John Lewis works with Cognisco to improve the skills, knowledge and confidence of its drivers

John Lewis works with Cognisco to improve the skills, knowledge and confidence of its drivers

John Lewis has 32 shops across the UK, and employs over 30,000 employees or ‘Partners’.

The retailer’s drivers are central to the success of its thriving online customer delivery service, and are viewed as its ambassadors.

As such, the company invests in their training and development to continually improve their skills, knowledge and confidence, ensuring they provide great customer service.

Since 2008, John Lewis has held regular national driver’s meetings, to review the productivity and performance of drivers.

In 2009, John Lewis approached Cognisco to develop a single, tailored training and development programme for drivers across the company, which also met local branch needs. The company wanted to establish a way to assess and measure the performance of drivers and create a benchmark for excellence that could be used to attract and recruit new talent.

Training for the front line

Damian May, business development manager at John Lewis, said: “Our drivers are at the forefront of John Lewis’s customer service offering. If a customer has placed an order through johnlewis.com the driver may be the only face-to-face contact a customer has with our business, so it’s vital that they receive the same experience as they would in one of our shops. We listened to our driver’s feedback, and realised that we needed to create a way of finding out exactly what their training and development needs were to allow them to achieve the high standards of service our customers expect.

“We appointed Cognisco, as its assessment system doesn’t just measure what people know, it assesses how their knowledge is applied and how people behave when performing their jobs. The assessments also measure how confident people are and provide vital information about any skills and knowledge gaps which can be addressed using targeted training programmes.”

Much more than a driver

To design the development programme, a ‘Driver’s Day’ was set up in February 2010 where a working team of 12, including: six delivery drivers, a regional operations manager and personnel manager came together to decide on its content and to identify the specific daily challenges and scenarios faced by drivers, which should be covered in the training programme. Working with Cognisco, the team created a development programme entitled: ‘Much More than a Driver’.

Cognisco’s experienced authors and occupational psychologists ensured the assessment material was aligned to John Lewis’s strategic objectives, as well as knowledge and behavioural goals. The authors then devised 22 scenario questions to assess the drivers’ knowledge and confidence together with their understanding of their job roles. The questions asked how they would react and behave in certain ‘on the job’ scenarios.

The first round of assessment modules was run for Partners, across 21 delivery sites, in spring/summer 2010. Drivers were given a set time to complete the computer-based, online programme. Individual site managers were given four weeks to roll out the entire programme, which was designed to fit in around their delivery schedule.

May added: “Our drivers spend a lot of time on the road, so it was particularly important to have a programme that allowed them to fit training in when they were in a building with access to IT facilities.”

Based on the responses and feedback, the learning and development team at John Lewis was able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each driver, as well as their individual training and development needs. Site managers delivered the feedback to the drivers and produced personal training and development plans for each individual.

Training materials and activity packs with job aid cards were created by the learning and development team for the drivers covering six subject areas. A ‘day in the life of a John Lewis delivery Partner’ video is also being created, alongside a workbook, allowing drivers access all elements from the training programme even from a remote location.

Gaining important Partner feedback

May said: “The feedback from the drivers on the ‘Much More than a Driver’ programme has been very positive; with many commenting on the fact the business listened to what they had asked for. They have also been instrumental in driving the programme forward. From a business perspective, the programme has been well received, and it has also provided us with a benchmark for what we expect from our drivers, which will be used in the recruitment process moving forwards.

“Cognisco brought its knowledge and expertise to this programme. The questions are cleverly worded, to really make Partners think about their job and allow both Partners and trainers to get the most out of the training process. The team at Cognisco kept in close contact with John Lewis, and were responsive and collaborative throughout the entire process,” he added.

Mary Clarke, chief executive at Cognisco, commented: “The John Lewis brand is synonymous with excellent customer service, and with its online business growing, the drivers that deliver its goods are much more than drivers – they are often the face of John Lewis and key to the success of its business.

“Both the John Lewis management team and the drivers were receptive and enthusiastic about the recommendations we made. We firmly believe we have helped to improve the skills, knowledge, confidence and performance of the drivers.”