Navigating conversations with angry parents at your dance studio is an inevitable aspect of managing a dance studio. That sinking feeling when a parent approaches you with a stern “we need to talk” is familiar to many dance studio owners.
The demands of competitions, recitals, and year-end stress can elevate the occurrence of such encounters. As we enter a bustling season in the dance studio world, it is crucial to equip ourselves with effective strategies for handling challenging feedback.
Here to share are some quick tips to help you navigate these stressful situations with ease.
How to Deal with Angry Parents at Your Dance Studio:
Tip #1- Don’t let parents corner you in the lobby.
The sneak attack! Don’t be afraid to buy yourself some time. The 2-minutes in between rehearsals in a lobby full of listening ears is probably not the best time to get into a deep conversation. Sometimes you have to be assertive and remind parents of this.
“Hi Carly! Unfortunately, I can’t chat right now. It seems like you have some issues you’d like to bring to my attention. Look for my email tomorrow morning so we can set up a time to meet. I want to give you my full attention.”
Now, you REALLY have to email her, but you’ve allowed yourself to sit down or call her on your terms when you’ve had a second to think about what she might say.
Tip #2- Be proactive.
As dance studio owners and teachers, we usually sense when problems are brewing. Little comments, eye rolls, awkward conversations. You can tell! Get ahead of it before it becomes a larger issue.
Send a clear email acknowledging what you suspect the problem may be and what you plan to do about it. Let parents know if you are open to feedback OR not. Give them a timetable for when you will follow up again with progress related to the issue. Sometimes all parents need is your acknowledgment!
Tip #3- Are your values clear?
When I owned a dance studio, an issue that came up several times throughout the years was that parents were disappointed in our competition program. The specific details were different in every situation but the general theme was that they wanted MORE. More rehearsals, more costumes, and just more overall emphasis on that part of our program.
I wasn’t as confident as I should have been about my values. Rather than trying to cater to the handful of disappointed parents, I should have let them go sooner. I didn’t want competition to play a larger role in my studio and I could have done a much better job explaining WHY we weren’t going to do that and hyping up all the things we were going to do instead.
If what someone wants doesn’t line up with YOUR values and vision for your studio it’s not going to work.
And that’s ok! Be like Elsa and “Let it Go!”. You’ll save yourself lots of stress and heartache.
Tip #4- Let’s be honest- how is your communication?
The magical solution. If you can become a better communicator, you will deal with angry parents less often. If you are getting information parents need out to them promptly, you are setting yourself up for success. When you DO get a confused or angry parent, you have a communication trail to reference.
“I’m sorry that you missed picture day! I know that’s disappointing. Have you been getting our studio emails? We sent out at least 3 reminders leading up to the day. Let’s check your email address on file to make sure there hasn’t been a mistake.”
Want to supercharge your communication? You should grab our welcome email series template! It is worth every penny. Having a welcome series in place is a great way to establish strong communication from the beginning.
Tip #5- Remember, you don’t always have the full story!
Several years ago, Colleen had a very tense situation with a preschool parent in our lobby. He was irate and made some pretty serious accusations. He grabbed his daughter in the middle of class and stormed out of the studio.
Colleen was upset, but honestly left pretty confused about the entire situation. None of us had a clear picture of what had happened to trigger his reaction. We called the family and invited them to call us back if they wanted to talk about what had happened.
Fast forward to the next week’s class. He came in and immediately apologized. This dad thought he had seen someone picking on his daughter in class and he overreacted. It was a really bad day for him. The end.
We chalked it up to a misunderstanding and everyone moved on! Our dance parents are people with full lives, jobs, multiply children, and stress of their own. Sometimes (OK, maybe a lot of time!), it’s not about you at all!
Tip #6- Reframe the situation.
Criticism is feedback. It is SO hard to not get defensive or take things personally, but most criticisms or uncomfortable encounters have a takeaway. It is not always about a crazy parent (although sometimes, it is!), sometimes it is a reflection of what YOU or your team are doing. Give yourself the time you need for your emotions to settle down then take time to reflect and take ownership. What can you learn from the situation? Is there anything you and your team can implement to prevent this from happening again?
You don’t have to be perfect! It is ok to mess up and make mistakes. This is an opportunity to hone your resilience!
We hope that this spring at your dance studio brings nothing but happy, supportive parents! BUT just in case, keep these tips in your back pocket. Learning how to deal with angry parents at your dance studio is a part of growing as a leader.
It isn’t easy, but I promise that it gets easier with practice and perspective. Lead with empathy and listen before you talk or get defensive. Don’t rush to solutions before you really understand what people are looking for. SO much of the time, people just want to be heard! This is true in dance studios and really in most businesses.
Finally, make sure you have a support system that is NOT a part of your dance studio. Best friend, partner, husband, really anyone that supports YOU above all else and doesn’t mind letting you vent. Sometimes (at least in my experience!) it takes the perspective of someone on the outside to bring you back to reality. For us, dance is everything! But at the end of the day, it isn’t worth losing sleep over someone not liking a recital costume.
We’re rooting for you this spring. Let’s finish strong!
