I was at the Starbucks early this week by our office. Do you know that they have us surrounded? I cannot step outside any door of the building an not have a Starbucks location within 50 feet. How many locations do they have?!
In any case, I was getting my morning oatmeal (don't forget the blueberries!) and it occurred to me that in general Starbucks employees wear a great smile, engage in polite but quick conversation and keep the spirit of the place up tempo. It is not forced either. And this has been true in all the locations I have been - airports, other cities, urban, suburban etc.
They must have some amazing recruiting screen, training and incentive to keep that many customer facing employees uptempo like that. (Maybe they have a special coffee? A little employee special?)
To further the point, you would not see a Starbucks type employee at Dunkin' Donuts. But certainly you would see a specific Dunkin' Donut type employee. Speed. That is the essence at Dunkin'. Limit the choice, get you in an out. America runs on Dunkin' - so they say.
(Side note - I have been to the house of the general counsel of Dunkin' Donuts in Brookline. Fancy Place! They retired and put their house on sale and house items on auction. So we raced there and picked up a few goodies!)
If we then pay visits (ahem, just a research expedition) to Taco Bell, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Curry in a Hurry, Kinko's, Subway - we would begin to see a sorting out of personality types. Some subtle, some fairly explicit.
We could also argue that an accountant is a personality type different from a sales person who would be different from an artist.
So if we mix the type of companies, with the type of role, with the type of personality - we will see, as we are seeing a sorting out of personality types throughout the landscape. Over a period of time, one can easily visualize that grouping evolving into a distinct culture.
I am imagining, a bit tongue in cheek of course, the recruiting departments at these companies have a key question or filter to sort through the type of person they want to hire. Starbucks - are they perky? Dunkin' - how quickly do they finish the test?
If you love sitting on the sidewalk people watching, I think you might find equal pleasure next time you interact with someone in a store to ask yourself a) what is the salient personality type here?, b) how uniform is it?, c) what might that single recruiting question be?
I am looking forward to my next trip to Curry in a Hurry, just for some research!
9 comments:
Love the rumination in this post, Surya. I'm a big fan of studying the implications of personality types... those deep-seated, recurring patterns that show up in each of us... but not everyone sharing the same patterns either. Carl Jung was a big fan as well... leading to the MBTI.
As for screening - don't you think, left to our natural inclinations, we tend to hire in our own image? That said, the really successful franchises seem to have zero'd in on the types that make their clocks tick most effectively!
Here's some more thoughts on this topic
- do you think such traits are innate vs developed? Nature vs Nurture?
- there's likely one or more of these traits - baristas need to multitask vs cashiers need to focus
- how do you "grow" employees in a place with low entry skill level, low wages, high turnover, and where you need them to have this defining trait on day one
Leading teams is challenging, but one I love taking on. Never a dull day at the office, never the same problem to solve with two employees, never a cookie cutter answer!
To understand how a company hires for cultural fit, the best case studies I can think of are from Zappos and Southwest Airlines. Outstandingly amazing consistency in the type of folks they hire, and in the service they offer.
Check out this video re Zappos (Their CEO, Tony Hseih, has also written a book).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFyW5s_7ZWc (Preview)
saw the video. Very interesting. One question I have is - how a culture survives it founder. The one great example we all know that has done this the longest and the best, is GE.
Also, my friend, wryly asked me, whether in reality, the more strong a company's culture, the farther it is from each individual's true personality - i.e. are they all faking it?
Good question! As they say, culture is a set of practices that are displayed even in the absence of monitoring and oversight. GE is a great example. HP used to be another. However, veteran HPers bemoan the loss of the HP way in the post Compaq-merger- and Carly-era. Governments all over the world are another example of consistent culture. I wonder how much of this is tied to existing incentives.
rue of corporate's too as you say.
one enigma is that is it just the personality type at recruiting that is the differentiator or is it the observed culture in a service industry that makes it so.
in other words the same individual would behave and respond differently as a starbucks employee than if he or she had been hired as a dunkin employee - simply becuase of what they learn and see others do when they get on the job. in my view it is an acquired skill ( taste!) that differentiates and personality type has smaller role to play in retail outlets.
waiting for curry in a hurry now.
Some neat observations of personality types you have made here
The working culture is a set of practices that are displayed at the place of work differ from that of one's individual personal life due to work setup.
This is one of my favorite subjects. I am obsessed with behaviors inside retail outlets, from Apple Store to AT&T to Starbucks to Dunkin Donuts to Walgreen's. Also, small independents like local coffee house. I actually "interview" people who work there and ask about the recruitment process and training. You are right, these companies do look for certain kinds of people and use screening Qs and criteria to pick their employees. The company that made this practice famous is Disney... which has a school that teaches companies how to do it right.
Apple Store employees are given almost no training! Basically, they are screened to be the right people and their good service follows; those hired have to be Apple super freaks (LOVE the products and company) and like being with people (what a concept if you're working with people!!). It doesn't hurt that, as one "Genius" said to me, "It's harder to get a job here than to get accepted at Stanford"). They are not trained to say, "Hello, Sir, may I help you with something today"? It's perfectly fine to be wearing a knit cap on and say, "S'up? Whatyah need"? And then get on it.
A fascinating transformation happened in AT&T stores -- fantastic, proactive, customer-focused service these days. I was told by my new best friend there that the CEO decided about a year ago that the only way they could win without an exclusive arrangement with Apple was through the best service in the bus. So new recruiting practices, innovative (and constant) training programs, customer surveys, etc.
The worst service used to be Duane Reade (NY drugstore chain now owned by Walgreen's). I once stood at a counter for about 60 seconds without the person behind the register even acknowledging my presence. When she finally (and reluctantly) cast her eyes in my direction, I said: "See those people walking past the store in droves? THEY are your enemies. WE who are in the store are your friends -- we're paying your salary. Why would you bite the hand that feeds you"? (Probably said not as eloquently and with some curse words thrown in.)
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