A nice metaphor

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

How about a metaphor? That's why you come here right? For the truth about the partner experience for some folks at Starbucks... For the Inside Scoop™ written in an interesting way...

If you're in the SSC for any length of time, you'll see various coffee plants struggling to live on partners' desks. Their little leaves all off-green and curled with brown edges... grow lights plugged in to enhance the poor substitute for lighting... little fountains nearby to add some humidity to the dry, office air environment.

You'll notice that very few make it past a certain size... some you'll even find in a garbage can... one leaf still attached... not unlike the Christmas™ tree from Charlie Brown.

Where do these trees come from?

I'll tell you... I received my tree from the kick-off of an initiative called HR Reinvention™... which resulted in a thing called Partner Resources™... I think it was a nice metaphor for:

• A new beginning
• We all help with the growth
• Take care of HR and it will bear fruit

It was nicely tee'd up with a contest to see who could grow theirs the biggest. We would revisit it after one year... A couple years passed and there was no mention of the coffee plant contest. Many plants perished... some survived with much effort... some folks even went out and bought new plants to replace the original plants. A few folks were diligent and appointed other folks to water their plants while they were out of town...

I watched mine struggle for months on my desk... I began to revisit the metaphor...

• Taking something from where it grew up
• Putting it in a harsh environment
• watching it slowly wither... and eventually die

So, what did I do with the plant? I took it out of the SSC and brought it home the month my first son was born. I made a special shelf in his room for it... near the window. It got some plant food... water... I dusted and cleaned its leaves... I talked to it... asked it what it needed.

It's 3 feet tall now and I'm happy to report it had a few blossoms this past year. Several new shoots have come up and sprouted leaves. It's THRIVING™...

A nice metaphor...

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual...

Pat Nerr...