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A Perfect Cup Of Coffee

February 27, 2006

Today I was at Starbucks working on a presentation on Impacted Jobsite Productivity and at the table next to me was a woman studying a 4" binder, taking notes, filling out forms, doing activities and taking quizes.

Every so often a manager came over and would review certain things with her, ask questions, explain details, etc.

After a few hours I asked her what she was doing. She explained that she had worked there for a while and was moving up to an assistant manager position. The 4" manual contained every detail about running the store. Some modules had classes associated with them that she had to go attend which were presented by other store or regional managers. The store manager went over every module with her and signed off when she had completed them.

I was completely amazed at the level of detail and it explains why you get a darn near perfect cup of coffee along with a very consistent corporate personality at every location. What is even more amazing is that Starbucks has maintained that level of quality and consistent customer service even as they are hiring upwards of 20,000 new people in 2006.

Now contrast that with construction - how much time do we spend with a new crew leader or foreman before sending them out to run hundreds of thousands of dollars; even millions of dollars worth of installation? How many more variables are there in construction than there are in making a cup of coffee?

What if you had a manual about how you do things in your company, how customers get treated, how employees are treated and how money is made?

What if you sat down and went over EVERY detail with EVERY supervisor? Would you get a return on that investment in time? You bet you would!

Why don't more companies do this? It's darn hard work!

It takes a lot of time to analyze the basics of your business, document those and then spend time training people.

If you are tired of inconsistent treatment of customers and employees by your supervisors and are frustrated by fluctuating profit margins then you should look into creating an operations manual for your company - and then using it!

Posted by David Brown at 09:35 PM|Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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