In it Together, Board Strategy Day & Cal Major Competition Winner

With the Government announcements this week outlining new measures to help tackle the rise in COVID-19 cases to keep the country safe, I wanted to reassure you all that we will continue to prioritise and be proactive regarding the safety our colleagues and customers.

Our approach to both personal protection and social distancing measures is a high priority and that remains unchanged. We have been constant in doing what’s right, with some of our policies reflecting ahead of time, what is now a legal requirement, such as face masks.

Our procurement team and groups continue to do a great job, managing and monitoring stocks of sanitiser, gloves, face masks, ensuring adequate supply and contingency stock is available.

Our food group continues to work with our national distribution network partners and local suppliers to protect availability in our stores.  

We will continue to monitor developments and as news of further measures to help fight this disease and actions to support the economy emerge, we will of course update you. 

We are all in this together, and I want to thank you for your continued support.

 

Board Strategy Day

The Board met (virtually) on Monday for a strategic review day. The focus was on our ambition to become a truly ‘member first’ organisation. This includes how we ensure that the majority of our sales transactions are with members by 2025. The Board were given an update by Alison Bain, Chief Marketing Officer, on how the member reward and digital sign up pilot is progressing. You may recall that we launched this pilot in the Cotswolds and Walsall areas on 10 August which includes a new App and easier online process for member sign up. Over 1000 members have already downloaded the App in the pilot areas.

Rupert Newman, Chief Retail Officer, Food & Pharmacy, then discussed with them our thinking on digital/online strategies for food retail. This was a vibrant session with some robust challenges from the directors. I spent some time talking about how we might broaden our service offerings to our older membership bases and how some of the learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic are shaping our thinking on what additional services we could look to offer in the future.

Pete Westall, Chief Values Officer, then shared the outputs from a recent ‘stakeholder alignment’ exercise which had been carried out involving representation from the Board, management, colleagues and members. The process utilised new software which includes sophisticated algorithms to gauge opinion and views. The main focus was to understand how aligned we are on what membership needs to feel like in 2025. A really interesting exercise and this new approach to engagement will be used more frequently in the future to ensure that we are all collaborating on how we plan to deliver the best possible service to our members.

The Board strategy days are important opportunities for your directors to shape our longer-term future and whilst I know we have to face into the pressing issues of today, we also need to keep a firm grip on our future opportunities and plan accordingly.

 

And the winner is…

Following Cal Major’s fantastic expedition to raise awareness of plastic pollution, which concluded last week, I am delighted to announce the winner of the exclusive colleague competition.

The winner is...

Andrew Moss – Team Manager at our Codsall Food store

"I'm still in shock at winning this fantastic prize. It's truly inspiring the expedition that Cal has undertaken, the River Severn is a lovely place, I used to take part annually in a Charity Raft Race from Ironbridge to Bridgnorth back in the 90's so know that section well! As a Family, we enjoy a walk/bike ride alongside the river in Shrewsbury as well. I entered the competition not expecting to win, my Wife has mentioned to me on a few occasions that she would love to try paddleboarding so I am truly overwhelmed to win! Thank you again."

Congratulations Andrew, I hope you enjoy your paddle board and who knows I might even join you and Cal on that paddle board experience.

You can now view the full video of Cal’s expedition and ask her any questions here.

 

Your Half-Yearly Meetings – Book your Place 

Plans for our Half-year meetings are well underway and I’m looking forward to updating and discussing with members our performance for the first half of the year.  

This year there will be two meetings, one that to cover the north on 6th October and one to cover the south on the 13th October. This is so that not only can we update members on the Society’s performance, but so that we can also update members on what we have been doing to support their local communities and answer questions on issues that are important to them.

I hope that you can join us at one of the meetings. For further details on the meetings and to book your place click here. 

 

Colleague Pulse Survey 

Today we opened a new colleague pulse survey which is about communication. The survey is only 7 questions, so quick and easy to complete. By completing the survey you will be helping us to understand how we can improve things and so I would encourage you to have your say.

If you are not signed into Colleagues Connect already, this link will ask you to do so first.

You can complete this round’s pulse survey here.

 

If you enjoyed reading my blog, why not leave a comment below.