Asia Connect
Volume 3, Issue 5 | July 2010
Starbucks Grows Its Own:
Developing Talent to Manage Rapid Growth in China
The challenge
Starbucks has big plans for China. Starbucks is clearly committed to China and plans significant
investments to achieve the market’s full potential. In a recent interview with The Wall Street
1
Journal , Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said that, “Over time there will be thousands of
stores in China.” That is quite a jump from the 376 stores currently in operation in the country.
Manning and managing those stores would be a challenge in any market, but high growth and the
shortage of people with managerial and retail experience compounds the challenge in China.
Hiring significant numbers of managers with prior experience running retail operations is not an
option. Starbucks’ strong and unique corporate culture means that it is better for the company and
for its employees if managers rise from within the ranks. Starbucks believes in investing in its
people to enable them to grow their capabilities and enhance their experience. They are looking for
a long-term partnership with their employees, which will provide the foundation for future growth.
Early in 2010, Starbucks China embarked on a new corporate-wide project aimed at identifying and
developing the talent necessary for their rapid business growth. Their objective was to develop
people in a holistic, well structured manner in order to ensure that they have a sustainable program
for future growth. They placed the initial focus of the project on retail operations since this is where
the talent needs are the greatest.
Focusing on District Managers
Starbucks decided to introduce new mechanisms to help them find talent with managerial potential
based on capabilities and behavior rather than simply performance.
Starbucks chose Aon Consulting to work with on this project. According to Angel, Starbucks’ China
HR Manager, “The key to selecting Aon was the project leader. I could see that he really keeps
himself updated about the market, the customers’ needs, and retail talent trends. Secondly, we
knew that Aon has worked for other retail companies on their talent development programs. I
believe Aon has accumulated a lot of experience in such development programs. Thirdly, I think that
the consultants and the project leader are very flexible. They really listen to us and they don’t tell us.
They try to understand Starbucks unique needs and what we are looking for. We worked well from
the very beginning. We have good chemistry and my team works very happily with Aon.”
What was done
The first step of the project was to nominate and select high potential candidates from within
Starbucks’ talent pool. In order to do so, they needed to first understand who and how many people
in this talent pool have the potential to be next-level managers. They wanted to assess individual
potential and identify any gaps in their development.
Starbucks asked Aon Consulting to help them in this assessment of the potential candidates. Aon
embarked on the project by first reviewing the Starbucks’ global leadership model and identifying
the key elements that should apply to the assessment. The consultants then asked Starbucks’
senior executives about the job challenges for managers. Based on the research and interviews,
they then mapped the necessary competencies, including cognitive abilities and desired behaviors.
1
Mariko Sanchanta, “Starbucks Plans Big Expansion in China – Chief Executive Says Coffee Giant Has
Turned Its Fortunes Around, Is Eager to Crack markets in India and Vietnam”, The Wall Street Journal, 14 April
2010
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The competencies subsequently became the basis for developing different scenarios and business
cases for the assessment program. Because the consultants were familiar with Starbucks unique
environment and culture, they were able to design two customized simulations based on the specific
challenges encountered who are promoted to new roles.
Once the competencies were identified and the assessment center materials prepared, the Aon
consultants then helped Starbucks project members conduct the assessment and facilitate the
assessment discussions. This included selecting qualified assessors for the project and then
training them in assessment and facilitation. The consultants even showed the Starbucks’
assessors how to prepare the individual reports for each individual who went through the
assessment process. After the assessment was complete, the consultants helped Starbucks with
the feedback and communication to each individual participant.
The results
Through the pilot project, Starbucks managers were able to gain a full understanding of the
assessment center process. They benefitted from the experience of Aon’s consultants, their own
HR staff as well as the operations people who were trained to assess behavior in a systematic and
professional manner.
According to Angel Yu, “The most vital thing was that we built up our assessment center framework.
The project really helped us to build a system that can enable us in the future to more accurately
assess high potential development opportunities. Secondly, it helped build Starbucks internal
expertise in assessing and facilitating talent development.”
Next steps
Starbucks recognizes that the whole development process is a long one. Angel Yu recognizes that
there is much more work to be done. She told us that, “It is not that we just assess and that's it. Now
we know each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. The next step is to customize individual
development action plans for these people. We need to help these people's managers and the
talents themselves to develop their capabilities through on-the-job learning and coaching. We need
to enable our business managers to assist with our people development. We need to reinforce a
people development culture and we need to give them the right tools to do this. That is our future
focus. In our whole talent program, this is only the first step.”
Starbucks Grows Its Own
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