59: Building Culture in a Retail Business with Lorean Cairns

I typically follow the 80-20 rule when considering the challenges that managers face. About 80% of a a manager’s role and the challenges they encounter are the same regardless of the setting. But that 20% which is different can be drastically different. So what might we all learn from building culture in a retail setting? This week’s guest is Lorean Cairns, Co-Founder of Fox and Jane Salons, Skin Habit, and Little Lion Salon. Her initiatives employee over 150+ members in globally. Lorean leads the charge in coaching and mentoring leaders, executives, and managers of all levels.  Loren and I talk about building a collaborative culture in a non-office environment, how everyone can learn from success, feedback, and mis-steps, how to grow consistent culture across multiple locations, and how to stay connected and informed with what’s happening on the floor.    Read the related blog article: Building Culture in an Unusual Setting   Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get 15% Lorean’s book Culture Fox: How to cultivate a lasting culture. My path from hairstylist to international CEO.    Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: It’s possible, and desirable, to create a retail environment in which everyone feels a sense of unity and teamwork.  Exile the competitive nature and replace it with a focus on winning (and losing) together. Celebrate success and process poor customer feedback as a group. Assume everyone can learn from the experience and be part of the solution. Incorporate the essential elements of your culture into your hiring practice so candidates know what they’re joining and what’s expected of them. In the moment coaching can be a powerful technique for providing a gentle nudge that enables the recipient to recognize when their own behavior isn’t appropriate. This may be a slight head nod or simply stating their name as you give a very direct glance. Develop a monthly meeting rotation that provides insight into the business and activities on the floor. Each week of the month has a designated agenda so topics are addressed on a monthly basis. Topics may include data, customer feedback, progress towards goals, process improvement, professional development, problem solving and more. When you receive poor customer feedback, don’t assume it’s completely true. It’s critical to explore the feedback in context of what the employee recalls. It’s important to learn from the feedback, but not overweight one cust