How to Fix Salon Communication Issues in One Step

📥 Get your FREE Communication Style Test here:

https://focusgdt.com/accelerator/rep-systems-test

📥Get your Personalised Team Dynamics Report here:
https://focusgdt.com/accelerator/team-dynamics

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
01:36 Welcome  
02:22 The Real Problems Behind Team Frustration

03:36 Why Understanding Communication Styles Changes Everything

08:04 Real Salon Scenarios 

17:37 The Solution – A Simple Test That Changes Everything

18:14 The Power of the Team Dynamics Report

22:20 Call to Action – Download the Test for Free

Are you frustrated with your salon team not following instructions or missing details—no matter how many times you explain? 🤯

In this episode of Beyond the Mirror Podcast, Jodie Fielden and Adri Varga reveal why your team’s challenges might not be about motivation or attitude… but miscommunication. Discover the simple Communication Style Test that can transform how you train, manage, and inspire your salon team.

💡 You’ll learn:

• Why some team members “just don’t get it” (and it’s not laziness!)
• The 4 main learning styles & how to adapt your leadership
• Real salon scenarios where a small change made a big difference
• How to use the Representational System Preference Test for instant clarity
• The power of the Team Dynamics Report to unlock your team’s full potential
  
  🎯 Perfect for:
   Salon owners • Hair stylists • Spa managers • Beauty business leaders • Team managers
  
  

📲 Follow us on Instagram,tiktok & Facebook: @focusgdt

Catch full episodes of Beyond The Mirror Podcast here on YouTube📺 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiiISqVGpkx9vbvz6PRhuLfcbIE7GlcOM&si=ZkpA-raFJbmnO1UA

Subscribe to our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@focusgdt

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Transcript

Why Your Team Doesn't "Get It"

Adri 0:00

Salon owners come to us saying things like they are just not listening, they are lazy, or I don't think they care.

Jodie 0:08

You explain things 10 times, it still doesn't click. You ask someone to do something, they just nod and go yeah, yeah, yeah. And then nothing gets done. Or it gets done and it's nowhere near like. It's completely different to in how you had it in your head about how it should be done. And then you're thinking you know, like they know how to do it. What can't they do?

Adri 0:28

Once we dig a little bit deeper, it turns out that these team members, they do care, they just don't understand how they are being told Most of the time, it's not about whether they're motivated or not.

Jodie 0:43

It's a miscommunication. We're talking to people in ways that we prefer to be communicated with, not in the way that they actually learn and process the information.

Adri 0:55

They are the best earners and you want to reward them with putting them into a higher position. So that's normally not the case, but unfortunately this is what people follow. And then it backfires because you put someone into a position who has no idea how to manage team and they normally cannot build rapport with the team members they lost. They don't have any idea about business. So when you actually thinking about putting someone into the position, you actually need to mentor them and you need to find the right person.

Jodie 1:36

Hello and welcome everyone. It's great to be back. I'm Jodie Fielden and I'm here with my work, wife, bestie and business partner, Ajay Varga. In today's episode, we're diving into something that's a game changer for salon owners understanding your team's communication and learning styles. We're going to talk about why team issues are often not about attitude or ability, but actually about how we're trying to lead and train them Absolutely.

Adri 2:01

And welcome everyone. Also, we will be sharing how, salon owners, you can figure out exactly how your team takes in information and why what works for one person might totally miss the mark with another one. This episode is for anyone who is ever taught. Why don't they just get it?

Jodie 2:20

I know and I mean, let's be real, leading a team can feel like pushing poop uphill. You explain things ten times, it still doesn't click. You ask someone to do something, they just nod and go yeah, yeah, yeah, and then nothing gets done. Or it gets done and it's nowhere near like it's completely different in how you had it in your head about how it should be done. And then you're thinking you know, like they know how to do it. Why can't they just Exactly exactly.

Adri 2:49

They should know. They should know now. They should know better, isn't it? We hear this all the time, you know, like salon owners come to us saying things like they are just not listening, they are lazy, or I don't think they care. But once we dig a little bit deeper, it turns out that these team members, they do care. They just don't understand how they are being told.

Jodie 3:19

That's it and it's the key. Most of the it's not about whether they're motivated or not. It's a miscommunication. We're talking to people in ways that we prefer to be communicating with, not in the way that they actually learn and process the information.

Different Learning Styles Explained

Adri 3:34

Yeah, so let's break it down, because everyone has a preferred way of taking on information, and when we start our salon or when we start any business, we actually don't understand this very, very important aspect of managing people, because the fact is that some people are visual, which means that they are better when they see things. Some people are auditory that means they're better when they hear things. And then some people are kinesthetic, so they like to do things or they like to feel things, and some people are auditory digital, which means they are very, very detail-oriented.

Jodie 4:19

And then there are the logical thinkers. These team members need things to make sense and they want to understand the why behind every single instruction. And I've got to tell you those are the worst for me to deal with, and I understand they need to know it, but just do as I ask.

Adri 4:41

And look from our point of view, it would be so much more easier if everyone would have the same representational system that we are, but at the same time it would create weakness in our team, because if our strength is their strength and our weakness is their weakness, where we would end up, that would be catastrophic. But normally people who are very visual or very auditory, they are extremely fast thinkers and they don't really need too much explanation. So when you are talking to those kind of people, they get it instantly and you know like, they give you signs. You know like when you try to over-explain something and when you keep explaining things, they just start to look around and they start to get bored. You know like, I don't know, they just give you the sign and then they change the subject Exactly, change the subject or cut in your word.

Adri 5:35

Cut in your word Because their mind is already on another subject and they need to cut in. So those are the fast thinkers. And then we have the other group, which are the kinesthetic and auditory digital people, who are far, far more slow than a visual and auditory. And when it comes to a kinesthetic, they are slow because they have to do it by themselves and they learn by doing, or you like you show them first and then they will repeat it. And the auditory digital before they even start to listen or to do anything, you need to give them the vibe, the dot points and everything else. They can go away and they can, you know, observe the data and once they are ready, then they can come back to you.

Adri 6:23

So the danger for us as business owners and team leaders and managers if we don't know these types and we don't know our type, we're always going to feel that we are not understood by our team or we're always going to feel that everyone is cutting in our words.

Adri 6:43

You know like when we try to explain something, people are not listening, they don't pay attention. It is because we're getting into too much details for people who don't need details, or when we are too fast for our team because our team is too slow, and then they never can catch up because they stuck at the first two seconds of the information and you already finished the whole conversation in your head. So this is why it's very important for us to understand these representational systems, so we can become chameleons, which means we can match to each of the team members' representational system, and once we match, then we can match to each of the team members' representational system, and once we match, then we can communicate properly. And also, when it comes to training our team, we actually do need to use this knowledge, because I will teach a visual, an auditory, a kinesthetic and the auditory digital person completely differently, and I always find, as I'm getting older I'm kind of learning that you know, the way I deliver information is is not necessarily in the way people need to hear it.

Jodie 7:54

We just get so many salon owners that come to us and they're telling us that, like the problem is all the team, that they just don't listen. We had one salon owner come up and say to us you know, like they've got this junior stylist who is absolutely brilliant and great with the clients and everything, but just completely forget some key tasks that they're supposed to be doing, and the salon owner is just getting so angry that they just don't care or that they're hopeless. And you know they're just not interested in listening to what they're told. And it's not true, it's just that they don't. You can explain it better than me. I know the situation, so I'll let you, because I don't know the solution. Guys.

Fast vs Slow Thinkers

Adri 8:42

So but the story where Jodie started this is what we hear day in and day out, when you know, salon owners start complaining about especially the younger generation. Salon owners start complaining about especially the younger generation and it is because it's seemingly the younger generation doesn't operate in the same operational system that we operate. So they operate completely differently and many of them actually are very, very highly auditory digital and in our industry, especially hair, we are very creative people, very highly auditory digital and in our industry, especially here, we are very creative people, very fast people, and that means you know like if someone is auditory digital, they need a lot of information and they need a lot of information in a written form and you need to take a lot of time to actually go through the information. And we, as creative people, we are very used to communicating quickly, looking at pictures.

Adri 9:41

We get it, you know like it's very fast, but seemingly you know, like the younger people, they are more living in their own head and when you are a highly auditory digital person, a lot happening in your head and you almost seem like you are not interested because you are processing the data, thinking of things, and your face shows no emotions, so nothing. So it doesn't give indication to a fast person that you are actually listening or you are actually understanding what the person is asking or saying. So that is a mismatch. Once we learn and we do this, it's actually if you stay right until the end we have a gift for you, you. But once we actually figure out who is who has what kind of representational system, then we can come up with a plan and also what we can create. We can create a whole team dynamics in your salon is a team dynamics report based on everyone's representational system. We can actually work through how to communicate with your team in the most effective way.

Jodie 10:57

The importance of salon owners. Taking the time to learn how to communicate with their team is such a game changer for them because they stop having these expectations of people just having to get it and they, they stop resenting their team, thinking that the team's just not on board or the team just don't care or whatever. It's that real aha moment. And even as a parent, you know like I get it from Papa because I'll be giving her info really quickly and it's like lights are on but nobody's home, kind of look, and it's because I've bombarded her with so much information and too many steps that she's just like no.

Adri 11:40

This is exactly what happens with our team. You know like everyone has their preference system and normally what happens. You know like you are a mix of everything, but you have higher preferences and then you have lower preferences and as team leaders, managers we need to learn to level ourselves up so we can actually slow down when we need to slow down and we can speed up when we need to speed up. Our expectations from our team to matching to our representational system is highly unlikely going to happen.

Adri 12:20

Their motivation is not the same motivation what we have as a business owner, and this is when it comes back taking responsibility for my team, for my salon, for my business, and who is on the top. Me, I'm on the top, so I need to actually become someone who is in control. So the expectation that they match they should know they should mind read you know like they have the experience. They should know how I want to run my business it's completely incorrect. You need to communicate the way you want to do things done and you need to communicate in the way they understand the best.

Jodie 13:02

Yeah, it's like I had a salon owner he's got a couple of nail salons and we were talking yesterday and he wants to work with us and we're taking a high level. Look at, like his KPIs for the last three months and it had like dropped from like almost in half in three months the average client spend. And he was saying to me well, my manager's in there looking after it, he should see this and he should pick all this up and he should be dealing with the team. And I'm like what, for it's not his business. Why are you expecting your manager to do that? You know, like that's that's your job, not his job. His job is like for you to give him direction about how you want him to manage your business, not for him to tell you how to manage your business, because then he'll just go buy his own, have his own business. If that's what they wanted to do, take some ownership, guys. I'm really sorry to say this, but you know it's your business, not theirs.

The Management Position Mistake

Adri 14:06

Yes, yes, and we tend to think, you know, like if we put someone in a management position and normally we tend to put our best stylist or best therapist, which is normally not really the best idea, so that's another conversation for another day because you take off the floor your biggest earner and they are not necessarily the best, they are not necessarily have the best people management skills just because they are the best earners and you want to reward them with putting them into a higher position. So that's normally not the case, but unfortunately this is what people follow. And then it backfires because you put someone into a position who has no idea how to manage team and they normally cannot build report with the team members. They they lost, they don't have any idea about business. So when you actually thinking about putting someone into the position, you actually need to mentor them and you need to find the right person. You need to find a person who you can communicate really clearly with, like you are in thinking and in the same communication level, and you need someone who can communicate with your team.

Adri 15:23

So, yes, when it comes to, you know, thinking about putting someone into a management position, it doesn't mean that you put someone and miraculously, that person is just going to take on your business. You can go on a holiday for a month or two months and you just need to check in once or twice a month. It doesn't work that way. You can end up that way, yeah, like I created a business when I ended up working only one Saturday a month. It took for me years to create that business, but then I had to systemize everything. I had a manager and I was working very closely with my manager. I had a front of house and I worked extremely closely with my front of house. So it's still a work and communication is extremely important. That's it.

Jodie 16:11

And so if you as a salon owner, if you're um sitting there with beauty, hair, skin, um, whatever, if you're a business owner and you're sitting there, you're thinking, okay, how, how can I start to understand my team? How do I first understand myself so I can have a look at what my communication styles are and what I need, and then who I could maybe match with best as a manager, so that you can be in sync? Because it's for the majority of us that's like another language, it's like, oh, I don't know, I sync with the person I get along with the best. Well, no, no, it's more scientific than that, and it's maybe the person you'd least expect to be the right person for the role. So that's why we've put together a representational system preference test.

Communication Test for Your Team

Jodie 17:08

Say that four times in your hunglish, audrey, for me. And do you want to just explain a little bit? I know we touched on it before, but now that we've kind of gone through, like you know what it can provide a solution for. Because this is really, unless you naturally kind of happen to find that right person, the majority of us actually need a little bit of help to find that right person, and that's what this help is.

Adri 17:37

So, regarding the test, this test is what we use. It's actually a test on nlp science, so it's came from nlp and it's a very, very simple test. It's only five questions and four has. Four is a question with multiple choices and the fifth one has no statement, no questions, just four choices. So it's a very, very simple test. But when you fill out this test, it's actually going to tell you your preferred representational system.

Adri 18:09

So what we're going to do for today, if you are interested to find out, you know, like, where are you sitting? You actually can download we're going to put it into the prescription list, a downloadable link. You can download this test and you can see it for yourself. And where you want to sit as a manager or a salon owner, you want to see your numbers to be very, very close to each other. So maybe you have visual 11, auditory 12, kinesthetic 12, and auditory digital 10. That would be something which is all right.

Adri 18:45

So you have a really good feel and understanding and when you have, say, something like visual 15, auditory 13, and then kinesthetic 5 and auditory digital 2, too, that means you are a very fast-paced person and you basically not really understanding the slower group, which is the kinesthetic and auditory digital group, so you tend to be very overpowering and not stopping and listening and very prompt with everything. That's me, yes. And if you are on the other side, so if you are very high with kinesthetic and auditory digital and you're very low with auditory and visual, what will happen? If you are, say, a manager with very high kinesthetic and auditory digital and you have a very creative team and if you start to hold on a team meeting and you get into details, those people will be like this, because you're too slow and they already get it and in their head, they already out of work or they already doing some other stuff and you still keep going and going.

Jodie 20:05

Yes, yes, I'm, I'm very guilty of being the one that's brains already left the room. Adriana and Cheryl, our support coach, always laugh because we'll be in the middle of a meeting and then they're talking through the details because they're more detailed people and Jodie's gotten up and walked away to make a coffee and they're like where did she go?

Adri 20:27

Yeah, and also you know, like, if you feel, if you choose to fill out this test, it's going to give you an awareness, it's going to give you an understanding, all right, so now it makes sense.

Adri 20:38

It makes sense why I don't connect with certain people because I'm really high on this or that, and also I think it's very important for you to, or also what this test is going to show you. It's basically where is your weakness and where is your strength, because if you are high on auditory and visual, then your strength is communication and really fast, creative ideas, and if you are on the other side, you are really good executing different ideas and you are going to be very detailed. Everyone can trust in you. What you start, you're going to finish and you are not going to start anything until you understand all the details. So I could trust in you as a leader that if I give you a task, once you're going to learn how to do it, you're going to be perfect. I almost never need to check on you because you will get it right every single time.

Jodie 21:39

Look, it's a game changer. It takes the guesswork out of leading people. It gives you that solid foundation that I think really is 80% of the problem, wouldn't you say? When it comes to leading a team, I'd say a good, solid 80% is because of that whole communication style and expectation of people to just get it when you don't get it yourself as in, you're not aware of your own patterns and the way you communicate with them. So all right, the test is for free, isn't it? At the moment.

Adri 22:18

Yes, so we're going to give away this test for you guys. You can download this test and you can have a look for yourself. It's really, really a good one. What we use this test for in our coaching program with our clients is basically everyone in the team feels out this test and then we come up with problems, what we want to find solutions and find why things are not working, and based on that we actually creating a team dynamics report based on the representational system. So say, if you have an apprentice and you have a problem with communication and you think this apprentice is just not getting you is just never gets anything right, then we can pull this report for you and, based on the two tests, what you're going to provide, we're going to actually have a look exactly what the problem is and how we can solve that problem and how we can find a solution, so the communication will start to flow again.

Wrapping Up and Free Tool

Jodie 23:21

Yeah, exactly. Or if you're looking to that, you're about to put a manager on or you need to bring in a new team member that you're not sure about. It's just such a no-brainer. It makes life so much easier to make decisions about who's the right person for the job. So get the test. It doesn't mean you're a bad boss If team issues don't mean you're a bad boss. They just mean that no one gave you the tools. This is one of the tools. A great leader is someone that looks for the right person to do the job because they can't do everything themselves, and sometimes you need tools to help you do that that's it for today.

Adri 24:04

So what's our next episode on? Our next episode is going to be starting a salon. These are the five tips. Could save you time, money and stress awesome I should.

Jodie 24:16

I wish I had learned that one in the beginning all right guys, as always follow us on instagram and facebook. The hook, let's see if I can get it right. I never do. It's been how many years we've been doing this podcast. I'm at FocusGDT, absolutely. Yeah, that's enough. I had to cover my mouth from saying com on the end.

Adri 24:35

Yes, absolutely so. Follow up on Instagram, tiktok or even YouTube. We have our YouTube channel up and running, so all of our podcasts are on our YouTube channel also, and just scroll down in the description, because we're going to give you the link to the test. All right, we'll see you all next time.

Jodie 24:54

Bye for now, bye, bye you.