Training in your salon

Name: Lyndsay Loveridge

Years in industry: 40+ 

Salon: HQ Hair by Design, New Plymouth

Apprentices: Lindsay has one 3rd year apprentice and two 2nd year apprentices in her salon.

Experienced hairdresser and HITO champion Lindsay Loverage gives advice on how and why you should have apprentices in your salon.

Click below to listen to Lyndsay talk about working with apprentices in her salon.

Lyndsay Apprentices

Nothing beats training and growing your own stylists.

Why? Because they endorse your brand, thrive in your salon culture and become your stylist of tomorrow.

Training breathes youth, vibrancy and life into your salon. It is an investment in the future and longevity of your business.

Employment is a serious responsibility and training should be an ongoing commitment.

Both require your utmost in understanding, your desire to do right by each and every employee, to treat them with respect, to lead fairly but firmly and make the workplace FUN.

You need your people to feel valued and want to come to work.

With a philosophy such as this when times get tough and /or the chips are down your people will support each other and you, and deliver.

Training often seems a daunting task here are some key points to make it work and well:

•    Every trainee must take responsibility of their own training. This includes their off-job training together with meeting all assessment expectations and results. In Salon training; their model needs, both for practise and for their COE’s, each in readiness for those assessment days.

•    The salon owner should appoint a trainer. This person must be prepared to commit to the in-salon training programme. They must match the needs of each of the trainees to the off-job programme together with the salons needs.

•    Dedicate and schedule training time. This is as important as booked client time. Never miss it and where rescheduling is necessary, do it!

•    Appoint a buddy to each trainee. Everyone needs someone to lead, to care, to listen and to support them.

•    Make training relative, current, bite-size and fun. Recognise in public and critique in private. HQ uses the ‘C, R, C technique’; commend, recommend, commend.

•    Remember education is for everyone. This includes the trainer, as the work required is not just to your salon standard but must meet industry standards. These can be very different. My best advice to salon owners and trainers is, visit your off-job trainer, and view a class in practice.

•    Finally once your trainee has completed their 43 units and are working toward 2757, be there with them. Go to the guidelines meetings, understand for yourself what is expected and TRAIN them in readiness.Lead the way, be a work in progress, constantly learning and growing and then others will follow.

A recipe for a happy productive stable salon team:

• Genuinely care, treat your people as you would your family; invest in them, praise their achievements, nurture them through their learning and their mistakes.
• Be the best example you can be.
• Spend time, make time, acknowledge and reward them.
• Create a pathway for growth or they will walk. If and/or when they do, accept their leaving in good grace, leave the door open.
• Remember, karma is real! What goes around, comes around.
• Admit when you are wrong, learn to say sorry and make every day a new day.
• Be in the moment; never forget your client’s visit needs to be as good for you as it is for them.