Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., is the founder of Lessons for Success, a training, consulting, and keynote presentation company. He also hosts an award-winning daily radio show on KVOR-AM in Colorado and speaks to various organizations throughout the world. Visit josephmichelli.com

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“Keen insight on the transformational power of Starbucks.”-Dr. Jackie Freiberg, bestselling coauthor, Guts! and Nuts!

“Practical, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately.”-Brian Tracy, bestselling author of Million Dollar Habits

How did Starbucks turn a cup of coffee into a worldwide business phenomenon? With unique access to Starbucks personnel and resources, Joseph Michelli isolated the 5 key leadership principles that transformed an ordinary idea into an extraordinary experience.

• Principle 1: Make It Your Own
• Principle 2: Everything Matters
• Principle 3: Surprise and Delight
• Principle 4: Embrace Resistance
• Principle 5: Leave Your Mark

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THE STARBUCKS EXPERIENCE

McGraw-Hill

Contents

Chapter One

"This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy." —GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Material Ownership versus Making It Your Own

Business leaders today want their employees to be fully engaged in their work rather than simply going through the motions. Often employees do not see how their efforts help the organization succeed. Similarly, employees cannot see how the business's success relates to them. When this type of disconnect exists, it is usually because senior management has failed to demonstrate to staff members the constructive impact they have on those they serve.

Like most companies, Starbucks has wrestled with ways to invite its partners to fully engage their passions and talents every day in every interaction at work. Simultaneously, the leadership has to ensure that individual partners' differences are blended into a generally uniform experience for customers.

Finding a balance between these two important, yet sometimes divergent, leadership responsibilities can be awkward. Yet through its principle of Make It Your Own, Starbucks has succeeded in creating a unique model that encourages partners at all levels to pour their creative energy and dedication into everything they do.

No manager can tell employees how to bring out their individuality while functioning effectively in accordance with the business's priorities; no scripted customer service approach can make this happen. But leaders at Starbucks have provided a structure that allows partners to infuse themselves into their work, so that they can inspire customers in legendary ways. The leaders call this the "Five Ways of Being":

• Be welcoming

• Be genuine

• Be considerate

• Be knowledgeable

• Be involved

To reinforce these concepts, Starbucks management developed a pamphlet that fits neatly into a partner's apron pocket and is appropriately referred to as the Green Apron Book. This book offers concrete ideas on how to personalize relationships with customers by giving to, connecting with, and elevating customer interactions.

In an article for Tom Brown's bankstocks.com, David M. Martin, chief training consultant of NCBS, an industry leader in retail banking solutions worldwide, states that the Green Apron Book, along with Starbucks Five Ways of Being, "truly encapsulates the core philosophies of Starbucks. Cover to cover, it may take five minutes to read ... and that's if you pause to sip your coffee a few times. Think about it. In essence, the company is marketing to its employees how important the principles and philosophies contained in this book are."

David notes that Starbucks leadership has built an optimistic message into the book: "Instead of overwhelming folks with reams of minutiae and too-rigid instructions, it gives guiding principles of the environments they hope to create and legendary service they strive to provide." This is leadership at its best: simple instruction provided in an appealing way, with a spirit that offers hope.

Since you probably don't have a green apron, let alone a Green Apron Book, let's take a look at how Starbucks guides its staff members into making the Starbucks Experience uniquely their own.

Be Welcoming

While most individuals would not think of inviting guests into their home, only to ignore them, many business leaders fail to make their companies equally inviting. At Starbucks, "being welcoming" is an essential way to get the customer's visit off to a positive start. It is also the foundation for producing a predictably warm and comfortable environment. It enables partners to forge a bond with customers so that infrequent visitors become regulars, many of whom end up customers for life.

Many important customer questions are answered in the first moments of a business interaction. Do the staff members care to get to know me? Do they remember me? Will they take care of my needs? Do I matter? Am I invisible?

Starbucks management recognizes that these are key concerns for every person with whom the company does business. The leadership emphasizes the creation of a welcoming experience precisely to let customers know that they are important. According to Starbucks International president Martin Coles, "People want to be recognized. They want to be celebrated in some way. They want to be made to feel as if they really do count for something. And they want a place where they can belong in the community that stands for something more than just an enterprise that makes money. The thing in our company and the thing that works universally is this whole notion of Third Place. It's about the in-store experience—all of it."

At its essence, Starbucks management defines be welcoming as "offering everyone a sense of belonging." The leaders emphasize that partners can and should use their individual talents and knowledge to create a place where people feel that they are a priority and where their day can be brightened, at least for a moment. This experience is what most customers seek from Starbucks. Therefore, the leaders expect that customers will consistently be welcomed at all locations, with the partners fully engaged in making that happen. With this expectation in mind, the leaders encourage partners to use their own unique style to produce inviting encounters.

What's in a Name?

Welcoming people by name and remembering them from visit to visit is a small thing, but it counts. The great Dale Carnegie recognized this in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Carnegie remarked, "Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language." Carnegie even suggested that a person's name may be his or her most valuable possession.

Barista Joy Wilson shows what is possible when staff members put their own individual style into being welcoming, "I'm the drive-through queen at my store. I always set out to do the best job I possibly can. One of the ways I do that is I learn people's names and drinks and the name of their dog and where their kids go to school and whatever else I can find out about them."

Joy is serious about knowing customers' names. In fact, after work she enters information about her customers into a spreadsheet, which she later reviews. Starbucks leaders helped Joy appreciate the importance of being welcoming and praised her approach. They do not expect or encourage others to use Joy's method. Instead, the leaders provide partners with the freedom to find what works best for them, their customers, and their stores. And it's through leadership's guidance, encouragement, and acceptance of their uniqueness that partners generate new ways to excel.

Acknowledging Uniqueness

When someone actually notices us, as Joy notices her customers, it's almost shocking, particularly if we haven't visited that business in a while. In today's frantic world, most of us expect to just blend in with the crowd. Unfortunately, as much as each of us may want to stand out, we often fear that we are...