Why a Starbucks Barista Has More Willpower Than You Do

In 2008, Starbucks was having issues. In the face of mounting competition, the chain’s popularity was steadily declining — the stock had dropped a milk-curdling 50 percent over the past year. Former CEO Howard Schultz was called back to turn things around.

Schultz looked at the strategy of the past few years and explained that Starbucks had “invested in infrastructure ahead of the growth curve” and it was time to “shift our emphasis back onto customer-facing initiatives.” Translation? Starbucks executives had been so focused on expansion that they had overlooked customer service.

And so Schultz began restructuring company training. What the company discovered in its research was that great customer service relies upon one very unexpected trait: willpower.

The Puzzling Impossibility of Cookies

According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, studies show that willpower is a bigger influence on success than natural talent — and that willpower can be increased. Willpower is like a muscle: it needs training to grow stronger, and without training, it can be easily overexerted.

An experiment at the University of Albany showed this overexertion in action. Participants in a room with both radishes and cookies were instructed to eat only one or the other. After five minutes, both groups were given an impossible puzzle to solve. Those who had spent five minutes resisting the cookies gave up 60% sooner than the cookie indulgers — they had already exhausted their willpower muscle.

The Starbucks LATTE System

Most lapses in customer service occurred during moments of high stress — a flood of orders, or an angry customer. Employees spent all day using their willpower and, in moments of duress, simply ran out.

Drawing on behavioral science, Starbucks discovered that the key to circumventing a customer service meltdown was giving employees very detailed systems to deal with stress triggers — even, and especially, when their willpower was exhausted. So Starbucks introduced the LATTE method:

• Listen to the customer
• Acknowledge their complaint
• Take action by solving the problem
• Thank them
• Explain why the problem occurred

Instead of reacting with volatility, Starbucks employees had a clear game plan for stressful situations. Since the LATTE system was implemented, employee turnover has decreased, customer satisfaction is up, and profits have exceeded $1 billion a year.

What systems and habits have you built for the moments when your willpower runs out?