Number one piece of advice: stand up for your baristas.

Customer is throwing a tantrum because they can't get a trenta frap or latte and the barista told them that's company policy? Back up the barista. Confirm that it's policy and offer an alternative (venti latte/frap or trenta iced coffee, etc). The thing I hated MOST working at Starbucks was watching managers and supervisors undermine baristas, when the issue at hand is a clearly written policy and the barista was right.

Take care of your baristas before you take care of customers - happy baristas make happy customers. Most of the company policies exist for a reason. If we expect baristas to follow the rules, then we have to support them when they try. You've already stated that Starbucks culture is very different from other places you've worked and you want to try to to create the third place, so as someone who quit due to management and culture, I can tell you that lack of support from management is one of the top reasons baristas burn out and quit. If you want some horror stories I have plenty lol health code violations, wrongful terminations, customers from hell.

If your supervisors call to ask to turn off mobiles/ubers please believe they know when to ask for help and accommodate their request. We had an outside hire say no. We were having an abnormal day and as a supervisor I knew we needed help. It was the worst feeling having to tell my team our request had been denied. It led to a massive shift in team moral that didn’t get better. We were later able to turn off mobile and close the cafe. But if we had simply been able to turn the mobiles off when we originally asked we might have been able to keep the cafe open.

I hate it when managers just “observe & coach”. They don’t actually work on the floor, they hide in the back. Work on the floor with your team the majority of your shift.

Please please please please listen to your baristas over your bosses. I understand they’re still your bosses but the baristas and shifts know more about the floor than dms and rds do.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions to your baristas or shifts or asm if you have one. Better to ask and get it right than to guess and do it wrong.

Edit: forgot to add to back your baristas no matter what they are the backbone of the store treat them well and they will treat you well

Please turn off mobiles and deliveries when we ask you to. We don’t ask unless we are already really struggling or we are understaffed.

In my store it makes all the difference that there are no cliques and gossip, everyone is so kind and accepting and we are in general matched with our work ethic, sense of urgency. It makes you want to show up on time for your shifts and support your partners. So my advice is that the interpersonal things that may come up are pretty important, not to be minimized. You can and should have partners of all ages, not just high school/college aged

Don’t become friends with your baristas/shift supervisors no matter how tempting it may seem. Treat everyone fairly and equally. Once you are comfortable in your role start developing your talent. Don’t make anyone do anything you have not or will not do yourself. Don’t be one of those managers who doesn’t want to work more than 40hrs

I found out the management team all talks shit about baristas. The SM constantly undermines one of the SSVs. Please don’t do that. Support your team first. Stay on top of orders and training. Customers hate when things aren’t in stock, and it makes baristas look bad. Help out your team first, keep the store stocked and make sure its clean. You dont want flies or any pests. Make sure everyone is fully trained within 2 weeks of their hire date. It will make things run smoother. So your team will be happy, customers will be happy, and so will you! Genuinely caring for a lot of people is a LOT to handle, so make sure you prioritize things in order correcty!

Read the thread about breaks & my personal thing is lead by example. I'm a green bean and I love how my manager doesn't two face talk. A lot of people give the truth through body language. Baristas can and do pick up on that and act accordingly. I see the shift supervisor do this and it just saddens me. Make the employee connection with all your employees, not just your favorites. And understand your disabled employees are sometimes slow but they're trying. my observations from a green bean. Congratulations and good luck! The fact you're asking puts you already on a great path.

You'll get a lot of respect if you give a lot of respect. You're going to be supervising baristas and shift supervisors that have experience that you don't have. Lean into that! Celebrate it! Use them as a resource to keep learning and let them know that you appreciate their knowledge and know how. Otherwise they'll just end up resenting you.

Please please listen and hear your baristas/shifts out. It might seem crazy but just because you have manager experience doesn't mean you have Starbucks experience. And sometimes that makes a huge difference. Be present on the floor and separate your noncoverage time vs coverage time. For example, if you scheduled yourself for a coverage shift actually be there if your team needs you. Please take care of yourself and hold your barista accountable but do it with care. These are all things my current external manager lacks and we've lost half of our team(the ones who work with him) because of it. Follow standard but be adjustable! Good luck!

I wish my SM had told my bully, another barista, to leave me alone. I ended up quitting over it.

Can’t even express how excited I am to see this thread.
Internal SM here: Let me just say I’ve been dying for our externals to come ask the same question. As an ASM I worked at over 8 stores and heard the wrath partners had to say about their “external”. In my area, this word has fear attached to it from an hourly partner perspective and THIS step right here is what each of those SM’s failed to do.
1) Build a real relationship with each partner. Take the time to hear about non-work related things so you grasp who they are as a person outside of work. The more you know about them, the better you will be able to coach them and help your supervisors to coach them. Many other companies embed into their management to prioritize the business over the humans in it “they’ll be gone a year from now anyway”. Yes they might be one of hundreds subordinates to you in your lifetime, you are one of a few leaders they’ll have in theirs. Be the leader they aspire to become, not the one that trains them to fear those in charge.
2)Adjusting your approach is NECESSARY. Not changing the entire definition of your leadership: but knowing what tone, word choice and delivery will provide the right encouragement for that particular partner to succeed. You wouldn’t coach a varsity football player the same way you would coach a partner who you know struggles with PTSD. But if you don’t know…you won’t know until it’s too late.
3) Find your most passionate and tenured leaders and spend at least an hour hearing about their journey. Ask about the leaders they liked and why: leaders they clashed with and why. What do they want to see happen in the store? What aspect of their job are they most passionate about? Give them the space to share a plan with you and if it’s a good one, give them the space to execute it and support them as they go. The last thing you want to do is come in and make the supervisors feel like their role and experiences have a shadow cast over them.
4) Lead by example. Learn how to run an effective play and ask your team for feedback on their shifts so often it gets annoying: supervisors and baristas. You often will get a lot of: “It was fine” in the beginning. But the more often, consistently, and genuinely you ask, the more they believe you care. Build the foundation to ensure no negative experiences in your store occur without you being made aware early enough to tackle the work before it ripples. If they know they can always tell you, nothing will slip past you.
5) Learn from them. The reason this company even has internals with no previous management experience (myself) is because of how much we’re able to learn about the business at hourly levels and how distinct the business is compared to others.
I recently told my DM how it felt like 70% of my job isn’t managing a business, it’s managing the people. If you put in the extra work to learn and observe the behaviors of your partners and invest in customizing your approach to the needs of your partners, the results will ripple into the traditional management work you know like the back of your hand. Buddy up with a developing SSV to exchange knowledge. Let them teach you what has worked for the starbucks experience, and in return, show them how that correlates to the dimensions of management and how it impacts the metrics.

I am a firm believer that externals are not often given all the tools and training they deserve and need to start off successfully and I admire your efforts to show up for your team the way Starbucks Coffee Company leaders should ☺️

Don’t let shift managers get away with bullying baristas. I’m a shift manager at my store and we have some morning shifts that have been working for a few years now and they’re the reason we have a high turn over rate for mornings, they always have new people bc baristas leave or try and switch to evenings. Make sure shift managers are also keeping that third place. Also If there is a partner not doing their job call them out. It sucks when we have partners who don’t do anything and make things harder on the rest of the team and the SM just let’s it slide. It’s not fair when partners have to pick up other partners slack every single shift.
We’re under new management so it’s starting to get better but these are things that have been issues in the past.

You are essentially a green bean in terms of floor experience, so don’t be too sensitive or abrasive to take needed corrections or suggestions. You know management, but Starbucks does a lot of things different to other businesses, even other fast food places. Starbucks’ culture in general is kinda shit right now, so unless you’re getting a whole new staff your baristas will probably be a bit skeptical about you and how much corporate Kool-Aid you’re drinking. Don’t start off by being controlling and micromanaging your shift supervisors and baristas. They will only see you as an outsider if you do not trust their skills and judgement.


And don’t kiss the customers asses, especially if a barista who is just following policy has already kindly explained it to them. You can “make the moment right” without giving into every whim and undermining the staff you supposedly trust to run the store. And especially don’t let customers get away with abusing staff. File an incident report the first time something happens, and ban the shitty people who consistently bully and harass us as soon as possible.

the over all of ALL of the comments would be connect with us & LISTEN AND BACK US UP. no matter what. always. end of story.