Hostage Management: Is Your Spa Team Ruling the Roost?

Is your spa team ruling the roost?

If so, it might be a case of what I like to call “hostage management.”

Your spa team is the lifeblood of your business. And while they are the key ingredients to growing a successful spa biz (that doesn’t require you being in the treatment room!), your employees also have the capability of eroding your organization to the point of collapse.

How? By their spa leader being unaware of the impact poor team culture has on your business’s bookings and sales.

In today’s edition of Spa Business Mastery, I delve into how to identify a hostage management situation, some hard lessons you’ll have to learn in order to A) get out of an existing hostage management situation or B) the different perspective you’ll need to take in order to circumvent it happening in the first place.

What is a “Hostage Management” Situation in the Spa Industry?

First things first: what is a “hostage management” situation?

I define a hostage management situation as when the following occurs:

• When one or more team members are causing culture issues within your spa business such as, but not limited to, insubordination, gossiping, refusing to adjust behaviour despite one-on-one coaching, displaying dishonesty, and/or causing purposeful friction with either clients or other team members

Back when I was a spa owner myself, I had my own instances of hostage management! I’ve been in your shoes, and I know how tricky it can be to both identify and deal with these types of situations if you’re unprepared.

For myself, when I was faced with my first hostage management situations it made me, as a leader, feel like I was losing control of my spa business’s direction, output, team culture, and even my own leadership skills. Imparting to other spa owners how to deal with these non-team players is one of my all-time favourite tips for spa leaders. 

Why? Because having a hostage team management situation:

• Prevents your spa from being able to scale effectively
• Erodes your team culture and protocols
• Whittles down your self-confidence, passion, and leadership skills in the long-term

“But Kirsten,” you may be saying, “I’m sure if I was in that situation I’d be able to cut them loose no-problem!”

Well, here’s the curveball that many spa owners are faced with that they don’t consider: what do you do when your biz’s “squeaky wheel” is your most-booked esthetician?

Put yourself in this hypothetical situation: you know that this person isn’t a team player, but you still keep them around because, sales-wise, they’re your best-performing hire. You’re gripped by the fear that, if you let them go, A) the time and money you’ve put into hiring and training them will be a waste, and B) that your sales will tank in the short-term as a result of them leaving.

Instead, a different choice needs to be made: choosing your spa’s future and values as the long-term priority. Here’s how:

My Top Spa Management Tip to End Hostage Situations: Flip Your Perspective

The fact that a hostage management situation won’t get better without your intervention as a leader is a hard pill to swallow. Although the fear surrounding this situation is clients leaving and revenue shrinking in the short-term, know that there are ways you can kick a troublemaker out of your midst while simultaneously mitigating any collateral damage to your spa business.

Over the past 10 years as a spa business coach, I have helped numerous spa owners just like you let go of toxic staff via my coaching sessions. With the right client communication, these spa owners were able to keep the majority of their clients and, as a bonus, once that “squeaky wheel” had been removed they even found that the remaining team members had heightened productivity! There is often a “lightness” that enters the treatment room with team members knowing that they no longer have to worry about the proverbial ripple in the pond anymore and, as such, these team members can go back to focusing on their own momentum within your biz.

Now, to get to this point it’s important to consistently keep your decision in mind, which is to focus on your spa’s long-term vision. In both my personal and professional life, I have found that challenging moments are easier to manage if you keep your decision clear in your mind’s eye: the pain and frustration surrounding challenges tends to ebb after you have made your decision, so sticking to it will be the “ripping off of the Bandaid” that you’ve been looking for. Things have a way of falling into place when you prioritize yourself and your spa business.

Focus Your Initial Strategy on Your Spa Values

When planning to let a troublemaker team member go, first focus on your spa values.

Your spa values are an extension of your personal values. Because of this, ending toxic team culture within your spa business ends when you are 100% clear on those spa values: after all, toxic team culture can’t thrive in a business that hires only staff who align with values you’ve put forth!

Kirsten Foss Coaching’s values, for example, are Leadership, Organization, Connection, Curiosity, Compassion, and Anti-Racism. I only hire team members who align with each of these values and who are clear on what they mean within my business; this also extends to clients I bring on. I chose these values because they are direct extensions of what I believe in in my personal life.

If you don’t know (or haven’t clarified to your staff) what your business stands for, this may be the genesis of your hostage management issues. Being clear on the “why” portion of your values and how they get conveyed throughout the guest experience is crucial to your recruiting system, training system, and entire guest experience cycle. 

And if you don’t have these values in place? Well, expect to get a few rotten apples in the bunch!

If you’re stuck on defining your spa’s values, download the Kirsten Foss Coaching Spa Business Core Values Exercise to get yours clarified once and for all.

Follow Through With Saying “Yes” to Your Spa Business

The second part of flipping your perspective is to follow through with saying “yes” to your spa business.

It may be hard, yes; it may involve painful or upsetting conversations, yes. However, your spa business’s success needs to remain your topmost priority, not salvaging team members’ feelings or avoiding conflict.

This is a common hurdle within the spa industry because we are a community of givers: we are so often originally drawn to the treatment room because we love the space it provides for compassionate education and long-term connections. However, as we chat about often in my free spa owners-only Facebook group, Spa Business Mastery, boundaries are self-care that we all need to keep in place.

If the thought of having an honest conversation with a toxic team member (or members!) makes you want to curl up into the fetal position then I highly recommend reading one of my favourite books on gracefully handling difficult conversations: “The Power of a Positive No” by William Ury. 

Do You Need Help With Your Hostage Management Situation?

If you’re in a hostage management situation in your spa business, I feel for you.

No, really: I’ve been there, done that, and don’t want the T-shirt!

It’s a painful palace to be… but, as a leader, you don’t have to stay there.

Need hands-on help with removing that “squeaky wheel” of yours? Contact me today to set up a time to talk.