I usually drive in early to work and my drive is a bit of a distance along back roads. If I don’t have the time in the morning to make a coffee, I usually stop at one particular Starbucks that is not too far out of the way. It has a drive-thru, but I prefer to go in. I like to see the staff and patrons, for no particular reason, but it is more interesting than the drive-thru. This Starbucks has a manager that personally I could not work for. She makes a big deal about talking to the staff loudly giving them directions. I feel she does this so that all the customers in the store know she is the one in charge. It is not necessary, but it seems it is necessary for her. I have often sat with a coffee working when she has been working, observing the staff and customer interactions in detail. Her behaviours and mannerisms scream low self-confidence.
The staff have different reactions to her. Some actively listen to her instructions to appease her, but you can tell by their facial expression they already know what to do and think her directions are unnecessary. Other staff roll their eyes behind her back ensuring that their colleagues and sometimes even patrons can see their reaction. Overall, my sense it is not a good environment to work in. I went in one evening to work when she was not there. It was a completely different environment, a much better one. Staff was more relaxed, were in better moods, appeared to be enjoying their work. They were talking amongst themselves and customers more, still being attentive to the customers requests and getting done what needed to get done. Overall, they were more organized and on top of things. The atmosphere was completely different, much happier, more enjoyable.
I wonder what the criteria for a manager at Starbucks is and what their training program is like? She also might be the owner which makes her ‘in charge’ by default. Unfortunately, owning a business does not make you a good or effective manager.
At my company they offer training to managers. It is not a one time thing, but rather an on-going training that happens every few months. It is optional to attend. I have attended many of these over the last 2 years and I find them invaluable. Sure, some of it I already know, do innately or in my opinion is common sense, but it is still a great refresher and I always come out learning something useful. We have managers that choose not to partake in this opportunity and that is unfortunate. Many of them make mistakes that are costly and completely avoidable. Employees leave meetings with the manager where they feeling bad, upset, where they should have been positive. In some cases they don’t ever communicate it to the manager, and in many cases unfortunately it wouldn’t matter if they did.
If you have thse opportunities at your place of employment, I would suggest taking them. They don’t hurt and can only help.
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