Trainin' and Measurin'

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

Some of you know that I have some knowledge of training at Starbucks. I'd like to talk a little bit about that...

It doesn't matter if you're a training person, you'll get this. Whenever you train someone or spend money teaching some knowledge and skill, at some point you'll want to know what your dollars have gotten you. There's a number of ways to do this. You can use payroll info looking at your "training" line... you can set up some measuring sticks (like Snapshot or Sales dollars) OR you can buy one of those fancy learning management systems to tie in with your HR systems and host an online university.

We hired a new leader and one of their goals was to deliver to the organization a way to track training and development for the company (really just the SSC). Well, during 5 of the 7 years I was at the SSC we looked at different learning management systems. RFPs were sent out... vendors were brought in... prices were quoted... but nothing was decided upon. Still more RFPs... IT involvement... more prices... still, no decision...

One day they brought in another layer of leadership to tackle this... and he had some experience with delivering a learning management system to a large organization. Again, more effort was spent on sourcing a vendor, identifying career paths, making one helluva nice user interface for the University. But still... no learning management system... eventually, that layer of leadership decided to "explore other opportunities"...

Upon his departure, I e-mailed to wish him luck and convey that I thought if anyone could have delivered this thing it would have been while he was there. His reply... "Oh, we're starting over with the RFP process and they'll deliver it at the beginning of Q1"

Fair enough...

You may or may not be seeing the issue here... so I'll tell you. It's not about a learning management system... it's not about RFPs... it's not even about technical issues or project management... I understand that these things cost money and you don't want to make a multi-million dollar mistake... so it's not about that either.

It's about leadership... The question becomes:

How the hell is an SVP able to keep collecting bonuses for goals that they keep missing? How are they able to pull a thin strand of wool over the eyes of a multi-billion dollar company year after year?

So... not to just spew the issue and not have a solution, here goes... (and there will be at least one smile or giggle at the SSC today when this is read)

Call Trivantis, ask for Bob... he has a 15K software solution to get you by. Hire an administrator for reporting purposes and an IT resource for customizing the thing and handling technical issues... Have IT appoint a common server for you. Trust me... knowing what I know about Starbucks systems... that 15K solution will be in place for the next decade... but at least it will be in place.

A wise man once said to me... "when nothing exists, whatever you create will be a winner".

There... I said it... and Jimbo and Uncle Howie will read it... and maybe start asking some questions of the good doctor. Like leadership... poison trickles from the top down...

We'll see you tomorrow for something unusual...

Pat Nerr...

and yes, I know the font for Starbucks U is supposed to be Clarendon...