Making time for training

Yesterday evening, nearly all of the 7,100 Starbucks stores in the US closed to re-train baristas on making perfect lattes. The 3 1/2 hour session focused on "Espresso Excellence."

Yes, Dunkin’ Donuts was running 99-cent specials on their lattes during the shut down. Yes, local coffee roasters poked fun at Starbucks and offered free coffee during those hours. And yes, Starbucks executives were concerned about the customers who would be caffeine-less, posting a list of things to do for 3 1/2 hours (roast a turkey, get your hair highlighted).

But CEO Howard Schultz is more concerned about staying true to the "…standards of quality that are the foundation for the trust that our customers have in our coffee and in all of us." Schultz and others mandated the training amid falling sales and the increasing commoditization of the Starbucks brand and product.

While the investment of time and the risk of lost profit during the 3 1/2 hour training session are interesting, we find the commitment to training from the executive level to be even more impressive. In a recent interview, CEO Schultz said that Starbucks was committed to "…reinvent and reinvest in training the likes of which we have not done." It is unlikely that the undertaking of closing every store and retraining every worker at the same time on the same day (adjusted for time zones) would have been done without this high-level encouragement. In that same interview, Schultz says, "I think our people are the reason we've been successful…the equity of the brand is based on the experience they create, and we want to unleash that creativity and that passion. They have it. We just have to give them the tools and the resources for it to come out."

Many leaders talk the talk, saying "Our people are our biggest asset," but few do what Schultz has done and take the gutsy moves necessary to emphasize learning and make investing in human capital a priority. What’s your organization’s commitment to learning? Are employees required to revisit and relearn key skills as well as to develop new ones? How do your leaders demonstrate their commitment to learning, high performance, and customer care?

Give me a grande latte and don’t hold anything!


Grace Boone is Barnes & Conti's Marketing Manager. Her favorite drink is a Gingerbread Chai with a shot of espresso.


Barnes & Conti Associates delivers dynamic programs in 2-day, 1-day, and half-day sessions, making it easy to make time for training. For more information, visit www.barnesconti.com