Case study: Training skills development at Tesco

Tesco Academy Director Nicola Steele explains why over 140 Tesco personnel have attended courses leading to TAP certification over the last 3 years and sets out some of the benefits that the initiative has generated. (2005)
Tesco was founded in 1924. Over the past 79 years the company has grown and developed as the retailing market has changed. In the last seven years alone, Tesco plc has moved from being the number three UK retailer to being one of the top three international retailers in the world with 2,318 stores and 326,000 people. Tesco Academy designs and delivers training within the business. In the early summer of 2002 a team from Tesco Academy carried out a comprehensive review of existing policy in relation to training skills development. A decision was taken to implement a new approach to trainer development and training skills certification. It was regarded as very important that this new approach incorporated the very latest thinking and reflected modern adult learning principles. Tesco Academy Director Nicola Steele takes up the story: "We wanted to work in partnership with a like-minded organisation that had a proven track record in trainer development but was flexible and pragmatic enough to adapt to Tesco needs." After extensive research and investigations in both the UK and the USA, Tesco Academy approached The Training Foundation for their advice. Following an initial consultancy assignment, a tailored trainer development and certification scheme was devised within the framework of the Trainer Assessment Programme (TAP). The Training Foundation was then retained to deliver a programme of courses within the Academy portfolio. These courses were designed to meet the needs of those responsible for training design and for training delivery within the Academy and across the business. Certification is jointly provided by The Training Foundation and by Tesco Academy. Nicola Steele has been delighted by the results. "Feedback from the training has been very good from the outset. Our people feel confident that they can design and deliver effective training interventions that meet business objectives, increase knowledge and develop skill. They also find that the learning design and delivery skills they learn are easy to put into practice." Over the last 3 years over 140 Tesco training and line management personnel involved in upskilling projects have attended training delivery and training design courses leading to TAP

certification. These personnel were drawn from locations ranging from Eastern Europe to the North of Scotland. Steele feels that participation in the Trainer Assessment Programme has brought significant benefits: "The skills provided by The Training Foundation have helped us create great training programmes that are directly linked to business needs. The Tesco Academy brand now acts as a guarantee to our people that the training they will receive will be of a consistently high quality." "We have significantly increased the number of people able to design and deliver training internally and reduced our external training costs, which means it is simpler for our staff, cheaper for Tesco and better for customers." "A TAP certificate is a widely recognised qualification that is associated with high quality training. We will continue to work with The Training Foundation to run our training delivery and training design programmes."

Leadership styles TESCO

The business writers Tannenbaum and Schmidt categorised different leadership styles. They suggested that leadership styles could be explained on a scale ranging from autocratic through democratic to laissez-faire. The autocratic or authoritarian style is characterised by an I tell philosophy. Autocratic leaders tell their staff what to do. This can give a business clear direction but it may also lead managers to undervalue or ignore input from their teams. However, an autocratic approach is appropriate in some situations. It is valuable when the business faces a crisis or when an urgent problem arises that requires an immediate response. Stephen is a Tesco store manager Stephen is the manager of a medium-sized Tesco store. He has been with the company for over 10 years and his first job was filling shelves in the dairy section. He is currently working towards the Tesco foundation degree. Stephen directly manages a team of around 20 departmental managers, who between them are responsible for almost 300 people. Stephens leadership style is usually to allow his managers to make most operational decisions. However, if, for example, an accident occurs in the store, Stephen may take control to ensure a prompt and co-ordinated response. There are some leadership approaches that sit between autocratic and democratic. These styles allow team participation up to a point. However, the manager reserves the right to make the final decision. Managers adopting an I sell philosophy will try to persuade their teams to accept their viewpoint. Managers adopting an I consult approach will seek the opinions of subordinates before taking a decision. This is moving closer to a democratic style of management. The best managers adopt leadership styles appropriate to the situation. Stephens preferred leadership style is to take a democratic approach. He consults widely as he feels that staff respond better to this approach. For example, when planning a major stock reduction programme, he encourages his managers to put forward ideas and develop plans. This increases team motivation and encourages creativity. Some mistakes may be made, but they are used as a learning experience. However, as a store manager, Stephen deals with many different situations. Some may be business critical and it is important that he responds to these in the most appropriate way. In such situations, Stephen may need to adapt his leadership approach and exert more authority. Martin is Tesco's Programme Manager for Education and Skills The democratic approach is characterised by an I share philosophy. Decisions are made within teams, with each member having equal input. Martin is Tescos Programme Manager for Education and Skills in the UK. He has a range of responsibilities associated with people, processes and standards. Martin may use a democratic approach when setting training budgets. Managers can suggest ideas to make cost savings and they can jointly discuss their proposals with Martin. By empowering his managers, he gets them to take ownership of the final agreed budget. Laissez-faire is at the other end of the spectrum from autocratic. A laissez-faire manager takes a hands-off approach and trusts teams to take appropriate decisions or actions with broad agreed boundaries. For example, Martin might leave an experienced departmental manager to develop a budget. This could be because he trusts that the manager has a good knowledge of the needs of the department and of the business.

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Management and leadership

There is a difference between management and leadership. Management is about getting things done. Managers organise human and physical resources to achieve business aims and objectives. Leadership is about influencing, motivating and

inspiring people. It is about coaching and developing people, treating them with respect but challenging them. Leaders seek to create strong teams, with people committed to the organisations overall goals. The process of managing starts with the target or objective to be achieved. A manager must decide on the appropriate approach for reaching that target. The manager then needs to communicate this approach clearly to his or her team and to allocate tasks to each team member. Task allocation and delegation of responsibility is part of the management function. However, other factors will also have an influence on whether the target is achieved, including the task in hand, the skills of the team and the style of leadership. The style of leadership can vary depending on the task. Some managers allow teams to take charge of their own decisionmaking for many tasks. Team leaders will set the objectives but empower team members to decide how these objectives are achieved. This has several advantages. It helps to motivate individuals in the team and it draws on the expertise of the members of the team. Berian is a bakery manager Berian manages a team of 17 in a Tesco in-store bakery. One of the key challenges of Berians job is to ensure his team produces the right products to meet demand at key times. His usual management approach is to allow the team to take responsibility for achieving the desired result. In this way, the team not only buys into the activity, but also develops new skills. For example, when the bakery expanded its product range and Berian needed to ensure that all the products would be on the shelves by 8.00 am, rather than enforce a solution, he turned to the team for ideas. The team solved the problem by agreeing to split break times so that productivity could be maintained. Berians approach produced a positive outcome and increased team motivation. Tescos leadership framework sets out not just the skills and competencies but also the personal characteristics and behaviours it expects of its leaders. Tesco looks for managers who are positive, confident and genuine, with the capacity to inspire and encourage their teams. A key part of Tescos programme for building leaders is encouraging self review and reflection. This allows staff to assess their strengths and find ways of demonstrating the characteristics that are vital to the long-term development of the business.

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Leadership styles in action

Although each person will have their own preferred leadership style, the most effective leaders adopt a style appropriate for the situation. They will consider several factors in deciding which style to use. The task Is it business critical? Must a decision be made immediately? What will be the potential impact on the business? The team Does it have the right skills and resources? Is it used to making decisions? Tradition What has been the norm in the past? For example, Martin uses a more authoritarian style if something needs achieving in a particular way or in a very quick timeframe. Sometimes budgets need to be reduced quickly in order to make cost savings. Martin will tell managers what needs to be done and by when, so that they can then resubmit their budgets in line with expectations. Stephen regards inspiring, guiding and influencing his staff as an important part of his role. Sometimes he may need to inform his teams about a new in-store innovation or corporate initiative. Even though this is a tell situation, Stephen aims to sell the idea. He tries to ensure that staff understand why it is necessary. If his people are able to give their opinions, it is more likely that they will readily support the initiative. Managers have to be aware of the possible consequences of using the wrong style in a particular situation. For example, Berian would not adopt a laissez-faire approach with a new member of the bakery team. If the employee is not given proper instruction before operating the baking equipment, the bread might be overcooked. Employees might also injure themselves if they dont use the equipment properly. In this situation, it is essential to adopt a tell approach.

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Factors influencing leadership style

People at each level of responsibility in Tesco, from administrators and customer assistants to directors, face different types of decisions. Each comes with its own responsibilities and timescales. These will influence the most appropriate leadership style for a particular piece of work or for a given project or audience. Tesco managers have responsibilities for front of house (customer-facing) staff as well as behind the scenes employees, such as office staff. Before making a decision, the manager will consider the task in hand, the people involved and those who will be affected (such as customers). Various internal and external factors may also affect the choice of leadership style used. Internal factors include the levels of skill that employees have. Large teams may have members with varying levels of skill. This may require the manager to adopt a more directive style, providing clear communication so that everyone knows what to do to achieve goals and tasks. On the other hand, team leaders may take a more consultative approach with other managers of equal standing in order to get their co-operation for a project. External factors may arise when dealing with customers. For example, Berian may need to use a persuasive style to convince a customer to accept a replacement product for an item that is temporarily out of stock.

Read more: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-study--factors-influencing-leadership-style--132-424-5.php#ixzz1RjJf9Mme Critical success factors (CSFs) In order to build a sustainable and robust business, Tesco has set out critical success factors (CSFs). These are linked at all levels to its business goals. Some CSFs apply to all employees. These are:

customer focus to ensure delivery of every little helps personal integrity to build trust and respect drive to achieve results, even when the going gets tough team working to ensure positive relationships in and across teams developing self/others to motivate and inspire others. Others are specific to the level of responsibility the person or role has and covers: analysing and decision making managing performance managing change gaining commitment. By meeting the requirements of these CSFs, Tesco managers can build their leadership skills & contribute to the growth of the business.

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Taylors motivational theory

In 1911 the engineer Frederick Taylor published one of the earliest motivational theories. According to Taylors research, people worked purely for money. In the early years of the car assembly industry, work on a production line was based on producing quantity and was repetitive. Workers were paid piece rate, that is, paid for every item produced. This approach of paying workers by results was good for the business. The outcome was greater production but gave little opportunity, encouragement or time for employees to think for themselves or be creative in what they did. This limited peoples development and their use within the company.

Employee rewards Tescos Employee Reward Programme has some similarity to Taylors theory. Its financial reward packages are one motivating factor. However, there are factors other than money which motivate people in both their personal and working lives. Tesco goes far beyond Taylor and gives more than just simple pay increases. It supports the varied lifestyles of individual employees through relevant and targeted benefits. Many non-financial factors can and do motivate employees to improve their output. One such factor may be the desire to serve people; others may be to improve personal skills or achieve promotion. A person may be motivated to be a professional footballer not because of the salary but because they love football. Employees are more motivated if they feel content in their work. This often happens when their employer creates a good working environment where employees feel valued, generally through increased communication and being asked for their opinions. Employee motivation is also likely to be higher if the organisation invests in its staff through training and development. In turn this enhances their knowledge, skills and their sense of job satisfaction. Measuring staff satisfaction Every year Tesco invites its staff to take part in a staff satisfaction survey called Viewpoint which gives them the opportunity to express their views on almost every aspect of their job. The results from the survey help Tesco make sure it is offering the right things to its staff to keep them motivated. Some of the benefits available to staff include: Lifestyle break this offers 4-12 weeks off work and guarantees the job back at the end Career break this allows staff between 6 months and 5 years away from work with right of return Pension scheme this award-winning scheme provides clearly defined long term benefits.

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The Mayo effect

Internal or external factors may motivate a person to change or develop their actions. For example, an internal factor may be the desire to learn a new skill. This would reward the individual. External factors include, for example, sales targets and incentives. A more negative motivator might be no pay rise if targets are not achieved. In the early 1930s the theorist Elton Mayo suggested that motivation at work was promoted by such factors as: greater communication good teamwork showing interest in others involving others in decision making ensuring the wellbeing of others ensuring work is interesting and non-repetitive. Mayo based his assumptions on research undertaken with workers at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in Chicago. His work resulted in the Hawthorne theory. He suggested that boredom and repetitiveness of tasks led to reduced motivation. He believed that motivation was improved through making employees feel important, giving them a degree of freedom to make choices and acknowledging their social needs. Communication At Tesco the Mayo theory is seen to be operating throughout the company. Communication is an extremely important factor in motivating employees. This may be through 1-to-1 discussions with managers, through the company intranet or newsletters or through more formal structures such as appraisals. Line managers hold a daily Team Meeting to update staff on what is happening for the day and to give out Value Awards. These awards can be given from any member of staff to another as a way of saying thank you and celebrating achievements. Motivation from training and development Tesco also promotes motivation through its many training and development opportunities. Everyone has access not just to the training they need to do their job well but also to leadership training to grow within the company. Tesco offers strategic career planning to help staff achieve the extraordinary. In 2009 Tesco appointed 3,000 managers 80% internally. As well as an annual career discussion with every employee, the company also emphasises the development of the whole person and has implemented a system of 360 degree feedback. This is a personal development tool which provides feedback from a selection of people with whom the employee works. This helps employees to understand their behaviour, strengths and weaknesses within the workplace as others see them. The idea of the programme is to Take People with You and To Gain the Hearts and Minds of Others in order to improve individuals and get things done efficiently.

Personal development plans All Tesco employees have a Personal Development Plan which they build through their 360 degree feedback and other tools. This enables Tesco managers to offer meaningful feedback to employees to help provide opportunities for continuous personal development. This personal approach helps employees to reach their full potential by encouraging self-assessment and providing advancement through ongoing training. It also enables individuals to take responsibility for their development. This two-way relationship ensures that the employee is committed to the values of the company, that he or she works in partnership with others and helps improve the business for customers.

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Maslow and Herzberg

Maslow Abraham Maslow argued that humans are motivated by five essential needs. He formed a pyramid demonstrating these needs which he called the hierarchy of needs: At the bottom of the pyramid are basic needs, those that motivate people to work food and shelter. Once these needs are met through pay, individuals want safety and security through, for example, good job conditions. Social needs refer to the need to belong, to be part of a group. Self-esteem may arise from a promotion. Right at the top is Self fulfilment - the area for creativity, challenge and interest. Maslow suggested that achieving one level motivates us to achieve the next. Herzberg In 1959 Frederick Herzberg developed the Two-Factor theory of motivation. His research showed that certain factors were the true motivators or satisfiers. Hygiene factors, in contrast, created dissatisfaction if they were absent or inadequate. Dissatisfaction could be prevented by improvements in hygiene factors but these improvements would not alone provide motivation. Herzberg showed that to truly motivate an employee a business needs to create conditions that make him or her feel fulfilled in the workplace.

Tesco aims to motivate its employees both by paying attention to hygiene factors and by enabling satisfiers. For example, it motivates and empowers its employees by appropriate and timely communication, by delegating responsibility and involving staff in decision making. It holds forums every year in which staff can be part of the discussions on pay rises. This shows recognition of the work Tesco people do and rewards them. Tesco staff can even influence what food goes onto its restaurant menus. Employees thus become motivated to make choices that will increase their use of the restaurants.

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Conclusion
Employee motivation is an important task for managers. Early motivational theory such as that of Taylor suggested that pay motivated workers to improve production. However businesses now need employees to have greater motivation and have a stake in the company for which they work, as shown by Mayo. Maslow and Herzberg demonstrated that employees are motivated by many different factors. Tesco provides opportunities for its managers and staff to take a share and a greater interest in their own employment. Since every employee is an individual, with different needs and aspirations, the process of reviews and personal development plans allows recognition of their abilities and achievement, as well as potential development. This benefits the individual by providing career progression. It also benefits Tesco by ensuring the business can deliver high levels of customer service through its skilled employees.

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Lego
Ah, LEGO. Complete days of my life have I spend with these plastic building blocks. Yes, my LEGO characters suffered greatly at my fingertips. It's been a while now but I still feel some of that passion for the brand deep inside. As the centrepiece of childhood fantasy and imagination, LEGO was a necessity... it provided the tools to build cars with weapons and fighter planes of unimaginable ferocity. It could deal easily with the limited powers of Action Man or the earth-bound Hotwheels. Anything was possible - as my juvenile view of the world was completed with my imagination. Now, this blog post isn't about my boyhood creations. It's a case study about the famous LEGO brand versus the famous LEGO design. Which is more important? The start I'm not here to teach you a lengthy history lesson about the brand but let me tell you that LEGO was founded in 1949 and that the first LEGO toys where made of wood. After the advent of plastic however they branched out and eventually settled on the famous iconic brick they still have today.

The peak and decline Now, fast forward to 1995. LEGO UK came out with a report that three-quarters of UK households owned LEGO toys - while across the developed world the brand claimed a 97% awareness rate. LEGO was at it's peak but the company's problems would begin just a few years later in the late 90's. LEGO almost did innovation suicide when it ventured off on wild forays in an attempt to extend the brand. Prime example is the Galidor line, launched in 2002. It was all about action figures. The figures had only a few parts that where interchangeable such as arms and legs but need no further building skills and required no further imagination. To give kids more reasons to buy them though, LEGO co-produced a TV show and videogames to add more story to it but it sparked only little interest.

Nick Bluetooth, protagonist of the Galidor theme.

Design running wild The designers of LEGO where given free rein to come up with ever more imaginative creations. Of course they took that freedom with both hands. They conjured up complex models, many of which required the

company to make new components. By 2004 the number of components had exploded, climbing from about 7,000 to 12,400 in just seven years. Designers weren't resonating with kids. The more they put their imagination in the design process, the less kids could. Just look at this... thing, from LEGO Alpha Team. It looked cool for the adult designers but kids hated it and quite rightly so.

The new approach diminished LEGO's sales. In 1999 the brand had made a 274 million DKK profit (37 million euro), in 2000 this was turned into a loss of 831 million DKK (112 million euro). This illustrates something though. There aren't many toy companies around that have more brand power than LEGO. For three generations kids have build cars, cities and spaceships with the iconic bricks. But in one year time their sales evaporated. Is it the brand that failed, or the design? Brand versus design Looking back, Mads Nipper, the vice president of LEGO said: "Children are ruthless and very demanding about what they want to buy. If your offer doesn't stack up, they will go somewhere else. Management was to blame. The same designers who were doing crappy products then are making world-class products today." Smith-Meyer, the head of the LEGO New Business Group says: "We didn't do a lot of clever components. We did a lot of stylized pieces. We wanted to be like Philippe Starck (the French industrial, interior, and furniture designer famous for everything from juicers to motorcycles). LEGO had assumed it would flourish by giving its designers whatever pieces they asked for in order to unleash their creativity. Instead, costs soared as the models veered toward the esoteric." New direction Clearly something was going wrong. LEGO didn't directly know what, but in 2004 big changes where being made. Just as it was design that pushed LEGO to the precipice, it was design that helped the company back to the top. The biggest difference was that instead of rubber-stamping every request for new parts, LEGO put each new part to a vote among designers. Only the top vote getters would be added to the palette and those where the ones other designers imagined they could use as well.

This method drastically reduced parts, eliminating all the rarely used pieces, bringing the total number back to about 7,000, the same number as in 1997. Gone where the days when designers could do wherever their imagination would take them. A risky move? It was perhaps a gutsy move at the time, as it runs counter to the notion that design needs to be set free. When LEGO confined it's designers it ran the risk of diminishing it's competitive advantage. Except it didn't. Gone where the complex components and the fire truck looked like a fire truck again. It allowed kids to build their own creations again - instead of being left with components that where already identified. It may all sound counterintuitive but LEGO found that design, at least within it's own walls, thrives with some constraints. It might send chills up the spines of some designers around the world but the component limits gave designers just enough direction to come up with some of the company's most successful products to date. More than bricks So in November 2008, the European Court decided that the beloved LEGO brick design is no longer a corporate trademark. While LEGO imitators still can't use the name, they are free to replicate the exact measurements and design of LEGO bricks with impunity. The EU clarified some time ago that purely functional design elements (in this case, the size of holes, studs, and bricks) does not qualify for trademark protection. Since then, various rivals have emerged, making bricks that snap together with LEGO blocks at only a fraction of the cost. Montreal-based MEGA Brands is the current thorn in LEGO's side. Companies such as Tyco Toys came before it with a similar strategy. But kids and their parents keep buying LEGO, and not simply because of their belief that the quality is better. They buy LEGO because the company offers the most creative collection of models, not merely a collection of bricks. Nowadays LEGO clearly understood that the design needs to leave some space for a kids creativity and imagination. The 'less is more' principle also applies here. And for quite some years now advertising agencies have used this as the brands USP in the long-going "Imagine" campaign.