Building Strong Café Leadership: Spot Talent, Train Well, and Let Go

Picture owning a café where the espresso is dialed in, every shot pulls cleanly, and the steamed milk is velvety smooth—yet good baristas and managers keep walking out the door.

What drives people away?

Weak leadership is one likely culprit. A professional networking site reported that “75% of people quit their job to get away from their manager at some point in their career.”

Why is it so difficult to hire, train, or simply be an effective leader? It shouldn't be this hard, yet it often is. Most managers pick up the role either by imitating a strong manager or—far more commonly—a poor one.

Mine came from the second category. I've worked under plenty of bad managers and a handful of excellent ones. Now, twenty-one years into my management career, I have thoughts on how to select, develop, and empower the people we put in leadership positions—and how to stop losing good employees because of bad bosses.

And consider this: wouldn't it be ideal if your manager and team were strong enough that you could leave the business running for a week while you take a trip—say, to the Bahamas? That only becomes possible when you treat the search for and development of a strong manager as a serious priority.

Recognizing Who Can Manage

In retail—and in business generally—we tend to promote for the wrong reasons. An employee becomes the manager because they excel at their current job.

During my time managing at a large retailer, I was guilty of exactly that. My reasoning was, “This person is a phenomenal salesperson. I'm sure they will be a great manager!” I was completely wrong.

So what should we look for, rather than simply tapping our best barista to run the café? I learned to ask employees whether managing interested them, and I looked for people who were excited about their current role and who repeatedly showed initiative.

One overlooked—though fairly obvious—resource is the candidate's original application and resume. Do they have management experience I missed or forgot about? Did they say anything about their future goals?

Also watch how they respond to customer complaints—it offers a useful glimpse into how they'll handle conflict as a leader. Can they calm a situation quickly? Do they have a real knack for turning an unhappy customer into a satisfied one? Those are strong signals of communication and relationship skills, both of which a great manager needs.

Looking at Character

Another key detail many café owners overlook: is the person I want to promote kind? How many of you have had a jerk for a manager—someone who cared nothing about employees and only about the bottom line or their own authority? I know I have.

Your manager needs emotional intelligence. Managers have to work alongside other people and genuinely care about them, not just check off tasks. Look for someone the rest of your team wants to work with; that can make the shift to someone they want to work for much smoother.

“Communication is key” is an old saying for a reason. Can your potential manager communicate? Every part of management depends on clear, consistent communication. A potential manager has to convey the ‘why' behind the ‘what,' and they have to delegate. They have to articulate your vision and expectations for how your business should operate. Without communication, the manager perishes. And then so does your team.

Let's pause the search and take a moment to look inward at your own management and communication. Are you a good communicator? You must be able to spell out the vision for your company and describe and demonstrate the core behaviors you expect from all your employees. Do you have a vision and core behaviors spelled out for your business?

If you don't, do that before you hire a manager. If you already have a management team, step back and create your vision and core behaviors. You cannot expect someone to effectively lead your company if you cannot convey to them the results you want to achieve. It is never too late to do this. These goals should govern every decision you make and every decision made by your team. It is the best and fastest way to course-correct and get your ship headed in the right direction.

After the Promotion

You've identified a motivated employee who wants to lead and has the emotional intelligence to do it well. Now you have to put in the effort to develop them into an excellent manager! You can't just promote them, give them the keys to the shop, and go on your merry way.

This happened to me in my very first management role. I was nineteen, and I was a selling machine. I was a pretty good communicator, and I consistently demonstrated enthusiasm for my current role and craved more responsibility. I would like to think I was pretty nice and that my coworkers enjoyed working with me.

But: I had no idea how to manage anyone! Yet, there I was, head of a staff of ten salespeople, holding the keys to the store. When I asked the owner to go over the duties and goals for my new position, I was told to write the schedule, make sure the team did their non-sales tasks, and make the sales goals. Oh, that’s it? How hard can that be? Apparently, a little more challenging than it looked.

I made a lot of mistakes. I tried to make everyone like me by doing their jobs for them, so no one took my requests seriously. I was over-reactionary, and I didn’t triage problems or get full info before jumping in, so I looked (and was) frantic. I was young, which wouldn’t have been a problem, except I let my insecurity and need to be liked rob me of the power of effective communication. I was burnt out and I resented my team. I wasn’t actually managing anyone. It was a recipe for disaster.

Finding the Right Tools

Back in 1993, when I was thrown into management, there were no TED Talks, no podcasts, and nobody had introduced me to Tony Robbins or John Maxwell yet. So I had to go on my own. I had no mentor, no real example to follow, so I just made it up as I went along.

Please, I beg you, do not do that to your people. If you do, you are putting your business at risk. There are so many great books, podcasts, and articles out there—you have no excuse not to develop your managers.

The most helpful tool for new managers is a manager training guide. Create one yourself or make it easy and steal one from the internet. A good training outline details the responsibilities of the manager role and a time frame to learn them. The time frame holds you and your new manager accountable for accomplishing the learning goals that you have outlined.

As you customize the outline, keep in mind that you have more than one option when promoting someone. You do not have to give away all of the responsibility right away. You could create a manager-in-training position, letting you give a new manager little chunks of responsibilities to master.

However, in a busy café setting, we are usually in a hurry to replace someone who left, so we tend not to have the luxury of time. In that case, it is even more critical that you are very intentional about communicating and teaching the skills that will set your new manager up for success.

If you do not naturally possess these skills (some business owners don’t, and that’s OK), put someone else in charge of developing your new manager. Enroll them in a program; buy a management book, read through a chapter a week, and discuss together how they can apply the concepts. Spending the time—and yes, money—to grow your managers is one of the essential keys to the success of your coffee business.

It can be hard to step into a manager role if an employee was the coworker the day before. The rest of the team must see that you have confidence in the person you have promoted. Hold a company meeting to celebrate their promotion: this accomplishes multiple things. Most importantly, it establishes the employee in their new role and gives them the chance to address your team before they start delegating tasks and being the boss.

Ready to Step Away?

You've chosen your manager wisely. You've done the research and developed a capable, motivated, and skillful manager—or at least one who is getting there. But you still have a hard time letting go of the reins and stepping away from your business for any length of time.

Some of that fear is just part of being a business owner. You have poured your money, sweat, and tears into getting this café up and running. You have spent countless hours behind the bar, and now you have to trust someone else to do it for you while you’re away. Scary, right?

It’s scary. But it’s necessary.

You have to trust that you have a manager who cares enough about your business and your people to make the right decisions for your business in your absence. And then you have to just do it. You have to leave. Will it be perfect while you are gone? No. Will they make mistakes? Yes. It’s what they and you do about those mistakes that matter in the long run.

It’s time to trust your manager, but it’s also time to trust yourself. Trusting and empowering your people is one of the biggest gifts you can give them. Empowering them and letting them make mistakes is even better. Empowering them, allowing them to make mistakes, and then using those mistakes as teachable moments is the best.

You cannot be at your café twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. To be the visionary, the entrepreneur, and to continually grow your business, you have to step away from time to time. Otherwise, you will be a burned-out, ineffective leader yourself.

You have done everything necessary to choose, develop, and trust the person you’ve put in charge. Your manager has got this.

By all means, go to the Bahamas!

Kerry Miller is a business development representative for Dillanos Coffee Roasters.