What I Learned About my Team at my Own Company Retreat

So we did this really cool thing the other day for our Salon team retreat. Which reminds me — do you have team retreats? If you have them regularly then you know exactly what I’m talking about and I know we’re gonna have so much fun comparing information about all the fun we have at our salon company team retreats. If you have not had them but you have been thinking about having them, stay tuned. If you’ve ever thought about it all this will get you so excited that you will want to have a company team retreat ASAP.

So what was so cool about the company team retreat we did the other day? Well it was a lot of things. We played 2 truths and a lie which is always a fun game and a crowd pleaser. Each person writes down 2 things that are true about themselves and 1 thing that is not true a lie. Then everyone guesses who it actually is and which ones are true and which one is a lies. We played adult musical chairs. Which really helps you find more things in common with people you don’t know well and you find out new things from people you have known for years. We had a fun team project to create a piece of art that we auctioned off at our Fostering Hope Charity event. It was so cool to see the team come together and delegate the lead to the team member that was the correct fit to lead this charity art project. But one of the things we did that really stands out for me was take a deep dive in asking our team this question. What are the cool things that we do as a company to keep us a market leader? This was a suggestion made by my business coach Sally Montavon and it was great.

The response our team gave was absolutely amazing. I honestly had no idea what they would say or what they wouldn’t say. I sat there totally open, totally present, and totally curious and interested in every word they had to say. They told us how much they love our education programs. They live for this stuff. This is the # 1 reason why they Love working at Lavish Color Salon. They said things like our team culture, the customer appreciation events that we do. They said that they love so much how every stylist and employee on our team is fully engaged with every guest. I really love that they think this is cool because I’ve heard so many times from guests (this is what we call our customers) over the years that we are like the “CHEERS” of hair salons and it makes me really happy and very proud to be that kind of company. 

One of the things that I thought was really interesting was that our team said one of the coolest things we do as a company is our commitment to checking each other. They love that as a team member we have the ability and permission to check each other to make sure that we all leave all of our shit at the door. We have to leave out the fact that our family is struggling with things. We have to leave out the fact that, your kid flipped out before getting on the bus this morning, a loved one may be in the hospital we have to leave out the fact that we forgot something at home, we have to leave out the fact that we just got in a fight with our mother or husband or our best friend. We have to check each other to make sure that each and everyone of us is bringing are A game super star player self to work not just a tired old version of yourself that really wants to sit this one out and get benched. I am so grateful to be a part of a team that truly appreciates all of these things but I am especially proud to be a part of the team that is comfortable being uncomfortable and engaging in Fierce Conversations like Susan Scott talks about in her book “Fierce Conversations.” 

This One is necessary for the overall good of our team and the overall extraordinary guest experience that we have grown a custom to delivering for our guests each and every day.