Building Performance in Retailing

The Values Partnership has been supporting the senior management and store managers of Sweatshop, one of the UK's largest specialty retailers of sporting goods, implement a programme to align the entire company around a shared purpose and values.

Hugh Brasher, Managing Director, said, "The work you have done has got the senior personnel aligned on the purpose and values of the business. We’re working closely together to try and live and breathe them in everything we do. You have added a level of external support into the business that previously was not there, and have been adaptive as consultants to the needs of the business over time.

"We have learned to listen to staff and colleagues better than before. It has opened up a more honest dialogue between people at different levels of the company in a way that they can understand the purpose and work together as a team. We were always good at listening to our customers but not necessarily to each other.

"We liked how you set about first to understand the culture and the business and then went to work on both the good and bad elements to improve them.

"It is hard to put a finger on specific performance improvements but the business is 5% up on last year in a terrible retailing environment, we are profitable and we made an excellent transition this year to a completely new management structure. I suppose that is saying something! If there wasn’t a benefit I would not be investing money in it.

"The work The Values Partnership has done with us has changed my own perceptions significantly. I can see both the good and bad aspects of our culture are a reflection of my actions over the years, so to change them I have to change myself. For example, I can see that to get my people to be better at keeping promises, the place to start is with me."