How you communicate with your spa team makes or breaks all of your business goals including keeping the peace with staff and clients alike… which makes knowing how to improve your spa team communication a non-negotiable!

As with every aspect of your spa business, systematizing your processes is vital to fostering internal trust, delivering on client results, and, of course, consistently smashing your sales goals. This is especially true for med spas, the majority of which run their schedules on shift work: that means that some spa team members may not have the opportunity to meet with their leadership team or other key staff on a regular basis. This can create further opportunities for communication to slip through the cracks.

Today, I will be detailing three ways to improve your spa team communication (plus one bonus pointer!)

Why it is Vital to Improve Your Spa Team Communication ASAP

On top of the points listed above, it is vital to improve your spa team communication ASAP in order to prevent communication from eroding other core components of your spa business.

Common team communication concerns I see crop up time and time again with my private coaching clients include:

• Oversharing: While keeping team members in the loop about one’s personal and business decisions and events may seem like a way to be inclusive and communicative with your spa business team, this approach backfires due to it breeding a culture of oversharing (oftentimes irrelevant!) information and, in turn, undermines the leader’s authority in the workplace
• Disorganization: One of the many pitfalls of not having a dedicated communications system in place is disorganization. This can (and does) lead to misinterpretation of instructions and expectations, frustrations, the unintentional siloing of individual team members, and not giving one’s team the opportunity to work together to achieve sales goals

• Lack of technology: The majority of spa businesses are running old and/or antiquated ways of communicating outside of the spa such as text or WhatsApp. Unprofessional or clunky methods of virtual communication will contribute to disorganization and a lack of authority when it comes to establishing communication expectations and boundaries

“Kirsten, This Sounds Like My Spa Business! How Do I Start Fixing My Communication?”

First things first: leaders need to keep consistent boundaries on what is discussed with team members.

Being consistent about what information you share with which team members will work to cut out oversharing personal tidbits, curb gossip, refrain from including non-essential staff in high-level discussions, and help facilitate an environment in which every team member is confident in what they should be communicating about and when. 

One such example would be to begin keeping business-related complaints and/or undeveloped business ideas to yourself, a trusted manager, or private coach instead of venting to team members for which these topics may trigger stress or confusion. 

Spa Communication Tip #2: Pick a Platform to Standardize Communication Across All Channels

As many spa owners commiserate about in my private spa owners-only Facebook group, Spa Business Mastery, being tech-savvy and being a spa owner oftentimes doesn’t go hand-in-hand!

Luckily for you, I have a few tried-and-true tips that even spa business owners with the bare minimum technological know-how can use to make their spa team communication clear, concise, and consistent:

• Larger teams should opt for platforms that offer more flexibility than a simple group text; accessible options that have more capacity than a basic group text include Voxer, Slack, Chanty, or Google Hangout
• Instead of an email or group text for daily or weekly communication, it is advised to steer towards one of the platforms above in order to circumvent the common problem of comments and questions getting buried under multiple replies

Are You Including Team Communication Protocols In Your Spa Staff Handbook? If Not, This Is Your Sign to Start!

A standard spa team handbook encompasses the following:

• A basic overview of policies (specifics should be saved for your dedicated protocol document)
• Guidelines on how you want your spa run and be represented based on a blend of your personal and professional values 
• How staff should behave and communicate
• Protocols regarding hiring and firing
• Expected business outcomes

In addition, a spa team handbook should be signed by each team member after reading to ensure accountability and provide the opportunity for your staff to clarify any questions or comments they may have regarding it. Trust me when I say that having one on-hand will near-eliminate the risk of team misunderstandings!

(Bonus Spa Team Communication Tip)

If you are struggling with any team members or work culture clashes, the communication needs to be in person.

This means that if at all possible, a discussion should be had face-to-face instead of via Zoom, text, or phone (as well as addressed as soon as possible so that discontent and miscommunication can be nipped in the bud ASAP.)

Due to a staggering 50% of emails and texts being misunderstood, giving these important discussions a human touch will work to solidify your tone, meaning, and expectations with minimal explanation.

Need more tips on how to improve your spa team communication? Reach out today to book your first (or next!) coaching session with me here at Kirsten Foss Coaching.