THIIIIIIS. Micromanaging angers me to my very core so I do my best to not helicopter around my partners. I like to let my seasoned baristas know I appreciate their initiative and flexibility on the floor so I can spend a little extra time with my green beans. It’s especially helpful when I don’t have a support SSV on my shift. I can kind of bounce my plan for the shift off them and happily accept any ideas they might have. It makes them feel included and human instead of just a robot coffee making cog in the system.
Another thing I like to do is if it’s not all that busy, I’ll ask my baristas where they would like to be deployed or what’s something they want to work on today. Obviously knowing your partners strengths and being able to make deploying decisions in a snap when there’s bottlenecks is an important part of being an SSV but if I have no peak to run and it’s an easygoing day, I’m not going to be strict on roles. I’m all about team morale at the moment given all the crazy that we deal with. If I can do something to make my baristas shifts a bit more enjoyable I’m more than happy to do so!