“Thanks again for hosting our Leadership programme last week, what you put together worked perfectly and all those that attended have feedback how much they got out of their time with you in relation to their Leadership Behaviours, which was exactly our objective.” Manager, Technical Training Centres
About the John Lewis Partnership Programme
We have been working with John Lewis Partnership since 2010, delivering both team and Management development programmes. A number of these have been centred around bringing together new teams for new store openings.
One of these programmes was in preparation for the John Lewis store opening in Chelmsford. For this event Bowles was privileged to work with the dynamic John Lewis Management Team on the design and delivery of a 3 day residential experiential Leadership programme. This programme enabled the group to practice and bring to life new and existing leadership skills in a safe environment.
The group stayed at Bowles to start their journey together. Specific aims were to develop into a robust management team, to understand each other’s strengths and how best to integrate these, to challenge each other in the right way to achieve the right outcome, to be flexible while staying focused on the John Lewis customer and to create an environment of trust. All this while living and breathing their own values. Our challenging activities were all approached with a positive “can-do” attitude.
Over 3 days, as facilitators, we found ourselves riding the wave of excitement, engagement and optimism created by this fantastic group. John Lewis Chelmsford is truly in good hands!
The Objectives of the programme
The key aim of the event was to develop the team in preparation for the Chelmsford Store opening. Specific outcomes included :
- to develop into a robust management team;
- to understand each other’s strengths and how best to integrate these;
- to challenge each other in the right way to achieve the right outcome;
- to be flexible while staying focused on the John Lewis customer;
- to create an environment of trust.
Did the Bowles programme achieve these objectives
The programme was designed in partnership with Regional John Lewis Training Managers and they worked very closely with the branch’s Leadership team to support them in their training. We ensured that the programme delivered not only the required learning objectives but also that the John Lewis values were incorporated making it a truly integrated programme. One of this enthusiastic management team told us:
“I have been in retail in a Senior position for 10 years yet I was still able to learn so much about myself and how I will apply this in my new role.”