What is Value Added?

Hi,

When a veterinarian sets a dog's broken leg she's added value to a life. When an engineer designs a bridge to cross a river, she's added value by allowing people and goods to cross the river. When a small business owner creates jobs in her community, she's added value by helping her employees provide for themselves and their families. These are examples of value-added activities each of us can relate to and it's easy to see the improvements the vet, the engineer, and the entrepreneur bring to the table.

There are other ways value can be considered. For example, value can simply be delivered. Imagine the office assistant whose only job it is to do what she's told, "Get coffee for our guests," "Order lunch for our clients," "Run down to UPS and mail this package to our account in Omaha," "Call my 10:30 appointment and tell her I'll be 5 minutes early." The thinking and intention behind the action comes from someone else, probably the boss, and the assistant's only role is to deliver, not create value.

Value can also be destroyed. Can you remember a time when you were treated poorly at the Post Office, or in a retail store, or by someone in a call center supposedly helping you fix your computer? If you've ever been treated like a number, been taken for granted, or expected to spend an unreasonable amount of time on hold, the person you were working with was actually destroying value for their organization. The destruction occurs at the point you don't receive the service you require and it occurs again when you decide to never return.

In general, our jobs and careers tend to correlate to the amount of value we create, deliver, or destroy. Jobs that create a lot of value tend to be personally rewarding because they give us a sense of accomplishment and meaning--knowing that what we do is making a difference. In the private sector, they also tend to pay better. Jobs that simply deliver value don't tend to be as rewarding financially or emotionally. And, in our experience, any worker who destroys value has issues to work out whether they are personal or professional.

Professional hair stylists have the opportunity to add an enormous amount of value and the potential to be very satisfied emotionally and financially. If you are one of those, please share your thoughts. We'd love to learn how you create value and derive meaning from your work. If you are not one of those, please contact me. I'd love to help you on a path toward a richer career experience.

Jim

Lucavia

(925) 980-7871
gojimlucas@lucavia.com
www.lucavia.com

© Copyright Jim Lucas 2009-2010 All Rights Reserved

You May Be a Professional Hair Stylist

Hi,

Creating value is at the core of every profession and every business—even at the core of every person. How fortunate stylists are to have the opportunity to create value on at least two levels. On a practical level, it is through their mastery each of us have access to better looking hair. On a deeper level, they have the potential to make us feel better about ourselves, improve our confidence and self-esteem, and even help us be more effective personally and professionally.

We believe hairdressing is a profession. We also believe that through ignorance, lack of role models, and inertia many stylists approach hairdressing as a trade rather than a profession. In this post we are talking to professionals and those who aspire to become professionals.

Let’s take a quick look at some characteristics stylists have in common with other professionals. Like teachers, business people, and pharmacists; stylists need specialized knowledge. Like lawyers and doctors; stylists must commit to lifelong continuing education. Like authors, playwrights, and artists; stylists need imagination. And, like counselors, entrepreneurs, and bankers; stylists must exercise judgment. Compared with tradesmen, who may well have rich and satisfying jobs, stylists enjoy the upside potential of creating extremely satisfying careers, lifelong learning, and a high degree of autonomy.

One of the wonderful consequences of being a professional is the relative degree of control you have over your work. Professionals tend to be mobile—they can earn their living almost anywhere they want to live. Professionals enjoy a certain regard from people in their communities and social circles. Professionals also have some say about their work environment. For example, authors, lawyers, and dentists have a high degree of control over whether they work within organizations or whether they work in solitude. Either is an effective way for them to do their jobs and the choice simply reflects who they are as people or the degree of socialization they require in their work environment.

Stylists have the same freedom of choice. In an earlier posting called, “What’s In It for Me?” stylists who prefer to work alone can see how they might prefer to open a little studio, or work in a Warehouse Model salon. Stylists who have relatively low needs for social interaction, or who simply want to focus on their individual practice, can thrive in those environments. For those stylists who enjoy being part of a team, who have a collaborative work style, who seek a balance between the collective interest and the individual interest, and who want to be part of something larger than themselves the Branded Model salon is a better choice. We’ll stop far short of saying one of these models is better than the other—but we admit that we not only prefer, but advocate, the Branded Model and actually seek out those stylists who prefer that kind of work environment.

If you have questions, or want to discuss the personal and professional benefits that stylists can enjoy by working in Branded Model salons, please contact me.

Jim

Lucavia

(925) 980-7871
gojimlucas@lucavia.com


© Copyright Jim Lucas 2009-2010 All Rights Reserved

What's In It for Me?

Hi,


Working with as many salon owners as we do it hasn’t taken long to get a general sense of the culture that exists in salons. In this case we’re using the word culture to mean: The knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors of a group of stylists.

At the highest level, what we’ve found are the two ends of the culture spectrum in salons. At one extreme salons are little more than common spaces where independent individuals have gathered to do hair to the best of their abilities. The salon owner provides little in the way of value-added services and tends to simply collect rent (in whatever form) in exchange for putting a roof over everyone’s head. We call this the salon Warehouse Model where the focus is on the individual stylist’s independence and autonomy. At the other end of the spectrum are salons which are run as integrated brands. We call this the Branded Model where the focus is on the client experience, team interdependence, and a collective interest in creating something meaningful and lasting—in addition to providing a place where stylists can do hair. Of course, most salons fall somewhere in between the extremes of this continuum.

We believe there are a few strategic options in the salon business that offer killer opportunities to salon owners interested in capitalizing on them. Integrating the client’s experience into every aspect of the salon’s brand is one. Selling retail in comparison to beauty supply shops is another. Creating an integrated brand is also an enormous opportunity for several reasons—chief among them the fact that so very few salons recognize it as an opportunity. This means that those salon owners who do see and act on the opportunity stand to gain such a distinct point of difference they will create a fundamental competitive advantage over their salon competitors—most of whom tend toward the Warehouse Model.

In short, the advantages of the Branded Model—strictly from the stylist’s point of view, not to mention those for the salon owner, are:

Better business education

Increased technical competence

Client growth and loyalty

Improved financial security

Personal enrichment and satisfaction

Better interpersonal skills and relationships

Greater self confidence and improved self image.

As Stephen R. Covey discusses in his book First Things First all human beings have a common need to, “To live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.” We believe the Branded Model is the better way to satisfy these needs—and to ignore these needs is quite simply a shame.

If you have questions, or just want to discuss these ideas, please contact me.

Jim

Lucavia

(925) 980-7871

gojimlucas@lucavia.com


© Copyright Jim Lucas 2009-2010 All Rights Reserved