Issue
The John Lewis brand is synonymous with excellent customer service and with its online business growing, the delivery drivers are much more than drivers – they are often the face of John Lewis and key to the success of its business.
As “brand ambassadors” in their own right, John Lewis needed a way to analyse individual training and development needs of each driver, to enable them to achieve the high standards of service their customers expect, to work safely and efficiently and as the company extended the services the drivers could provide, to ensure they could do so confidently.
Outcome
Working with John Lewis we developed the, ‘Much more than a driver’ programme, that is now taken annually by drivers across 21 delivery sites and forms part of each individual’s development and performance planning.
The programme doesn’t just measure what people know, but how their knowledge is applied on the job and how people actually behave when performing their roles. The assessments measure how confident the drivers are and reveal any skills or knowledge gaps and risk areas which can be addressed using targeted training programmes.
Assessment
Our occupational psychologists worked with a cross-functional team at John Lewis, including drivers, to determine the scope of the assessment and development programme based on the challenges and scenarios involved in a typical “driver’s day”.
The assessment included specific focus areas including: Proposition, Customer Experience, Compliance, Delivery Failure, Operational Performance and Enhanced Services and was mapped to John Lewis’ strategic objectives. We then devised a scenario-based assessment which examined each driver’s knowledge, confidence, skills, their understanding of their roles and how each driver would react and behave in each given scenario.
Migrating to MyKnow to roll out assessments
The online assessment was designed specifically to fit around the working patterns and practicalities of the drivers’ delivery schedules. Migrating the initial approach onto our People Risk and Competency Management platform, MyKnow, is enabling the company to widen the scope of the assessment and development process, to include other areas of the John Lewis operation starting with the warehouse and operations team and to develop new programmes and initiatives to improve and enhance employee development.