Page 35 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 1

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.
20 Finding a balance between these two important, yet some-
times 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 dedi-
cation into everything they do.
No manager can tell employees how to bring out their indi-
viduality 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