IC and HR - working together to deliver change
Last week we hosted an excellent breakfast session with Donna Dew, HR Business Partner and Gillian Tong, Interim Head of Engagement within Offer & Supply Chain at Kingfisher (Europe’s leading home improvement company) who are undertaking one of retail’s largest transformation programmes.
We were very privileged to hear from Donna and Gillian, who gave us a great insight into their experiences and learnings from this significant transformation programme.
Kingfisher plc is a home improvement company with around 1,200 stores in 10 countries across Europe. Following a review of their businesses alongside in-depth studies of their customers’ home improvement needs, the leadership team announced the ONE Kingfisher strategy. This long term strategy aims to leverage the scale of the business by creating a unified company. The ONE Kingfisher strategy is based on three key pillars:
Creating a unified, unique and leading home improvement offer across the globe. The recognition that customer needs are already more similar than different across all the markets. It therefore makes sense to create an offer for customers that is complete, unified, unique and leading as ONE.
Driving the digital capability; Kingfisher believes there is a significant opportunity to grow digital engagement with customers and substantially increase sales through a seamless and very strong omni-channel offer. The recognition that the home improvement industry lags behind other sectors in digital sales only achieving 5% of sales online.
Optimising operational efficiency, improving the way they work
Not surprisingly, the realisation of this transformation will bring with it a significant people agenda. The ambition is to develop engaged and skilled colleagues to champion the customer experience and develop the leadership skills required to deliver the company’s future successes. This complex change involves a new operating model and design, HR systems, as well as changes to rewards and terms and conditions.
Every transformation programme has it's ups and downs, and Gillian and Donna shared their key observations and learnings:
Partnership
It’s essential that HR and internal communications have a partnership approach; they must work hand in hand if their colleagues are to understand and be engaged in long term transformation programmes. A strong relationship with your HR colleagues can help improve your impact with the leadership team; raising potential concerns as team will escalate issues more effectively.
Sometimes comms has to come first!
Sometimes the process isn't clear, and sometimes it can be difficult to identify the key milestones. Pulling together a draft comms plan quickly can help you identify critical dates and activities, and helps leaders understand why you are asking the questions that you're asking. Be brave and bold! It won't be right first time - but it will get the ball rolling.
Don’t get hung up on traditional roles
In a project team that has such a huge task ahead of it, it can be difficult to find your way forwards in the early stages. Don't be afraid to step outside of the 'traditional' IC role; comms professionals are often best placed to be able to articulate business drivers and operational issues - and this can really help the rest of the team to move forwards. Your role is unlikely to be 'just comms' - so don't be afraid to demonstrate all of your knowledge and value.
Understand the detail
As well as understanding the business drivers, and impacts on colleagues, it is essential to really understand the consultation process - it really matters! Find a friendly HR BP and get them to brief you. Additionally, fully understanding programme management is critical to delivering effective comms. Don't be afraid to seek out the people who can advise and inform you.
The early bird catches the worm!
Sometimes this can feel outside of your control, but getting comms involved early is a key factor in delivering a smooth transformation programme. Trying to undo the damage of ill thought through communications can be costly and time consuming, and can have a negative effect on the overall transformation programme.
Don't assume your leaders have delivered transformational change before
As communicators change can feel like our 'bread and butter'. Some of your leadership team may not have been through the process before, and you might need to help them to understand their role during change. Keeping a consistent voice across the leadership team is critical in delivering effective long term transformation - as is maintaining strong BAU comms.
Always start with our colleagues
We all know this - but when you're busy it can be hard to keep making the time to listen to the people on the ground. Never second guess how they are feeling. Hear their concerns and understand their needs. Keep a helicopter view of what is happening, and ensure you're updating the narrative to reflect what this looks like from the ground.
Many thanks to everyone who came along to the workshop and shared their own stories and views, and especially to Donna and Gillian. There was plenty for us all to think about in the stories they shared, so huge thanks to two very engaging speakers.
For more information on the work we do and future events, please get in touch.
Published by Nicky
