1. Building a performance framework for the new
Waitrose leadership programme
Laura Lane – Waitrose
Rupert Angel – The Greenhouse Project
1

2. 2

3. We had a problem
3
The situation
The old approach was great at
producing mid level store leaders
But they were not progressing and
were too narrow in their understanding,
networks and skill set

4. The old programme was not producing senior
leaders and was “crowding out” other talent
4
The situation
Grads
recruited since
1997
6% Below
Department
Manager
42%
Department
Manager
15% Branch
Manager
Waitrose
0% Senior
managers
Left the
Business

5. And we had new Partnership Priorities
5
The situation – Why change
Partner
Customer
Profit
“We will develop a clearer direction for our partners”
“We will refresh the democratic character of the Partnership”
“We will strengthen our customer offer”
“We will move to become truly multi channel”
“We will identify how we will achieve our stated goal of doubling in size by 2017”
“We will improve the resilience and competitiveness of the Partnership”

6. We had to realign our investment to meet the
new business needs and the data we had
6
The situation
New programme objectives are to
create a senior leadership population fit
for a multi-channel world.
Longer programme, retail + head office

7. We need T-Shape leaders but we need to
develop them in the right order
7
The Insight

8. So we developed the programme to map the
T shaped leader onto the Leadership Pipeline
8
The Insight
Critical
Transition
Team Leader & Individual
Contributor roles
L7 level for 2 years
Managing managers
L5 level
Manager role in year 3
L6 level
Start developing breadth of
understanding of retail and some team
management skills
Develop depth of
understanding and skill
in an area of the
business
Continue to develop
functional expertise
and develop
management skills
Be ready for a manager
of managers role where
breadth of
understanding and how
to manage matters
more than deep
technical specialism

9. The new programme deliberately takes the
graduates from retail into specialist roles
9
The situation

10. We identified that the new programme has
these 6 critical success levers
10
The situation
Managing for
high
performance
Buy in from
ALL key
stakeholders
Retention
Speed to
perform
Right mix of
depth and
breadth
Aligning to
strategic roles

11. So what? – The key challenge around
measurement
11
The Complication
This is a scheme with a
5 to 7 year end goal.
This is longer than the
programme
We know that graduates
seek rapid and accurate
feedback to drive
their development
in the early days
The senior
leadership team will want to
know if the programme is working
and that the graduates are on
track to hit the target
The experience has to
maintain challenge and
stretch to maintain
engagement
Our current
performance and
measurement
processes do not
deliver what we need to
drive the success of
this programme
The current Waitrose
performance system
is role based and
annual

12. So one of the big questions we had to answer
was
How do we measure the performance of the
scheme, including the progress of our
graduates, to give the business confidence
that it is going to get a return on its investment
and moves away from an anecdotal view
12
The Question

13. Our answer – To create and implement a lightweight measurement
process that measures the critical levers and allows the graduate team to
communicate progress, and hopefully success, to the key players
13
The answers
Performance Engagement Process

14. We needed a performance process that, at the
start, recognises the grads are not in “a role”
– The structure of the programme is to accelerate the grads through a series of retail roles to build
understanding of the stores, customers, Partnership behaviours and managing people
– For the first year we are moving the graduates faster than they can be expected to deliver in a role
– We are also expecting them to develop a wider degree of breadth than the typical partner
14
Performance process
Time based reviews which focus on progression NOT just performance
in a role
At the right transition points, so the timings are relevant
Provide a clear set of expectations to the line managers and the grads
of where a grad should be at 90, 180 and 360 days
Focus on what the grads have learned and demonstrated against the
scheme objectives
Maintain the dual focus on performance today in role, have they done
an exceptional job, and are they meeting the schemes
Moderated and shared by the graduate team

15. Visualisation of performance on a detailed grid
15
Performance process
0.00 1.00 2.00
Performance on Scheme
PartnerBehaviours
Under Performing
Under
Performing
Acceptable Performance Excellent
Acceptable
Performance
Excellent
Performance

16. More importantly visualisation of performance
over time – Direction of travel
16
Performance process

17. How we track the graduates’ engagement
– Our view is that engaged and stretched graduates, who feel like they are well supported and making
progress will stay with the business. And for this programme to pay back we need the graduates to stay
– We have a corporate level partner engagement survey, but the frequency is too slow for our grads, and
the granularity is to high
17
Engagement
Frequent 6 question survey that take less than 2 minutes to complete
• Are you happy with the scheme?
• Do you feel you are learning important new skills?
• Do you feel you are making progress?
• Do you feel the work you are doing is worthwhile and important?
• Do you feel you are you getting the support you need?
The sixth question is a Net promoter score type question
• Would you recommend this graduate scheme to a friend?
From these simple questions we are able to keep a view on the “pulse” of
the graduate experience

18. Graphs of engagement to identify where we
need to focus
18
Engagement
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
2013 Winter
1
2013 Winter
2
2013 Spring
1
Are you happy with the
scheme?
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
2013 Winter
1
2013 Winter
2
2013 Spring
1
Is your work worthwhile
and important?
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
2013 Winter
1
2013 Winter
2
2013 Spring
1
Are you learning important
new skills?
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
2013 Winter
1
2013 Winter
2
2013 Spring
1
Are you making
progress?
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
2013 Winter
1
2013 Winter
2
2013 Spring
1
Are you getting the
support you need?
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
2013 Winter
1
2013 Winter
2
2013 Spring
1
Net Promoter
Good
Mediocre
Poor

19. How we track the schemes performance?
– The third element we want to track is the performance of the scheme as a business process
– We know there are some critical foundational building blocks that a good graduate programme needs to
be successful.
– We track these with the graduate and line manager population to understand trends and the changes in
directions
19
Process Performance
Our model of success is built around the 5 factors of
• Clear objectives
• Right graduates
• Buy in across the key stakeholders
• Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors
• Right learning
For each of these factors we have a set of questions that we ask to the
key stakeholders three times a year

20. How we use the data to see the shifts over time
and where we need to focus
20
Process Performance
50%
75%
100%
125% Objectives
50%
75%
100%
125% Right grads
50%
75%
100%
125% Buy in
50%
75%
100%
125% Learning
50%
75%
100%
125% Engagement and Motivation
50%
75%
100%
125%
Objectives Right
grads
Buy-in Learning Motivation
Summary

21. ..and even more insightful when graduate and
line manager views are compared
21
Process Performance
50%
75%
100%
125%
End of
programme
Good
performance
defined
Clear
Milestones
Clear
Financial
return
Total
Objectives
50%
75%
100%
125%
Right grads Able to
perform
Potential to
be senior
managers
Diversity Total
Right grads
50%
75%
100%
125%
Senior
management
HRBPs Line
Managers
HO retail ops Total
Buy in
50%
75%
100%
125%
Right balance Clear Well
designed
Stretching Total
Learning
50%
75%
100%
125%
Challenging Salary and
perks
Shape their
careers
Role models Total
Engagement and
Motivation
50%
75%
100%
125%
Objectives Right grads Buy-in Learning Motivation
Summary

22. We are also able to Benchmark our data and
performance
– Knowing trends is one thing, knowing if we are on track against other schemes and companies is another
22
Benchmarking
Waitrose The rest

23. By using benchmark data we are able to
answer the question of how do we compare
23
Benchmarking
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
2013 Winter 1 2013 Winter 2 2013 Spring 1
Overall Engagement vs
benchmark
50%
75%
100%
125%
150%
Objectives Right
grads
Buy In Learning Motivation Total
GEM Consistency against
benchmark
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
Objectoves Right grads Buy in Learning Motivation
GEM against Benchmark

24. And by putting it all on one page we can give a
clear view of how the scheme is performing
24
The one page view

25. Conclusions so far
– Early days with a new scheme
– Up front we have recognised that the new scheme objectives require a different way to answer the critical
questions of
• Is the scheme on track to deliver its end goals?
• Are the grads on track?
– Putting in place a lightweight over the top set of measures has been important. However, the line
managers and the graduates have responded well as they see the value!
– It has already allowed us to act to address some key issues and push some graduates forward
– My HR team and the senior management team like seeing the data and understanding where we are,
and having an external benchmark
– Let you know how it goes in the future
25
Conclusions

26. Laura_lane@waitrose.co.uk
26