NURTURING NEW BEGINNINGS
CREATING AND TEACHING NEW BARISTAS HOW TO NAVIGATE THROUGH STARBUCKS

Overview

One of my first leadership experience in 2019 was becoming a barista trainer at Starbucks. A barista is an overarching term used loosely at Starbucks and they have many different tasks to do such as ring up customers, warm food, brew coffee, clean the lobby, check-in with customers and make drinks. Usually, people go to their managers and ask to become barista trainers, in my case my manager approached me about becoming a barista trainer. This was rewarding because my manager recognized a quality in me that would make a good barista trainer. Since becoming a trainer in April 2019, I have trained five people so far and it has been an amazing experience. The purpose of being a trainer is to teach new barista about what their job entails. This experience was valuable to me because I got to be a great trainer, something that I did not have.

Personal Importance of Work

My job/role as a trainer at Starbucks is vital to the store/company. I am the first person to person interaction the new barista encounters, which is extremely important because that sets the tone not only for their training experience but their experience working as a barista. When I was being trained the first time I got hired at Starbucks, my training was rushed and not adequate. I did not feel like I could go to anyone for help or reassurance which caused me to relearn everything on my own. From my own experience, I knew that if I ever became a trainer I would make sure to make their experience the total opposite of mine because new baristas need someone they feel comfortable coming to with questions, who is a resource, who instills confidence in them and empowers them. 

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Tasks Accomplished

• Teaching barista different positions they will be responsible for such as ringing up customers, warming food, brewing coffee, cleaning the lobby, checking in with customers and handcrafting drinks

• Tracking the baristas progress by demonstrating the task they are going to learn, then having them do it

• Observing and making mental notes of what the barista is doing well and what they need to work on

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Leadership Competencies Gained

Other Perspectives

Being a trainer has shown me that everyone learns and comprehends information differently. Knowing and understanding that I wanted to learn their perspective so I can successfully teach them the information they need to know. When I trained my first barista, they had previously worked at a Starbucks on their college campus, so they were somewhat knowledgeable about the different roles at Starbucks. In this situation, the barista just needed a refresher on the different roles and tasks associated with the roles and familiarize themselves with the stores. By respecting and learning their perspective it reduces complications and frustrations during the training process.

Reflection and Application

When I was training to become a trainer, I wrote down notes on aspects I thought would be important and of help to me. When I started training, I reflected on my notes to refresh myself on what those key aspects were that I decided were important. Also, after each barista I trained, I reflected and thought about what worked and what did not work so I could make a mental note of it and change it the next time I trained someone. When I trained my third barista, they were completely new to the company, so they had no prior knowledge/experience. I reflected on my trainer's notes to review the basics of how to train a new barista. I saw that I had to thoroughly explain everything to the new barista because they had no prior knowledge.

Personal Contributions 

Being a trainer, your role is important because you are teaching someone new to the company. You are the first person they are meeting so it is important to make a good impression, and that starts with showing up and goes into being a resource. I am contributing my knowledge that they do not have yet about the job/company. When I trained my second barista, who was someone I had worked with him the previous summer, I made sure to be present not only as a barista trainer but as a welcoming face. Them seeing me as the trainer gave me a sense of authority that I did not have when we worked together previously, so it did make them a little nervous, but by being a welcoming face I was able to build a stronger relationship with them which in turn helped them open up, become more comfortable and ask more questions when training.

Empathy

Having empathy means having a deep understanding of others by attempting to experience their thoughts and feelings. I try to empathize with new baristas I am training by trying to get to know them. I do this so I can understand what makes them who they are. From that, I can figure out how can I train them effectively and successfully where they retain the information but also be trained in a way that is unique to them and how they learn. Every barista I have trained is different, unique, and have come from different walks of life. When I trained all my baristas, I paid attention to their level of enthusiasm because when it got low, I knew they needed a break. 

Empowerment

When I was being trained to be a barista, there was little to no empowerment coming from my trainers and although I have thick skin, it would have been nice to feel even a little empowered. I knew that when I became a trainer to be a good trainer, I was going to empower my trainees. When I am training someone, once we are done for the day, I am telling them something empowering because then they not only feel better after a stressful day, but they feel confident as well. When training my baristas, once we have completed training for a certain task, I make sure to tell them that they are doing great. When/if they express to me that they don’t feel that way, I have a conversation with them to see why they feel like that and what we can focus on next time. After they express to me what they feel like they are having a harder time with, I make sure to start the next training with that. When the training sessions are over, I tell them to know that they have done a great job but I also let them know to ask me any questions at any time, I will always be there to answer them.

Providing Feedback

Being a barista trainer, my job is not only to train new baristas but to ensure that they are trained effectively and correctly and know all the information necessary before their first real shift at their store. When I was training one of my baristas on how to make drinks, I first showed her how to make a caramel macchiato and then had her make one. While she was making the drink, I observed to see if she was correctly following the steps to make the drink and saw that she did all the steps but not in order. When she was finished, I made sure to let her know that she was doing a good job at completing each step but that they were not in order which would make the drink taste differently. I had her verbally explain each step before attempting to make the drink again, she recited it correctly, made the drink in the correct order and it tasted delicious!

Verbal Communication

When training a barista, the duration of the training is 4 days. When training one of my baristas I started each day of training by asking how the barista is doing, this helped me gauge their energy. I let them know what we will be learning that day, what time our breaks are, and ask their goal for the day so they can mentally prepare themselves for their day. I also ask how they felt about the training from the previous day and ask if they want to review anything. After each section of training, I ask if they have any questions, by doing this it helps the barista voice how they feel about the material they learned and helps me note that they still need more time on that section of the training. When the day is over, I make sure to tell them that they are doing an amazing job and not stress because everything will come with practice.

Lessons Learned and Future Oriented Statement

The way my insights gained from being a trainer has translated to other areas of my life is using what I have learned and continue to learn from there and implementing it in my other experiences. I have two other jobs, although all are three very different jobs dealing with different types of people, I find that I use similar leadership competencies from my trainer aspect. One that I have gained and utilize is other perspectives. Being a peer ambassador and a mentor, I am dealing with different students every day, listening, and trying to understand their perspectives is an important part of being a resource to them.

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Picture Caption

This is a pin that I received for being voted Partner of the Quarter, which is a recognition award at Starbucks. I got this award because of my dedication to my job, my kindness to my coworkers, and the connections I make with customers.

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