Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Spilling the Beans on Howard Schultz’s Leadership Style Approach: Relational Behavior

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As a college student working into the wee hours of the night has become a common theme for me and for many other students who decide to put themselves through the torture of hardcore studying. We, college students, have found many ways to keep ourselves awake, from toothpicks in our eyes (okay, that is a bit exaggerated!) to energy drinks or even brewing and drinking tubs of ground coffee. There is never a short supply of ideas or methods that have been used to keep us hammering away through the night. One beverage that has helped keep me wired during the night has been a sugar-packed and greatly caffeinated drink from Starbucks called the white chocolate mocha. This particular drink already comes with 2 shots of espresso, but its full effect (in my case) cannot be felt unless that third extra shot of espresso is added to the drink. That is right; my $5 coffee needs to come with that extra kick! Unfortunately, that extra kick is full of regret when it wears off and when I can no longer greet Abraham Lincoln as I open my wallet.

White Chocolate Mocha in Starbucks. Image Credit: Ericka – flickr

So, I find myself wondering why I and many others remain entrapped in this relationship with Starbucks? That is, why do I always keep coming back for more? I believe that it could because of the welcoming environment and positive interactions I experience each time I step into a Starbucks shop. Much credit for this environment existing in these coffee shops can be given to the type of transformational leadership that Howard Schultz modeled during his tenure as Starbucks’ CEO from 1986 to 2000 and 2008 to 2017.

Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz Talks to the Media. Image Credit: Richard Eriksson – flickr

Early on, Schultz understood the importance of recognizing his followers as “partners” (Loudenback, 2015). This understanding helped Schultz skillfully develop relationships with his followers and strengthen the engagement processes between his role as a leader and his “partners'” role as followers (Northouse, 2019). Furthermore, he believed that empowering his followers (i.e., partners) helped foster an environment where they were free to share ideas and concerns without chastisement from leadership. This display of leadership behavior is indicative of the relationship behavior Schultz chose to exhibit through his leadership style approach as Starbucks’ CEO (Northouse, 2019).

The leadership approach called “Style Approach” (or “Behavioral Approach”) comprises two types of behaviors known as “task approach” and “relationship behaviors” (Northouse, 2019). Although both behaviors are important when examining the Style Approach, Schultz has placed much of his leadership focus on this particular approach’s relationship behavior.    

The relationship behavior that drives Schultz’s leadership style approach is attributed to a personal life experience that impacted him at a young age. Schultz’s father was injured when Schultz was a kid. As a result, Schultz’s father lost his job, financially impacting Schutz’s family (Biel, 2018). The hardships that followed from this event compelled Schultz to remain cognizant of Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid® factor of “concern for people” and motivated him to put his followers’ needs first (Northouse, 2019). As Soni (2020) noted, “Schultz maintained the pecking order: partners, customers, and shareholders” (para. 3). Schultz’s hierarchy of importance, although quite unorthodox (in that customer always comes first), emphasized the significant value that Schultz placed on his followers (Northouse, 2019).

Supporting his followers’ ambitions and desires was a primary priority of Schultz’s, which is another component that fulfills the “concern for people” factor (Northouse, 2019). He advocated for and established several financial assistance programs (e.g., college pay, health insurance, stock purchase programs) for all his partners or employees (Biel, 2018). He supported the hiring of veterans and refugees, and he participated in open forums held for Starbucks employees that allowed them to share their views on race relations and further discuss this particular topic with Schultz (Weisul, 2015). Again, this active engagement with his employees that Shultz adopted was an example of his effort to promote effective social interactions through the relationship behavior he demonstrated in his leadership (Northouse, 2019).

Another relationship behavior that Shultz did not shy away from was his complete honesty and candor with problems faced by Starbucks (Northouse, 2019). During the Great Recession of 2008, Starbucks took a major hit on its sales, and Schultz responded with changes that impacted many stores and employees. He was advised against being transparent about the company’s health and sharing details about store closures, as this would most likely harm employee morale for those still employed (Valet, 2019). Despite the pushback he received from his management teams, he remained faithful to his obligations as a 9,9 leader (focused on team relationships) and recognized that he had an obligation to disclose the obstacles faced by the company, provide direction for the company’s future, and preserve his employees’ trust that the decisions made by leadership in response to the circumstances would benefit the entire organization (Northouse, 2019).

“How could I ask something of them if they didn’t have the total picture, the total understanding of what the situation was and how dire it was? I knew instinctively that I needed to share with them 100% of the truth.” – Howard Schultz, Howard Schultz Teaches You How To Be A Leader In A Crisis

Howard Schultz’s leadership behavior has continued to make news even after stepping down as Starbucks’ CEO. In 2020, Schultz and other chefs and foundations took action by providing some funds to families in the restaurant business facing financial distress from COVID-19 (Guarente, 2020). Even though much of the relationship behavior components examined by researchers cover the interactions that occur within an organization (Northouse, 2019), Schultz has proven that these same behaviors surpass the workplace’s boundaries. Part of meeting Blake and Mouton’s “concern for people” requires special attention to individuals’ needs (Northouse, 2019). Schultz’s initiative to provide monetary support for other restaurant workers in his community showed his effort to alleviate the stresses that came with the situation everyone was experiencing (Northouse, 2019).

Since 1986, Schultz has exemplified great leadership with his leadership style approach, specifically with his relationship behavior. He has treated his employees with respect, listened to their concerns, and tried to respond to their needs. This is not to say that he has always achieved meeting his partners’ or employees’ expectations. However, he has always tried to empathize with their situations and foster an environment where employees can feel acknowledged (Valet, 2019). There may be other elements or leadership approaches that have contributed to his success as a leader. However, his relationship behavior has shown to be monumental when further examining his leadership style.

References:

Biel, J. (2018). 2 Leadership Traits Howard Schultz Used To Grow His Brand. In Grow Wire. Retrieved from https://www.growwire.com/howard-schultz-leadership-style

Ericka. (2013). White Chocolate Mocha in Starbucks [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/dlovesfuni2/8849437477/in/photolist-etZFse-PuXPC4-fPLEEy-7JWLsK-dpm7NW-9Afcjt-57krwG-zSQUc-4me7mo-Am3oih-nYosFr-6yTCxK-6PLtGp-63uGMg-97D5n4-aENZvk-9wkcEo-aTa5SF-21xqpDk-5KXo9G-9gMcsN-zPjRPt-farBgx-daxan4-7eDdoJ-aEjFZG-63TodK-farBrv-5BtSNa-ejPSt-iG99pZ-ejPHj-bUeSoG-dc7rmx-iaa1Z3-884mUK-4EcQo1-ak9BMX-8cteUM-7wCwk4-5N4T1u-pESKg4-azMZxn-btqzUK-riDxsp-wcS3X-aTa6hv-5FG2c3-8UXXXp-8c44Zv

Eriksson, R. (2007). Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz Talks to the Media [Photograph]. In flickr. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sillygwailo/407257955/in/photolist-BZiAT-23U3mNR-2evsR9i-2d7Ge7R-23U3CZD-QKb3dn-rMApQo-2eqRsPy-SnmeKN-SnmGVQ-2d7G7qe-SnkAVL-2dpr1P1-C1hYz-2evsTrV-2eqRpXw-9GmHb6-2d7GoMn-2evt6Kx-2evtadz-2dprhh5-23U3G8x-2evtcNK-23U3H2r-2dprrgs-2eqREku-2dprnYf-QKbhp8-23U3QGr-Snm9gm-2eqRYsG-23U3Zd4-23U3XFg-2eqRZuS-SnmfBC-2d7GWqT-SnmFSh-2d7GX4g-2eqS9iy-2d7GXDz-QKbNDg-2eqS5Mf-2dpsaFC-2dprZLh-QKbFF8-23U4nak-2dpsbxY-2d7H7UP-2d7H5Pr-2dprXAW

Guarente, G. (2020). Howard Schultz and Seattle Nonprofits Launch Fund to Give Immediate Cash to Laid Off Restaurant Workers. In Eater Seattle. Retrieved from https://seattle.eater.com/2020/4/6/21209333/the-plate-fund-500-dollars-cash-to-restaurant-workers-seattle-king-county

Loudenback, T. (2015). The incredible rags-to-riches story of Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz. In Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/howard-schultz-profile-2015-10

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Soni, P. (2020). Entrepreneurial Lessons From Howard Schultz and Starbucks: How To Tide Over Recession With Reinvigoration. In Entrepreneur India. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/351856

Valet, V. (2019). Howard Schultz Teaches You How To Be A Leader In A Crisis. In Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2019/01/24/howard-schultz-teaches-you-how-to-be-a-leader-in-a-crisis/?sh=7826ae033da7

Weisul, K. (2015). Starbucks’s Howard Schultz Goes Where CEOs Fear to Tread: Race Relations. In Inc. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-race-relations.html

choices when hiring

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In 2012 I was brought upon my first and hardest decisions as a leader and in 2020 the second. My name is Kimberly, I come from a sports background and own a flourishing Pilates and rehab studio. My studio is a business that counts 4 colleagues. My first colleague whom I will call Ann for reference, has been with me 7 years. She was the first to come into what was a one man show. I hired her because I was overloaded with work and had a very long waiting list that needed some help. How did I direct my choice? This was difficult, as finding co-workers in my job is not so easy. I really needed to give continuity to clients when I was not there for any reason. So, I was on the search, I interviewed many people with different levels of training and competence. Was I looking for someone with high competence that was ready to go, or someone with low competence that I could train?

My final choice came to Ann. I recognize myself as a leader who has high flexibility in different situations and could help my followers by either supporting them or directing them. I was not surprised that one of the more widely recognized approaches to leadership is the situational approach. (Northouse, 2016, pg.93) The theory is based on a leader that is capable to adjust his/her style to different situations. (Northouse, 2016) I knew I could adjust my leadership style because one of my first job experiences were a ski coach to a under 13 team. Those years I learned that if I wanted to be effective, I would have had to implement different approaches and styles to each child in order to get the best result out of them.

I surely knew that by hiring a person that had low competence I could train them in the missing areas. Northouse defines someone that has low competence and high commitment as a D1 (pg.96) This was a choice I had to face, this would make the process longer and require more energy from me as I would have to spend time to train them. A D1 though has high commitment so this implies that they would be loyal to the purpose. The reason I was looking for a co-worker/ follower in the first place, was to give continuity to clients. In order to give them our full attention in the hour they came and to fulfill our duties as trainers we need to be highly committed to a purpose day after day, commitment was indispensable. As I interviewed others, I saw that if I chose a D3 for example that had high to moderate competence and variable commitment, (Northouse, 2016, pg.95) I would have had someone ready to teach. This though may have been a downfall in the long run as a D3 is variable in commitment and with time we may have lost the true essence of the studio’s work, that of honoring each hour of our clients’ time.

With time, looking back at my choice in 2012, eight years have passed. I have hired 3 other people and applied the same thought for each one. I analyzed who I was interviewing and knew that if someone rare in Europe would present themselves with high competence in my field it would make life much easier. The most important thing would be that I would have to be forced to evaluate what level of commitment the individual possessed. Their determination would have to change as the job has days filled with complex challenging tasks and days that involve repetitive unchallenging clients. The second would need much determination, commitment and less competence. So, my supportive leadership at times would not be needed. Other times my support would be key, as the tasks at hand need leadership support to maintain follower’s motivation. (Northouse, 2016, pg.120)

My time and patience was also taken in consideration with each person. I knew that if I hired a D3 for example that shows moderate to high competence an commitment, (Northouse, 2016) I would be faced with the uncertainty of them being at work everyday to make a real difference for someone. D3’s commitment isn’t always at the top. Ann had very high commitment from the begging and quit her job unknowing exactly what was waiting for her behind those doors. We have been working together for 8 years, so I guess my choice was not to bad! This year though after opening a new beautiful space Ann’s commitment dropped. Ann suddenly showed less interest in what she has been doing for 8 years and on what she has pledged on being a life changing journey. I was used to direct Ann the first 6 years and it was just recently that I stopped as she was demonstrating the need to excel. Therefore, in the path-goal theory I was more focused on the achievement. Ann’s clients were happy with her following them and not asking for me. I forgot though that Ann is someone that is always stressed about why life treats her so bad or so good. She demonstrates external locus of control. External locus of control is characterized by someone believing that outside forces determine life events (Northouse, 2016, pg., 119) Just like her. Path-goal theory suggests that directive leadership is best because it parallels followers’ feelings that outside forces control their circumstances. (Northouse, 2016, pg.119)

Blanchard et. Al. (1993) states that followers usually start out motivated and eager to learn, then become discouraged and disillusioned. Why did Ann then learn the business and suddenly become less committed? Was it because she needed more direction being someone that believes in external forces? Situational Leadership has no research findings to conceptualize follower’s commitment, therefore it remains unclear. (Northouse, 2016, pg.101) I know though that on my side the more she became competent and had high expectations in who she was following as a client the less I supported her. I thought she needed goals and more challenges so I gave her harder cases. I shifted from a S2 directing leadership style where I was High in direction and High in support to delegating S4 style, the exact opposite. (Northouse, 2016) I did not take under consideration that a new space and the extra clientele would change the dynamics. I supposed she could perform as she had shown in the past few years. I did not take under consideration that followers will be motivated if they think they are capable of performing their work. (Northouse, 2016,pg.116) My expectations along with the clients who were expecting even more made Ann doubt her performance. I thought my leadership was highly flexible but I found myself not applying my support in that particular situation. Instead I expected her to work harder in our new location since it was beautiful, and we were overflowing with costumers. I believe my greatest skill is that of begin a highly motivated person and this is what generally makes me a good leader. This skill was lessened by the great stress a big move like the one I made had one me.

A leader must be willing to tackle complex organizational problems. (Northouse, 2016) Organizational issues came up, I should have known our big move would have created obstacles. It turns out that with the lessened commitment of Ann I saw the problem that was inexistent in our old studio where she was thriving. My followers were afraid of not meeting the level of expectations, expectations that I put on them as well as clients. I put my best effort to understand and eliminated obstacles such as the path-goal theory suggested making Ann excel. Ann’s well-being was essential to our social good and the progress of our company. I depend on my followers performance. Therefore, this time better than all others I can say Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. (Northouse, 2016, pg.6) In order to influence one must always modulated their leadership style to the situation as in this case.

 

 

References

 

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

 

The Tale of Two Assistants, a Style and Situational Experience

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This is a true story but the names have been changed to protect, well… Harriet.

Harper is a very successful mortgage lender. He has been in the banking industry for over a decade and enjoys his field. After a few hard years starting up as a mortgage lender, he now has more than enough volume to need an assistant. His first assistant, Sarah, was great, but sadly she chose to quit after having a child. His second assistant, Harriet, was not as successful.

His first assistant, Sarah, was a go-getter. She was excited to be working for Harper. She brought a great enthusiasm to the roll and although she was new to the mortgage world, she was ready to learn and make some great commissions. She was the quintessential developmental level four (D4), as she was willing and able to take on this new job (PSU WC, 2018 L. 5). She breezed through training and had no problem bringing innovation to Harper so he could focus on making more deals, attending closings, and actually enjoying nights and weekends without being glued to his laptop. He delegated tasks to Sarah and she had no problem completing the tasks and finding new things to do to help Harper achieve his lending goals, such as posting their VA lending details on military relocation groups on Facebook and ordering exciting closing gifts for his clients. Harper did not get involved with Sarah’s goal achievement and did not get heavily involved with her personal life. He enjoyed his delegating behavior and her D4 follower status (PSU WC, 2018 L. 5).  It seemed to be a great balance and Harper was very sad to hear that she wasn’t coming back after the birth of her daughter. His style was middle-of-the-road management, which is a balance of tasks and relationships. He preferred to avoid conflicts between Sarah and the other assistants, and while he knew that she was possibly going through a divorce and difficult pregnancy, he was not comfortable bringing that dynamic into their office relationship. He preferred to exchange pleasantries and discussions on the weather, than hear about drama occurring in her life. These middle-of-the-road managers want moderate levels of production and interpersonal relationships, which was a great situation for Sarah and Harper because he is so results driven. (PSU WC, 2018 L. 5)

Photo credit: One Virtual Global Business Solutions

After Sarah left, Harper had a difficult time finding a new assistant that was as detailed oriented as Sarah. Upon recommendation from his former assistant who is now a local bank branch manager, he hired Harriet. Harriet received more detailed training than Sarah not only from Harper but also the loan processing staff and underwriters upon Harper’s request. He was trying to get another Sarah working for him. Sadly, Harriet was not up to the task of being another Sarah, and in fact was not a good fit as his assistant at all. She was D2 follower status, where she was unable to complete the tasks, she unwilling to learn despite multiple training opportunities, and definitely was not confident in completing tasks (PSU WC, 2018 L. 5). He started with middle-of-the-road management with Harriet but over time he moved more towards impoverished management. He had invested so much time and training into Harriet without seeing any results. Harper even sat Harriet down to ask if he enjoyed working for him, what he could do to help her grasp what was needed for the position, and that she had two weeks to decide if this is the right position for her or not. After that conversation and she did not improve, he wasn’t concerned with the tasks that he assigned her or and there was no interpersonal relationship, including small talk in phone calls and office visits. As the impoverished manager, he became very laissez-faire about her entire employment, and became non-committal whenever she asked about future files. He became very resigned and apathetic whenever she would text him with file updates because he knew that the work was done incorrectly and he was going to have to redo a majority of every file she touched (PSU WC, 2018 L. 5). Sadly, coaching Harriet with a high-directive and high-supportive style needed for a D2 employee (PSU WC, 2018 L. 5) was not conducive for what Harper needed in an assistant or what he could supply as a manager due to the nature of his business. He even commented that he wasn’t sure what she did throughout the day when he wasn’t there to give her written instruction on how to do something he had trained her on during her first week of employment.

Sadly, the leader and follower dynamic did not work out between Harriet and Harper. Due to the restrictions on Harper’s time, he had a specific style of leadership behavior that was necessary for him to excel at his position and while Harriet did not do well under this style of leadership, Sarah flourished. Harper had to fire Harriet on Friday but thankfully, Sarah has decided that she missed working with Harper and has decided to come back as his assistant in two weeks. It’s unclear who is happier about Sarah’s return: Sarah, Harper, or Harper’s girlfriend who had to listen to the whole drama unfold.

Resources:

Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2018). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Style and situational approaches. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942231/modules/items/25010808

 

Situational Theory and Coaching

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I recently recall hearing an author give advice to aspiring writers who weren’t sure which direction to go with their writing. She related that often times, the first book someone decides to write tends to be about something they are well versed in and comfortable writing about.  In her case, it happened to be bed bugs.  In other instances, maybe it could be the brain, knitting, or even architecture that the writer is most comfortable with.  I’m still not entirely comfortable with the blog concept, and I don’t yet claim to be enough of an expert in leadership theories that I can apply them masterfully in various intriguing ways.  So I’m going to take this particular author’s advice, and stick to what I know.  I know sports, particularly baseball.  Luckily, I believe the coaching aspect of baseball tends to go hand-in-hand with the idea of leadership, and I’d like to examine that a little further in this blog post.

I would argue that the leadership theory best suited for coaching baseball players is the situational approach.  As we’ve learned, leaders use directive and supportive behaviors, and they should adjust their behavior depending on the followers and the situation (PSU WC, L. 5).  A baseball team typically consists of a 25 man active roster.  On this roster, a coach could have to manage a 10 year veteran with all the confidence and skills in the world, or a naturally gifted 21 year old rookie who is unsure whether or not he belongs, and everything in between.  Clearly, an appropriate ad effective use of the situational approach to leadership can be potentially vital to successfully managing a team.  I’d like to run through a couple examples of typical players, and according to the situational approach, the best way to lead these players.

Before I get into that however, I’d like to call attention to one of the leadership styles associated with the situational approach, coaching.  The name might mistakenly suggest that this would be the style used in all coaching situations.  While it may be true that the coaching style might work with some players, you will shortly be aware that it most certainly does not generalize across the board to all the players a coach will be leading.

Consider a highly touted player entering his first year at the major league level.  Often times these players enter the big leagues with high levels of confidence and the willingness to take on their new challenge.  These players often have high levels of confidence because they’ve only experienced success to this point.  They typically dominate at the minor league levels, which in turn fills them with confidence upon arrival to the major leagues.  However, the reality is that most highly regarded young players do not have the refined skill set and ability to succeed immediately upon their arrival.  These players often fall into Development Level One, which is characterized by being unable, but confident and willing to perform the new task (PSU WC, L.5).  In this first example we see a scenario where a coaching style already isn’t the best fit.  It’s more important for the coach (leader) to use the high directive-low supportive directing style.

It’s also worth illustrating in a baseball context how players (followers) can move back and forth along the developmental continuum.  It is very common for players who have proven to be capable, particularly pitchers, to go through a rough patch (sometimes completely attributed to bad luck).  These stretches are known to turn capable and confident players into players who are able but lack confidence.  A coach must be able to recognize this and adjust his leadership style to meet the new developmental level of the player.  A player fitting the description I just gave, might go from Developmental Level 4, where he was both able and confident, to Developmental Level 3, where he is able but lacking confidence (PSU WC, L.5).  The coach should account for this by using a supporting style, or high supportive-low directive.

I don’t know that the situational approach perfectly applies to coaching, but it’s definitely interesting to at least examine it in that context.  For example, there are situations where this approach might suggest a leader display low supportive behaviors toward a young rookie, when I would argue all young players, regardless of their confidence level, could benefit from some level of support.  However, as a fan of the game it was at least satisfying for me to take a deeper look into the coaching aspect using the situational approach.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2015).  PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Situational Approach.  Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa15/psych485/001/content/05_lesson/04_topic/01_page.html

Do you work for a Toxic Leader?

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Toxic 2It’s safe to assume that at one point or another, each of us has had the misfortune of experiencing toxic leadership.  Wikipeida defines toxic leadership as “is a person who has responsibility over a group of people or an organization, and who abuses the leader–follower relationship by leaving the group or organization in a worse-off condition than when s/he first found them.”  In other words, they’re a bad boss.  Some example behaviors exhibited by a toxic leader could be:

  • Oppositional behavior.
  • Plays corporate power politics.
  • An over competitive attitude to other employees.
  • Perfectionistic attitudes.
  • Abuse of the disciplinary system (such as to remove a workplace rival).
  • A condescending/glib attitude.
  • They are shallow and lack self-confidence. Toxic leaders are not confident with themselves and become aggressive to cope.
  • Poor self-control and/or restraint.
  • Physical and/or psychological bullying.
  • Procedural inflexibility.
  • Discriminatory attitudes (sexism, etc.).
  • Causes workplace division instead of harmony.
  • Use “divide and rule” tactics on their employees.
  • Arrogant
  • Irritable

At a minimum they can be difficult to work for and in some circumstances they can be downright miserable to the point of warranting legal action.  In most cases It can lead to undesired attrition of good people while the bad apples remain in place and continue spoiling the bunch.

toxic 1

So Why is it so tricky to identify toxic leaders?

Today’s fast paced challenges call for super-performance. As a result, people tend to focus on the results and deliverables, and not pay enough attention to the method or the way things get done. Additionally, in the corporate world, the effects of a toxic leader are harder to detect, and symptoms might be attributed to other issues or go unnoticed. Employees should feel secure in their workplace and know that their employer’s human resource department is there to intervene in situations of toxic leadership.  While the employee should feel comfortable in being able to blow the whistle on this type of behavior it isn’t enough.  Companies should also make sure they’re investing in establishing processes that first identify, and then keep toxic leaders at bay.

Watching out for toxic leadership in your organization. (n.d.). World’s Largest Professional Network. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140204184838-10810077-watching-out-for-toxic-leadership-in-your-organization

 

Toxic leader. (2014, June 7). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_leader

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