Case Study: Supporting an International Retailer Transform its Leadership and Service
Scale and Scope of the Programme
The aim of this programme was to generate a step change in the emotional loyalty of this global retailer’s customers and staff. It has now been rolled out to 250,000 people in every region worldwide.
The Approach - A Focus on Attitude
Most service programmes are limited by a focus on process – or on skills – and yet research continually reaffirms that attitude is the key determinant of great service.
The retailer believed if it could enable its staff to initiate contact with customers without self-consciousness, it would have a unique source of competitive advantage.
Bridge introduced as the centrepiece of the programme a tool to enable an attitude of extraordinary service throughout the organisation. It was so powerful that individuals found big gains beyond their work and into their home life.
“This has been fantastic at work, but most important to me is that the skill of choosing my attitude has turned me from a grumpy, stressed-out guy into a dad who has rediscovered his spark.”
Store Director
The retailer took the view that its leaders needed to role model the new culture. The attitude change became the heart of their leadership programme which all managers at all levels attended. They found the same tools that worked to change the way staff dealt with customers revolutionised the way managers dealt with staff.
Bringing the Brand to Life through Service
Implementation: Strong Local Ownership and Measurable Goals
The retailer faced two challenges:
- How to translate their customer insights into simple behaviours that staff could embrace throughout the business
- How to roll this out so that it both provided direction as to the behaviours required, but also empowered local managers to embrace these behaviours and see them as solutions to local priorities
The first challenge was accomplished by taking their customer insights and running an intense day with a large number of general assistants, some managers and the main board director responsible for operations. The result was three service expressions that have subsequently entered organisational language.
The second challenge was equally important. It would be easy for store managers to see this as a head office initiative. Great care was taken to work with each store manager to identify the business issues facing their store. The store manager's team was then worked with to create a vision for how the programme could solve these issues, enabling a better experience for customers and staff. This meant that each local change programme had a set of locally relevant, but tangible business goals.
The results have been spectacular as stores have focused on pressing business challenges and achieved results in increasing revenue growth, reducing absence, reducing shrink and improving availability.
Securing the Impact at Scale
Three important mechanisms were put in place to ensure the impact was sustained at scale.
Firelighters
Bridge proposed a change agent model (i.e. where a small number of passionate individuals influence their peers) with some core principles:
- Firelighters were selected by the store. The store is accountable for their success – and could request more firelighters if the initial group was not sufficient. Firelighters were given specific roles in partnership with identically trained section managers
- A mixture of cynics and natural enthusiasts were selected – the key criterion was ‘who can have the most impact here?’ Firelighters received two days intensive training, which had a profound impact
This programme of firelighters has been highly successful. To date 20,000 firelighters have been recruited and trained.
“The firelighters are the single biggest reason that the programme is having such an impact. The programme has switched on the people that really matter, the customer assistants.”
Store Director
Internal Capability
Although externally designed, the programme looked and felt like an internal programme. This is primarily because approximately 100 coaches were trained as internal consultants to run the programme. They were employed at a regional level and worked with regional and store managers to adapt the programme to local needs.
A Systemic Approach
A systemic approach was adopted to ensure ‘every piece of the jigsaw fell into place.’ Each store experienced 26 weeks of activity, beginning with a diagnostic and ending with a re-evaluation.
The programme of activity was designed to impact on every level of the store through initiating a series of small and big changes which fitted together to create the whole impact.
In the 26 weeks therefore, the store experienced:
Summary
Bridge won prominent awards in the press and the trade for its impact and innovation.
At an organisation-wide level, the principles of the programme have been integrated into approaches to recruitment, evaluation, other leadership development and so on.
Bridge have continued to support the leadership and service development of this remarkable international retailer at all levels and in every region worldwide.