Agile retail organisations
Retail organisations are moving away from the rigid, hierarchical structures of isolated functions, to intelligent data-centric businesses, where fluid teams collaborate across departments, delivering customer facing initiatives.
I’ve been employed as part of consultant teams to evolve agile organisational structures and processes by Primark, Walgreens, Boots, Adidas, Nespresso, Bata, Ladbrokes, Camper, Jack Jones, Cortefiel, Springfield, Sonae, Otto Versand, BonPrix, Sprinter, La Caixa, Flex, Latteria Soresina, Gruppo Vestebene, OVS, Heatons, Bialetti, Baltika, amongst others.
Clients like the approach which defines customer facing objectives, and then builds interactive cross-functional teams that can deliver those objectives.
They also like the process because it is highly collaborative and empowers colleagues. This must involve open-minded, cross-functional teams who begin always with the intelligence of what the customer wants, then devise how this can de delivered, and who must be involved.
Project based team building is often the catalyst for the permanent evolution of organisational structures.
Every consultancy project is created and developed for each client’s specific needs and requests. The scope, timing, resources and process is agreed after an initial discussion process.
To have a discussion about your organisational structures, email me at tim@retailmeaning.com
Jack Jones
Uruguay & Latin America
Workshops are a fantastic way to bring colleagues together, and to introduce the tools and the channels for them to express themselves, to inspire each other and to be the catalyst for change.
I’ve carried out many 2 day workshops. The Jack Jones one was special. It was initiated and stimulated by an innovative young leader, it included colleagues from head office departments and from shop teams, and it cut across the Jack Jones, Only and Vero Moda Bestseller brands.
Our exercises stimulated discussions, hands-on activities generated new ideas. The output was a prioritised list of actions for team structure, responsibilities and processes to allow the business to operate in a more dynamic, interactive and commercial way.
Keep your eyes open and you can quickly see how an organisation is structured. Canteens and cafes are a good starting point.
In the most extreme situation I witnessed 5 different canteens & restaurants, each of which was on a higher floor of the offices, each of which offered more advanced cuisine, and each of which was only open to specific levels of job importance.
From packaged sandwiches to waitor service, this strict hierarchy made project team building and open discussions very difficult.
There are more client project stories to discover on the Great Retailers page…
Check out organisational & process related posts on the Retailmeaning Blog…
To have that first discussion, email me at tim@retailmeaning.com