Supermarket tastes the difference through training
Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 41, Issue 6
A UK food retailer delivered foundation training to 135,000 employees in almost 800 stores, as part of a three-year improvement program.
Elizabeth Crehan, the store’s retail training design and resource manager stated that:
An essential ingredient was to ensure that colleagues felt engaged and believed that Sainsbury’s was a great place to work. Through a passion for success, not just for the business but for individuals, we have managed to change the focus of training at all levels, from the retail director to a new starter.
Foundation training has driven a culture of learning through inspirational,relevant and user-friendly training. The success of this can be clearly seen through improvements in colleague surveys, turnover, internal audits and sales growth.
The foundation training was developed as part of an overall training framework, named Steps to Success. “To deliver this we worked with stores,tutors, subject experts and stakeholders to identify the best solutions for all”,said Elizabeth Crehan.
Every department had new materials delivering training on scorecard measures,department procedures, customer service, legal and compliance. The style was coach-led. Individuals built confidence and skills by working with more experienced colleagues.
Color, symbols and pictures were added to the training materials to identify key points and make the learning varied and more inspiring. The training was delivered in phases, by department, so that stores were not overwhelmed by materials.
Dawn Fairweather, zone human-resource partner, said: “Since putting in effective training at foundation level and linking this to performance we have seen a significant difference in our customers’ shopping experience.”
A second retailer, Marks & Spencer has trained more than 650 people in buying, design, merchandising and technology across its clothing and home-product areas.
Karen Baker, program manager at Boxwood, which delivered the training in partnership with Marks & Spencer, said:
When Stuart Rose took over at M&S in 2004 competitive pressures, such as dramatic price deflation and increasing competition from grocery retailers, were changing the nature of retail. M&S had poor sales performance, profits were under attack, and both customer confidence and internal morale were low.
Issues identified by the business included mixed approaches to buying within and across business units, unclear job roles and accountabilities, varied capability levels, lead times out of line with those of competitors, high levels of stock commitment and poor stock control.
“Against this background, the aim was to remove complexity, drive efficiency and consistency, and to give people an improved ability and confidence to do their work”, said Karen Baker.
The subjects delivered covered the entire business process, from product design to delivery in-store. They helped people to focus on what the M&S customer wants, ensure product-range clarity, make better buying decisions,drive better values, improve stock, sales and order management, and commit to ethical corporate behavior. The training brought about new ways of working and changes to roles, and helped to improve customer satisfaction.
Kate Bostock, M&S director of women’s wear, girls’ wear and lingerie, said: “The training played a huge role in the M&S turnaround, and will be a key mechanism for driving and embedding future change that will support our operating plan. It has significantly improved the confidence and performance of our people.”
Both Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer won UK National Training Awards.
