Trading area briefings, Half Year Meetings & Black History Month

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Published 14 Oct 2022 in Phil's blog

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I would like to start with a thank you to all the colleagues who sent in their questions last week for the colleague Q&A session. It’s something that I wish to do each month to encourage more two-way conversations. So, if you have any questions please send these to your colleague council representative before the end of the month. If you missed October’s edition, click here.

During my out-and-about visits last week, it was a pleasure to join Society President, Helen Wiseman, visiting a few branches in the Forest of Dean region. We really enjoyed dropping into our store at Coleford which is doing really well following the opening of a new Lidl as well as visiting two of our newest stores that opened last year at Lydney and Bream. A particular mention of Gemma at Bream who had her fellow colleagues in hysterics as she attempted to explain to Helen and me, how people from different parts of the Forest interact based on their particular village or town. Great to hear!

Trading area conferences and briefings

Last week I had the chance to present to our colleagues at the Food Roadshows and the Childcare conference. Providing an overview of the global market and economy affecting our decisions and how we are transforming membership for the better.

Starting with the Food Retail Store Managers Roadshows in Highworth and Brownhills; I discussed the Society’s performance as a whole, the challenges that we have faced collectively, and those that we continue to meet with the cost of living, high energy rates, and the imminent flu and COVID-19 season. In addition, I had the opportunity to answer many high-calibre and pertinent questions, from how we support our colleagues with the cost-of-living crisis to our entrepreneurial spirit as a Society.

Food Retail Roadshows

Childcare also hosted their manager's conference for the first time in 3 years. A huge success with nearly 80 colleagues attending, I was delighted to once again see so many childcare colleagues together in-person. The conference was titled ‘Confident – child-centred – collaboration, The Little Pioneers Way’ and was all about inspiring our colleagues and educators in what it means to be Little Pioneers and practices which best enable building kind, conscientious, confident, and happy children of tomorrow. An incredibly inspiring conference, I am very proud of the Childcare group and all they have achieved – well done.

Childcare Conference

Finally, I gave my monthly briefing update to senior leaders at Warwick last Friday. In an open conversation around business updates & questions from the floor, I discussed the challenges in the market coinciding with the UK Government's growth agenda. With growth currently at 1% in the UK, we are dealing with ‘Stagflation’ where costs are going up with little market growth. This heavily impacts not just consumers but businesses like ours. A continuing backdrop of the increasing price of gas as well as the poor dollar vs pound rate makes a big difference to our import costs. Let’s hope this improves soon.

Half Year Meetings begin & Half year results

I am glad to announce at the half-year stage, gross sales are up, and debt is down. Something I have gone into more detail about during the start of the Half Year meetings, it’s great news. So, if you can join one of the next two meetings in Gloucester and Warwick (which is a hybrid meeting - online and in-person), it would be great to see you there, click here to book your place.

Travel did particularly well during Period 8 against forecast, so a big well done to our travel colleagues. In Food last week, we also went live with a pilot for Uber Eats delivery. Initially piloted in 9 stores across Oxford, we plan to incorporate more areas to aid our growth, so have a lookout for that very soon.

Speaking at the Half Year Meeting in Codsall

Black History Month

This month is all about Black History and it serves as a reminder of why our Community is at the heart of everything we do. So, what if we could be our diverse community’s biggest ally? A community is defined as a unified body of individuals made up of different backgrounds, backgrounds that are enriched with experiences, knowledge and opinions.

Starting at the core of our own diverse workforce. In doing so we could create a stronger foundation for a more successful workforce and use our platforms to have real conversations, and realise potential and ambition in marginalised groups with the hope that we can encourage progress and support individuals to thrive whilst realising their contributions. Being an ally is about challenging surface-level ideas and instead using pragmatic approaches to really enrich each other with cultural learning consequently serving our communities and each other better.

It’s been great to read the Embrace Group’s series of articles to widen our learning and provide us all with an understanding of what Black History Month truly represents. I encourage all colleagues to read them if you haven’t already, ask questions and post your comments and opinions. Keep an eye out for a new story each Wednesday and if you are interested in getting involved or wish to share your ideas, please contact the team at embraceworkinggroup@midcounties.coop.

Celebrating our Leaders & Pioneers – click here
Modern Slavery & Sir Mo Farah’s story – click here

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