Smart Business Magazine, February 2016

8 Smart Business Columbus February 2016 DEBRA PENZONE INSPIRE EDUCATE ENCOURAGE DEBRA PENZONE President Charles Penzone Family of Salons Debras expertise as a business leader hair professional and her avid philanthropy have earned her the respect of the salon industry and the nonprofit community She has been recognized as one of the 20 most remarkable women in Central Ohio one of the 20 most intriguing salon owners and was a 2014 Smart 50 winner www charlespenzone com Navigating adversity Empower your team during times of change It was the biggest economic downturn in our companys history as our community faced the loss of jobs and businesses shutting their doors A few strategic initiatives guided me to successfully navigate adverse situations while also sparking organizational change Encouraging collaboration Theres no I in team and thats exactly where I started I pulled together our internal executive team and reassured them no matter what it takes the salon is here for the long run We had to get creative roll up our sleeves and get involved in helping our company not only survive but also thrive It was inspiring to see each department find ways to help one another They reduced spending on unnecessary items and then redirected the funds to areas that serviced our guests and professional team We learned to master mundane operations and took a hard look at every dollar and cent When we faced challenging times we refocused our training model by cross training our front staff to be able to multitask and cover multiple roles for maximum efficiency With this managers were empowered to be more present in the salons to help support this operational change says Renee Drewry director of Salon Operations Sites who worked as a salon director at the time After seeing how collaboration at the management level returned results I realized that collaboration from the front line team would be the next important step The people who have first contact with guests are some of our most vital team players We needed to hear their ideas and also empower them to know they make a difference in the bottom line and our customers satisfaction And to do this we communicated with them Open lines of communication To ensure we had open lines of communication we developed a Team Member Engagement survey which has evolved into an anonymous online survey with a blend of scale based and open ended questions This platform has allowed us to obtain feedback from our internal team members We empower them to share their opinions and knowledge which in turn helps us shape our priorities projects and initiatives We change the survey when needed and we communicate the results and the changes it initiates to our teams after we tally and analyze the results Due to this transparency and empowerment we still have successful completion rates almost 300 this past year Connectedness Weve noticed a ripple effect from this connectedness When our team members feel empowered thats when attitudinal changes happen Team members want to step up rise to the challenge and work harder Through collaboration communication and connectedness brand advocates are born and we all know how critical that is for both internal and external audiences during times of change Business leaders learned many lessons in our last economic recession and many of them the hard way I was promoted to president of The Charles Penzone Salons in 2008 and thinking back my first critical initiative was to empower everyone to step up and make an even greater contribution to the company our customers and each other http linkd in 1CBA5PQ www facebook com CharlesPenzoneGrandSalons @ CharlesPenzone