What's it worth?

Last week Starbucks closed 7,100 company-owned locations in the US to conduct a three and half hour training session for its baristas.

A memo went out to 135,000 baristas, indicating that "Transformation Agenda Communication #8" is to "teach, educate and share our love for coffee". The baristas were retrained on how to deliver their product in a timely manner. They also brushed up on their beverage-making skills. The training session is a response to many observers, including CEO Howard Schultz himself, who have pointed out that Starbucks is losing its "soul" by letting quality standards slide.

Now that people have recovered from their 12,601 seconds without a cup of coffee, Starbucks is getting ready to do the same with all their Canadian locations.

The point here is that few companies would completely close down their operations for any significant period of training. There's a mentality at many corporations that short-term revenue is always more important than proper training or organizational development, even though both are complementary.

Starbucks handles 44 million transactions a week in the US alone. While the exact magnitude of impact on their sales is still up in the air, it's clear where Starbucks stands on the issue of training and organizational development.