Training and education is an ongoing process. Not just for those we are training but also for ourselves as trainers and educators. If we adopt the same type of “always learning” mentality we want to see in other, then the way we understand and conduct training will change over time. Today we will be exploring training and education through the career journey of someone who has crafted several training systems in world class coffee bars and talk about what he has learned from the mistakes and successes along the way.
I am thrilled to welcome to the show, Michael Phillips, of Blue Bottle Coffee!
Michael Phillips has worked in Specialty coffee since 2006 and was a co-founder of LA based Handsome Coffee Roasters before joining Blue Bottle Coffee. Throughout his career he has held Director of training positions at Handsome Coffee, Intelligentsia Coffee and Blue Bottle Coffee. His work at Blue evolved into supporting new cafe openings internationally helping to launch cafes and new markets from Boston and DC to Tokyo and Seoul. He also holds two United States Barista Championship titles from 2009 & 2010 and one World Barista Championship title from 2010. His current role at Blue Bottle Coffee is as the Global Director of Education & Engagement where he focuses on creating consumer facing educational content.
In our conversation we cover:
- Highlights of his completion career
- The things that shaped his outlook on training
- When training ideals go too far
- Importance of realistic and practical expectations
- How entrepreneurship helped set the stage for a new approach
- Shaping the training at Blue Bottle
- The 10/20/70 rule in training
- Logistics of training across borders and cultures
- Delegation / Centralized vs localized training
- Why training is a culture not an event
- Choosing what to focus on and the limitation of one-on-one training
- Calibrating your team and building something sustainable
- Creating a great cafe experience
Links:
Michael Phillips on Instagram @1shot4theroad
Related Episodes:
296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles
191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards
178 : Training Masterclass w/ Emma Haines of London School of Coffee and Caffeina Consulting
119 : Barista Training Masterclass w/ 2009 WBC Champion, Gwilym Davies
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