Service Lessons from Starbucks

seems like i'm in the business of re-posting other pp's blogs of late.. but hey, they're really good! these are the blogs that shape and continue to shape my mindset of leading, serving and loving.

Another good one that i stumbled on today was by Ps Steve Murrell on Leadership and the Barista (See Below)

"Serve the people or keep the rules? That's the question of real leadership."

This also reminded me of our latest Singapore Movie: Just Follow Law featuring Fann Wong and Adrian Pang... of just how Singaporeans are so used to a culture of strict adherence to rules and policies ("policy say one, boss last time say one, teacher say one, so, cannot change"), that sometimes bending the rules where the rationale behind it is no longer relevant, has become beyond our thinking box.

Getting to the heart of matter is what counts and that's what Jesus came to demonstrate, that He's come not to break the law but to uphold the spirit behind the setting up the law in the first place. It is afterall law that gives freedom, not boredom and restrictions! Rules and guidelines are there to empower us to make right decisions that guard our lives and others, not to confine us to having to make that ONE choice regardless of circumstances. (those who watched Just Follow Law.. think fire engine in parking lot scenario)

I speak also to myself.. such is my love for rules and guidelines, i confess!! my mum used to tell me when i was younger that i had mind that was so "straight".. only ONE way to do something... haha! and sometimes i forget what the rules were there for.. or rather..what I am here for! It is to serve people, and to think out of the box, so i can serve them.. GOD help me with creativity and flexibility to find ways to serve pp around!

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Leadership is Serving: Lessons from the Barista - Steve Murrell

I got to the meeting 30 minutes early because a strange thing happened on the way to the Victory Centre on the 4th floor of the Galleria Mall: no traffic on EDSA. Last time there was no traffic on EDSA was a few years before the automobile was introduced to Manila.

It was our Tuesday morning staff meeting, and I had 30 minutes to kill. So, I walk down the hall toward the movie theaters - past the pet store, past KFC - to Starbucks.

Half the lights are on, and the sign on the door says, "Closed".

I stick my head in the door and speak to the girl in the green apron who is busy doing something behind the counter.  "Excuse me, are you open?" She obviously wasn't, but I asked anyway

Bright toothy smile. "Sorry sir, we don't open 'til 9:00, but come in anyway. What can I get for you?"

Five minutes later I was walking back past KFC, past the stinky pet store, to the Victory Center, sipping a steamy hot short non-fat hazelnut latte - from a green & white paper cup with my name scribbled on it.

I told the staff that I just encountered a real leader, at Starbucks. That Barista could have ignored me and kept the rules. She could have told me to read the sign and wait 'til 9:00. But instead, she bent the rules, to serve a customer.

Real leadership, whether in the coffee shop, or in the church, is finding a way to serve people. And, sometimes you have to bend a few rules in order to serve.

During the staff meeting we talked about our church ushers, who are supposed to serve people and maintain order. But what if serving people and maintaining order clash? Which is top priority, people or order?

Perhaps the best way to figure that out is to look at the greatest leader of all time: Jesus. He seemed to always make serving people top priority (second only to honoring God).

When He healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused him of bending their religious rules, but to Jesus the people were more important than the rules. In fact, He said the rule (the Sabbath) was made for the people, not the people for the rule. When He ministered to the woman at the well, his own disciples were scandalized, but Jesus crossed the culture and served the woman. When He refused to throw a stone at the woman caught in adultery, he sent a message that shook the legalistic religious system.

Jesus came to serve people, not to uphold a religious system.

The Galleria Starbucks girl was obviously trained to serve the customer, even if her store was not officially opened. She was trained and empowered to bend the rules, to serve coffee even while she was off-duty.

Serve the people or keep the rules? That's the question of real leadership.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mk 10:45)