
Have a Sense of Humor
You win people over when you can laugh at yourself. Your ability to laugh at your own mistakes or failings shows you have self-awareness, making it easier for people to feel comfortable with you and trust you.
You may have some of these traits, but not all. Not to worry. There are courses, coaching, and even books that can help you develop your leadership skills.