District Manager Flanders

Good morning... What can I get for you?

Today is one of those "Partner" days... and I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about a fella I worked for that my partners called "Flanders". Now you may or may not be well-versed in the Simpsons, but Flanders is a goody two-shoes. A Christian Fundamentalist white guy.

That should paint a picture as to the personality of "Flanders". It always made me wonder... how it might be for a Christian Fundamentalist to operate at Starbucks being that we had a wide range of lifestyles at Starbucks and many that don't jive with that belief system. But anyway... let's get back to my most memorable experience with Flanders.

Flanders had to do my Performance Review this one particular time and I had been in the role of SM for quite a while (7 years roughly). I had stacked all of my accomplishments up in a row.

• Exceeded sales budget by 9%
• Labor was under .2%
• Variance to Ideal was -9%... but that was because we had a kiosk as well.
• All reviews up to snuff and potential shifts and promotes identified and all on active development plans
• District hiring lead (that meant sourcing candidates and holding weekly job-fairs)
• Hired 3 Shifts, trained them and sent them out to other stores where they were thriving
• Merch plans implemented as per the pictures
• Inventories in line
• Pastry markouts in line
• Community outreach in full effect through weekend events

So here was Flander's excuse as to why I deserved an "Effective". And I'll type it verbatim as I'm looking at the copy of it now.

"Pat has been in the role for several years and makes the job of SM look easy. At his level of experience he should be taking more on to achieve an Outstanding rating for next year..."

WTF? Ess-cuse me?? Needless to say, I didn't agree and asked him to reconsider before submitting it. I made the point that a performance bar is a performance bar regardless of the effort needed to attain it... and that for NEXT year we should look at goal setting to another level if needed... and that I shouldn't be punished for meeting and exceeding my goals using his perception of minimal effort. He disagreed.

I felt a little less respect for Flanders after that day. That's when I started applying for SSC jobs. Jerk.

So here's a lesson for you Starbucks. You set a bar as the minimum performance level... and call that "Effective"... that way you give folks the opportunity to achieve an "Outstanding"... Effective is just that... meeting the minimum level of performance. Write it down... You've had people pissed about this process for years.

So, Flanders moved on... as was his goal in the first place... mover and shaker... to move up the Great Starbucks Pyramid. I saw him last year during some interviews for leadership roles. I'm pretty sure he didn't meet the minimum level of performance... cuz he didn't get the job.

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual... Restock the Equal at the freebar would ya? We're out.

Pat Nerr...