Leaders ViewPointe

Starbucks Leadership Says Its Time To Close The Doors!

We just returned from a weekend in Seattle. The weather was incredible - sunny!  The experience was spectacular!  And Starbucks was everywhere!  That is not an exaggeration.  Everywhere you turn a Starbucks is there to welcome you.

The original Starbucks store in Pike Place Market (opened in 1971) has not changed much over the years.  The decor, coffee, staff and experience are much the same. However, the Starbucks Company has been going through some significant changes in the past few months.  Driven mostly be a drop in stock values, the Board of Directors chose to put Founder and past-CEO, Howard Schultz back in the top leadership position.  Howard is a leader with a passion; a passion for coffee, empowerment and community.  Watch during the next few months and you'll see the changes unfold right there in your favorite Starbucks!

The most obvious shift you will see is a renewed focus on the basics – the basics that made Starbucks a household name and changed the way we “experience” coffee.  It is no longer a tin can commodity it is a vital part of community.  What basics will Starbucks CEO expect the company to embrace?  Coffee expertise, consistency, employee empowerment and training, and the customer experience known as the “third place”.   Schultz sees these things as non-negotiable.  They are the essence of a relationship that he believes must be established with the employees, in order to enhance the relationship with the customer.  As  Becky Carrol stated in her blog, "Starbucks is putting its employees front and center in their effort to transform the customers experience."

We don't have to look far to understand what is driving this leader.  Howard Schultz wrote in his book Pour Your Heart Into It (1997) the following:

"There is no more precious commodity than the relationship of trust and confidence a company has with its employees."

"The head of a company can't, and shouldn't always be the cheerleader.  He has to be willing to let his people see the weaknesses and the pain, as long as they understand them in the context of the company's greater accomplishments.

When the chips are down, it's wrong to give a rah-rah Knute Rockne speech. People want guidance, not rhetoric.  They need to know what the plan of action is, and how it will be implemented.  They want to be given responsibility to help solve the problem and the authority to act on it."

These are great insights.  It is easy to say, harder to implement.  Vision is important for employees to understand, but it is equally vital that they be given an action plan and permission to pursue it.  Great leadership recognizes when to talk, and when to deliver!  Solutions are not always found in one more motivational talk, but in the opportunities of empowerment.  (In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer you can read Howard's memo to the employees for more insight into his commitment to them and his openness to their input.)

Are you ready for this?  Starbucks is getting ready to close the doors.  On February 26, 2008  over 7,100 stores around the nation will intentionally lock the doors at 5:30 p.m. and cease operations.  Don't panic, this is only for a few hours.  The purpose: to train and revisit the basics as well as ideas for improvement.  Will it result in a better cup of coffee?  Probably, but more importantly it will create a better sense of responsibility and ownership among the employees for the experience you and I have on a daily basis.

Melissa Allison, reporter for the Seattle Times wrote in the February 12, 2008 edition:

In an interview last month, Schultz said he was committed to "reinvent and reinvest in training the likes of which we have not done."

"I think our people are the reason we've been successful," he said.

"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."

Leaders ViewPointe:

1. Change is inevitable.  Successful leaders create stability during times of change by helping everyone get focused on the essentials that make the company great.
2. The leader has a passion that is well-stated and well-worn through personal application.
3. Growth leaders in every industry know and build on the truth that trust and confidence in the relationships are the key to a healthy organization.
4. The greatest solutions and sustained growth comes from building opportunities through the right training.  (According to Joseph Michelli Starbucks consistently invests more in training, than it does in advertising.)
5. Great leaders communicate with clarity - not just vision but also plans.  They are also open to the insights of those they lead.

Howard, I raise my Pike Place Starbucks mug to your success!

Send me a note or comment about your thoughts on the above ViewPointe's by clicking on the Headline above.

Don't Settle For Something Less Than The Possible - Part 1

"I have discovered that the successes of my life depend greatly upon my commitments and the failures are directly influenced by my compromises!" - Steven Iwersen

Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher, thought that most men and women would consider life to be "a long second best" because of an ongoing compromise between the ideal and the possible.  I would agree that the majority of our disappointment is the result of compromise.  But I do not believe that it is somewhere caught between the ideal and the possible.  The real compromise is settling for something less than the possible!

We all have our ideals.  Sometimes they are a great measure different than what is possible.  We may set our standards for something that is ideal; and in the striving to reach that level discover that what is possible is in reality two or three notches below the ideal.  We can become discouraged and defeated in our minds - believing that we'll never be able to reach the ideal.  This is the most dangerous point.  If we give up on what is possible and settle for something that is less - that is the compromise that ushers us into the second best.

Compromise is the opposite of commitment!  It disintegrates the possibilities.  What can be a reality in life falls victim to a false belief that it can't be achieved - so why try.  When we surrender our commitments to the conditions of compromise we settle for less than what is possible.  And I can guarantee you that the results will include: dissension, disappointment and discontent.

Leaders ViewPointe:

• Don't settle for second best.
• Keep your focus on what is possible.
• Your success today depends on the strength of your commitments.

Part Two of this conversation about commitments will reveal a simple way to build your personal resolve.  In the mean time, click on the title above and share your thoughts about how compromise impacts your leadership environment.

Transitional Leadership: Helping Others Gain Confidence and Competence

It was an incredible day - sunny, just enough wind, and a 40' sail boat.  This was the first time my wife had been sailing.  And it was a big deal.  We were not sailing in a little lake in Kansas, this was San Diego and off the coast of Mexico. Why was this such a big deal?  She's not comfortable with deep water.  But this was her idea. I watched with delight throughout the day as she challenged her fear, transitioning from a tentative seated place in the stern to literally walking to the front of the boat and napping on the bow while we returned to Shelter Island in San Diego Bay.  Her comfort and confidence grew as the captain explained the features of the boat and proved his competence. 

This got me thinking about our role as leaders.  What can we do to help others gain self confidence in the deep waters of change and transition?  What do we need to understand about ourselves during times of transition?

Transitions.  An intriguing word.  The root is "transit."  It implies moving from one place to another.  Transition is the act of going from one point and arriving at a new point.

Sometimes transitions are the dramatic ending of an experience and the beginning of a new one.  At other times the transition is smooth and not at all a conclusion of something, but a quiet shifting of direction.

Whatever the means of your transitions, you are still the same person - same strengths, talents, hopes and fears.  Yes, there are times that the condition of the transition affects our lives and we are influenced by the cause of the change.  For example: a death, a move, a layoff, a divorce or a birth.  These do shape our perspective.  And yet, we are still the same.

If you step from a dock onto a boat, are you suddenly a different person?  No.  You can "transit" your life from a stationary, solid foundation to a new foundation that lifts and pitches according to the waves below.  You have not changed, but your physical experience has.  Your inner person, the core of who you are, did not stay on the dock.  You became fully engaged on the boat.  The transition does not change you.  However, the new experience brings a new point of reference and an opportunity to learn and grow.  That becomes the basis for a transition of mindset, beliefs and behaviors.

What happens on the boat?  Your behaviors change. You intuitively begin to adjust your balance according to the shifting of the physical environment.  On the dock, your body had no need to focus on keeping balance.  But on the boat, the circumstances are in constant change and your actions adjust to those changes.  If you remain rigid and make no adjustments to your personal position in relation to the on going changes, you will probably be tossed overboard.

Now, let's "transit" this understanding to our real world of leadership.  If we become rigid during times of transition, we're going to get tossed around.  However, if we begin to see change as an opportunity to learn new behaviors, the end result will be a greater comfort with new environments and the confidence to stretch a little more beyond our past "dock" experience.  The comfort and confidence we model during times of transition will become inspiration for those we lead - encouraging them to "transit" from the dock into new directions and understanding.  You and I will not be able to model that if we don't step off our own dock once in a while.

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Picasso

Leaders ViewPointe:

1. Challenge my own apprehensions.
2. Help others overcome their apprehensions by informing them of the features and proving my own competence.
3. See change as a transition, not a conclusion.
4. Be willing to adjust to the circumstances and learn new behaviors.

Now it is your turn to step aboard.  What challenges are you seeing in your leadership environment?  What changes are you having to lead others through? 

Click on the "comments" link below, share with me and other leaders what is working as you lead others in times of transit.

(My wife can't wait to go sailing again!)

   

Bosses Who Need Leadership CPR

I was in San Francisco last week, speaking at a leadership seminar.  The participants were middle managers, eager to wrestle through the challenges of leadership and hungry for new ideas on how to better work with their employees.  There was one thing I could not give them – better bosses.

In fact, that is what I hear everywhere I go:

• “My boss needs to attend this seminar.”
• “Our upper management doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing.  They are constantly undermining our efforts and we spend most of our time putting out the fires they start.”
• “My boss wants us to take initiative, but never supports us when we do.”
• “My boss thinks she’s a leader, but she’s not.”

Do you have a boss mentality or are you perceived as a thoughtful leader.  Most bosses think they are leaders, but they do not act like authentic leaders. The process in becoming a thoughtful leader is to start with a change of mind.  Change your mindset, and you will change your behavior.  Change your behavior, and you can change the minds of your employees. 

What should a boss start thinking about?  Exchanging a control mentality for a trust mindset.  The boss that thinks the only way to get the desired results is to control everything, will soon discover that seldom works.  In that environment trust is depleted and the lack of creative oxygen leaves employees lethargic or looking elsewhere for a place to breathe.  People want to work for leaders who know how to administer “Leadership C.P.R.” = Creativity, Permission, Release.

Jennifer Rich wrote a great article for Bosses Day in the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday, Oct 16, 2007:

Are bosses the beacons of leadership they should be?

Many bosses follow the bad patterns they have seen from their bosses in the past, said Richard Hadden. "They don't think its effective (management) but they don't know what else to do," Hadden said. "They want to exert control but control is less effective than influence."

Allan Cox, who has recently written "Your Inner CEO: Unleash the Executive Within," has found that successful CEOs have three important characteristics - they are authentic, candid and can be trusted.

"What really matters in this day and age is a CEO who is truly collaborative," Cox said. [People] don't want to have orders barked at them. Instead they want to feel as if they are working as part of a team.

It seems these days we are long on managers and short on leaders, people who can truly inspire and create an impression on those they lead.

"People don't need a boss as much as a leader," Hadden said. "The job of a leader is to be clear and let employees be creative. You have been appointed, not anointed."

You can read the whole article at http://www.bradenton.com/business/story/172739.html

I contend that people don’t want a boss, they want a leader who will give direction  according to the mission of the organization and invite them into the process of successful accomplishment.  That is possible when the leader is trustworthy and trusts others to have worthy contributions. 

Allan Cox gives us a practical challenge on this matter: 

Today’s model isn’t the leader who makes things happen, but the one who lets them happen. Leaders who inspire us are those who shed their attachments to old habits and outworn “convictions.” Such attachments include shallow slogans, biases, blaming others, complaints of circumstance, chasing fads, denying failure, faith in consensus, fake roles, false goals, over-reliance on strategic planning and the pretense of vision as clairvoyance.

Today’s leader courageously releases his most addictive attachment: the illusion of control.   http://yourinnerceo.blogspot.com/ 

I concur.  Leadership multiplies in momentum when we think correctly and act accordingly. The actions of intentional leaders will be measured by their:

• encouraging other’s Creativity in the process,
• giving Permission to take responsibility, and
• Release of control.