Starbucks North Star is slowly beginning to creep into the news. Starbucks launched North Star about one month ago, implementing a nationwide program to improve both customer and partner experiences. (Starbucks calls their employees, ‘partners.’) It’s a framework to talk about and develop meaningful connections.
The tenets of North Star are that the Starbucks experience revolves around the following:
- Recognize Me
- Include Me
- Appreciate Me
- Support Me
- Delight Me
The reactions to North Star have been all over map. BusinessInsider.com published a couple of articles touching upon it: Starbucks is quietly changing the business as furious baristas slam the ‘cult that pays $9 per hour.’ Also: They’d rather us be machines: Starbucks baristas reveal the worst parts of working there.
So what is really going on?
First off, I think it’s important to recognize that the North Star initiative is very results focused. It’s clear that Starbucks wants to re-create those kind of customer-partner relationships and connections that have been the ‘secret sauce’ of the brand for decades. Starbucks has always prided itself on the special relationships that happen inside stores: Any retailer can throw a little milk, espresso, and mocha sauce into a cup and call it beverage, but for Starbucks, historically they’ve always served a little human connection with every drink.
The Starbucks mission is to “Inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time.’
That’s a lofty goal.
North Star is about the end result: Better connection. What it doesn’t do is really prescribe the tools that will make that happen. There’s nothing in it that says for 5 minutes every day, there will be a meeting between the shift supervisor and baristas to check in on how customer experiences are going. It doesn’t say ‘Here’s a workbook of common examples that you can work through: Here’s what you do when the customer is furious that Nitro Cold Brew doesn’t come in a Venti size. Here’s what you do when someone wants a refill of Iced Passion Tea…‘ And most importantly, there’s nothing in North Star that automatically puts more partners on the floor to allow for more time for customer connection. It doesn’t say, ‘Have no fear if you take a while to talk a customer but straws and sugars don’t get restocked..’
What does North Star do? Therein lies the problem. For some partners, it doesn’t feel authentic. It feels forced. And it really isn’t changing their day-to-day work experiences. It feels like a top down directive.
Is the problem the partners themselves? Do they just want to be angry all the time and they can’t take it with a grain of salt each time a customer doesn’t know what or how they want to order?
I’ve heard all kinds of reasons about why the “Starbucks Experience” seems to be gone from many stores. I’ve heard everything from ‘I’ll get in trouble if I give that free refill,’ to ‘There’s no time’ to many more reasons. I’ve heard the blame even being put on the Millennial generation, that they’re ‘entitled’ and only want perfect customers who don’t purchase Frappuccinos or too complicated Frappuccinos.
I don’t think any one generation has a monopoly on saltiness and negativity at work: Trust me, I’ve met some harsh Generation X-ers and Baby Boomers, all wearing the green apron. It can’t help to blame any one generation. I won’t even entertain that idea.
About 2 years ago, I wrote an article called 10 Ways Starbucks Could Improve. I’ve heard loose gossip that that influenced North Star, but I don’t know that for a fact. I still think that many of the points in that article hold true today. But when it comes to Starbucks turning into a Taco Bell or McDonald’s experience, I really think just 3 things have gone awry.
- Too many partners are operating from fear: The partner interacting with the customer doesn’t have permission to make the experience great. I will get in trouble if I don’t charge for that extra shot. I will get in trouble if I take a minute to talk to a regular. I’ll get in trouble if I don’t find someway to charge extra for something, even if the register doesn’t have a charge for it (‘heavy lemonade’ examples.) Operating from fear creates the “barista sheriff” syndrome that is common in many stores. The barista’s job is to hand out citations: No you can’t have that drink because I can’t figure out how to charge for it. No you can’t have a refill. No you can’t have a Venti ice water.
- Prioritizing numbers over people: The emphasis has been, for years and years, on how many customers per half hour, not how the experience felt to either the customer or the partner. There’s no allowance for extra labor to allow more than 20 seconds at the register with a customer. How much can you really connect in 20 seconds?
- A culture of “us” versus “them” has seeped into Starbucks: I’ve watched it happen many times. A customer orders a drink. A few words are spoken. No smiles are exchanged. The next customer standing in line is a partner from another store: Suddenly the register barista is all smiles. Once in a while, I see a free drink happen, even when it should be just a discounted beverage. It’s us versus them. The partner aligns himself with other partners because they know the hell it is when customers try to order complicated Frappuccinos that they don’t know the recipe for. An “us” versus “them” mentality creates angry partners, as battle lines get drawn.
All of this is a problem of leadership, not the young barista at the register.
You should listen to Simon Sinek talk about leadership and a company culture of fear:
Good management will in turn create good customer experiences:
Trust me, I am a believer in creating great customer moments. I remember a defining moment when I realized that Starbucks has all the right ideals, but somehow things get lost in translation. A customer ahead of me in line was trying to redeem a birthday reward. That reward was expired. The register barista simply explained that those rewards expire quickly, wished the customer a belated birthday, and said “Your drink is on us anyways…” The customer was elated. I emailed a Starbucks EVP and told him what I saw. He said, ‘This is the experience we want all our customers to have…‘ Along the way, something got lost in translation, somewhere in the leadership: A lot of partners wouldn’t feel comfortable giving out the free drink, fearing that they’ll get in trouble.
Get the leadership right and prioritize people over numbers, and the business will take care of itself.
I have to talk about one more thing: I think one thing that has puzzled Starbucks is that some stores already seem to have this down. They’re already functioning at a very high level of customer experiences, partner experiences, drink quality, and more. If some stores already have it down, why don’t all Starbucks stores operate that way?
My guess is that the answer lies in local leadership: I know one of my favorite Starbucks store managers has said to me things like, ‘I am developing young baristas whom one day I hope they can replace me. That’s my goal. Create my replacements.’ Or, ‘I coach in human connection and I’m trying to get rid of the us or them mentality.’ ‘My partners aren’t in fear of coming to work in a wrong color, out-of-dress-code shirt. They know they have to look good and deliver great experiences…But they’re not in fear of dress code write ups.‘ One store manager can make a huge difference. I can think of a number of stores already delivering these great experiences.
And I’m sure all stores are capable of elevating both the partner and customer experiences: It just takes leadership.
Anecdotally, it seems to me that small stores have a slight advantage in all of this. If you are a store manager, trying to figure out how to get 16 people on the exact same page with your values (as opposed to a store with 30 partners) might be easier than managing a large store. The Starbucks Roastery, which is heralded as being the most elevated Starbucks there is, doesn’t always get it right. I’ve seen and experienced a few unpleasant moments at the Roastery. Overwhelmingly, it’s an amazing location, but as a practical matter, getting 120 store partners to all be rock star baristas, seems a little harder than getting a small store with less than 20 partners all on the same page.
Nonetheless, I am sure every store can be a rock star store.
I’m no expert on any of this. What I do know is that North Star by itself is NOT the answer. A pamphlet taped to the wall of a back office isn’t all that meaningful. It is going to take some real action. And the culture of Starbucks will have to improve: Take care of your partners.
By the way, I don’t know if North Star is really going to change Starbucks customer and partner experiences. It’s too soon to know since it’s so newly implemented. Time will tell.
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