Discussions for The Bean Shop

Discussion #3

The Bean Shop is a small-sized, artisan coffee shop with big plans for expansion. There are currently two locations, each with their own manager. Heramb Patel is Manager with 10 years retail experience and he is very well liked by all the employees. They were grateful when Heramb spoke to the owner, Susan, about a health plan and they enjoyed the social activities The Bean Shop provided for the whole team. He knew most of the employees by name and he spent much of every day visiting with staff and asking them how they are doing,

Heramb felt it was important to treat employees well so they would have a sense of loyalty to the small, yet growing, coffee shop. He always tried to avoid seasonal layoffs, knowing the small business couldn't afford to lose great baristas. The employees knew if they had a problem, Heramb was always there to help them. For example, when one employee had a scheduling problem with final school exams, Hermab quickly amended the schedule. Hermab really felt that if you tried to accommodate and help everyone, they wouldn't need close supervision or reminders to get the work done. He applied the same logic to the shift leads; he left them alone to run the shop floor. He did not set objectives or sales targets and he never asked the team to make performance improvement plans. If everyone was happy, he was happy, and the business was just fine.

Heramb's locations had the lowest staff turnover of the two locations, but overall gross reveneus were lower. When Susan had to make a call to streamline staff and amalgamate her managers, Hermab was let go and Cassandra Jones was asked to manage both locations.

Cassandra had the reputation who could get things done and drive sales, and she quickly began making changes. Al staff activities were cut form the operations budget, and discussions were ceased about health programs and other benefits. If the salary wasn't good enough for the staff members, then they could find a new place of employment.

Cassandra implemented daily and weekly sales targets for each location and posted "competition boards" to see which location could win. She also implemented a check-in timecard system. Each employee had to check in and out every time they took a break or left shift. Cassandra felt she needed to monitor every minute of their shift. If employees asked questions or had concerns about the schedule, she quickly dismissed conversations. She also wanted the Shift Leads to write up weekly status reports on every employee. The Leads started to feel buried in paperwork, when they really wanted to inspire and motivate the staff when they were at work. Cassandra didn't hesitate to let people go and hire new people. Staff turnover skyrocketed under the new structure.

Susan wanted to expand locations and had plans for at least two more locations. However, she quickly realized that her employment costs were higher than they ever were. Staff who had worked with Heramb struggled with Cassandra's new leadership style and left in search of new work environments. Susan was nervous about her expansion plans now...The Bean Shop had become unpleasant place to work.

Discussion #2

A third Bean Shop location would expand the staff team by at least 12 team members. Susan is concerned about Cassandra's ability to lead a larger team. Looking at Lencioni's model of effective teams and your LinkedIn Learning course on "Leading Through Relationships", how can Cassandra effectively lead her expanding team? What can Susan do to ensure Cassandra's success? Be sure to build on your thoughts from the previous discussion. Bringing back Heramb is not an option - he has accepted another role! Susan also realizes that she needs to keep costs in line as she expands.