The start of a new year has long been a time for making resolutions. One year comes to an end and brand spanking new year is about to begin.

New Years provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on what was and to look ahead at what can be.

This New Years brings that added twist of being the end of one decade and the beginning of new one. Why not ponder the opportunities the next ten years can bring?

So we do the annual ritual of making resolutions to ourselves and the achievements we wish to realize before this next New Year comes to a close.

For this final blog post of 2019, I’m going to ratchet up the level of commitment these ten resolutions require.

Why? Because these resolutions are about what you’re promising to do for your salon/spa company and your employees.

These ten resolutions focus on shaping your leadership behavior and that push to achieve significant gains, rather than marginal or flat performance.

So, here are my ten No-Compromise Leadership resolutions for 2020:

1. Let go to lead more: Vice grips have never been a tool of leadership. Leaders that keep a death grip on decision making, people management, projects, procedures, budgets and other operational elements, do more to stifle growth and performance than inspire it. If the people you lead can’t breathe — neither can your company. RESOLUTION: Let go of the controls so your employees can share the load. Let go of the controls in a manner that prepares others to take responsibility and grow. Doing so will allow you to look to the future and what it’s going to take to get there.


2. Start and finish that one big project: Every salon/spa owner has that one big project looming far too long. You know it needs get done but something keeps holding you back. Maybe it’s fear, financial risk, the time it will take or just uncertainty. RESOLUTION: Start by putting the completion date on your 2020 calendar. Then add dates for each element until you reach early January 2020 where you’ll enter “start.” Get it done.

3. Do the 30-day “nothing but team goal” challenge: Owners are notorious for setting individual goals for employees. But what if the grand total of all those individual goals comes up short for what your company needs or is capable of doing? The bigger issue is the impact on culture when everyone on the team is playing for their own goal — not the team goal. The team goal is about everyone playing together to win. Individual goals are personal records. RESOLUTION: This March, 2020, make everything about achieving the overall team goal. No talk, tracking, reports, stats or anything about individual goals. Your mission is to lead and inspire your team to victory. Daily huddles, scoreboards, updates and information flow are your leadership tools. Use them.


4. Fix that one big thing that’s hurting your company’s culture: Come on, you know exactly what or who it is. It’s that nagging thing that just doesn’t go away. In fact, you know it’s in the way and needs to be fixed or eliminated. RESOLUTION: If you know and acknowledge that something or someone is a problem, and do nothing, it will not fix itself and it will get worse. RESOLUTION: If it’s building better systems and accountability, do it. If it means that you must clarify expectations far better than you usually do, do it. If it means having that fierce conversation with that problem employee, do it. And if you know that problem employee should have been fired long ago, do it now.


5. 100% retail recommendations for two weeks straight: Retail commissions don’t drive retail sales — recommendations do. Chances are, the majority of clients checking out aren’t receiving retail recommendations. That means money and opportunity is walking out the door all day, every day. So, lets play a game that will show your company’s true untapped retail potential. You can’t sell what you don’t recommend. RESOLUTION: Selling is simply a numbers game. Every client receives a verbal and written retail recommendation. 100%. No excuses. Front desk/guest services closes the retail sale. The more clients that are asked to buy what was professionally recommended, the higher your retail sales. Here's a simple system to get your retail recommendations done right.


6. By the end of 2020, turn your worst critical number into one you’re proud of: You know the critical number I’m talking about. It’s the one you hate to look at because it never improves. Productivity rate, client retention rate, pre-book rate, frequency of visit, service payroll percentage, net profit, cash reserve. RESOLUTION: Pick your most frustrating critical number and make improving it a team effort. To do so, you’ll need to build better systems, training on those systems, scoreboard tracking and discipline. They’re called critical numbers for a reason. It’s time to get seriously critical.


7. Identify and eliminate your biggest personal time waster: Humans are creatures of habit and some of those habits are serious time wasters. The proof is simple. When someone says, “I don’t have time to do that,” it really means he or she won’t make time. And it’s always interesting how that someone can find time to waste time on something totally inconsequential. RESOLUTION: Write down your biggest personal time waster on a dozen Post-It notes. Now, put those Post-It notes in places where you can’t miss them, like on your computer screen or on the screen on your smart phone. The goal is to focus and work on higher priority tasks that will grow your company. Got it?


8. Start every morning by writing down one reason you love about being a business owner: You can’t be a business owner and not experience frustration from setbacks, tight cash flow, employee challenges and pretty much anything to do with business. Sometimes that frustration takes you to the edge. You start to question why you continue to do this. RESOLUTION: This resolution is about writing your personal entrepreneurial story one day at a time. At the end of 2020, you’ll have 365 reasons why you love being a business owner. When frustration starts to get the best of you, take your daily love notes for your business and read them as reminders that loving someone or something takes work.


9. Spend one hour each day hanging out in the break room: I recommended this to a coaching client who was experiencing some culture challenges. His immediate response was, “You mean for a full 60 minutes?” When I asked what his concern was, he replied, “They’re going to ask me for raises and stuff.” Clearly his reluctance to engage with employees was part of the culture problem. RESOLUTION: If you really want to know what’s going in your salon/spa, hang out in the break room. Be present. Smile. No smartphone or anything to prevent eye contact with employees. Just hang out. Ask them how it’s going. It won’t take long for the information flood gates to open. When one or more share their concerns, let them know you’ll check into it. Be sure to follow up and share explanations and possible solutions. It’s so vital to a company’s cultural vitality to share conversation with the leader. It’s builds trust.


10. Put your company on a financial diet and fitness program: Since starting a diet and fitness program is the most common New Year’s resolution, why not make the same resolution for your company’s health and wellbeing. RESOLUTION: Cash-flow plans, budgets and financial reports are the tools to monitor and influence the financial health of your company. Entrepreneurial owners and fiscal accountability are typically a love/hate relationship. The fact is, the more thoroughly owners use these tools, the more love, pride and appreciation they have for their companies. Make 2020 the year your company gets financially healthy and fit. Come learn how at the Strategies Incubator Seminar.