Leading in the Moments
For the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about my friend Jocelyn's post about the way in which mobile ordering has impacted the employee experience for Starbucks employees.
Since this post, I've also been taking special note of an employee named Andre, who works in an airport Starbucks at Gate C. This Starbucks is always slammed —with both a line of people waiting to order, and an even longer line of people waiting to pick up their drinks.
Even though it is often 5 in the morning, and even though he is dealing with a steady stream of people all day long (some of whom are not the friendliest before having their coffee), he always has a smile on his face, and he always makes time to ask:
How are you doing today?
Where are you heading to?
Are you traveling for work or fun?
He embodies the idea of leading in the moments–and also the concept we talked about last week, which was Leadership Behind the Scenes. His friendly smile and genuine curiosity are tiny parts of thousands of people's days, as they head out to various corners of the world.
Today, we might consider: how can we bring a bit of Andre Energy into our meetings, our conversations, and our everyday interactions?
Reflections
What is one small example of “Andre Energy” that I've observed recently?
What is one way that I could bring some “Andre Energy” into my day, or my weekend?
What could it look like to meet other metaphorically uncaffeinated and grumpy patrons with compassion?
