Employee-Centric Breeds Customer-Centric

What impact do happy employees have on happy customers?  With tens of thousands of front-line employees, Starbucks is a great case study. They've built a winning employee-centric culture with their stock plans and health plans for part-time workers. Is there a better place to work 20 hours a week? 


Starbucks' focus on employees comes directly from the top. Howard Schultz drives transparency in the organization that creates one of the most notable brands in the world with superior customer loyalty.


I recently picked up Howard Schultz's book, Onward, a surprisingly detailed autobiographical account of his return to the CEO seat at Starbucks.  He is a strong leader that I admire because of his principles and passion.  It is an amazing feat of leadership to take a retailer into the "Great Recession" and come out stronger for having gone through it.  


Starbucks is relentless in its customer focus.  Providing an outstanding customer experiences places this business, and its profits, among the highest in its industry.  Schutlz's story is enlightening because it offers insights in particular to one source of a customer-centric business: employee focus.

"The only reason our partners can make our customers feel good is because of how our partners feel about the company. Proud. Inspired appreciated cared for. Respected. Connected." 

- Howard Schultz, Onward

For Starbucks, as with most organizations, this spirit of employees comes straight from the top. As exhibited even by the book itself, Schultz goes to great lengths to create transparency widely and broadly in the company.  Transparency used correctly will engage employees.  It will engage customers as well.


Successful transparency is not just in sharing the reasoning behind re-orgs or in sharing performance feedback or  financial results.  Customer and employee engagement for a company comes from transparency in leadership.  What do the leaders believe to be true?  Where do their personal convictions lay?  


For Schultz, he communicates effectively based on his beliefs about what the Starbucks experience should be and who he is personally.  It is this guiding light that serves to set priorities in the company.  Employees undoubtedly harness this, and with free-will they build the kind of  service experience that continually delights customers.