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Community learning for emerging leaders at Sainsbury's

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Nature lines
Industry
Retail
Solution
Emerging Talent
Talent Management

About

Sainsbury's is the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Impact worked with Sainsbury's to create a graduate programme that would bring to life Sainsbury's leadership behaviours using community action learning.

Sainsbury’s wanted to develop their graduates’ awareness of their personal impact and to increase their understanding of the interpersonal skills needed for working in a team environment whilst bringing to life Sainsbury's leadership behaviours

 

Impact designed a Community Action Learning project based at a primary school. The graduates were challenged to develop a green theme across the school and thus bring sustainability to life. It was a complex and consequential project to elicit real behaviours to explore and experiment with.

A half-day induction prior to the project framed the whole programme effectively, developing strategies and agreeing on outcomes without the risk of getting swallowed up in the task.

Innovative project design was required to meet the dual objectives of building leadership capacity and delivering a successful project for the community partner. The graduates worked in project teams to complete a healthy eating allotment, green team activities, an aromatic border and fence murals. Alongside the projects, a Learning Pod was designed to direct participants to explore and observe Leadership in Action.

"This is the first project we have undertaken with Impact. Our graduate induction programme has been traditionally very corporate - lots of slides and senior speakers. We strongly felt we wanted to provide an experience for these valuable new colleagues that better reflected the direction we are moving in as a business. The project delivered on every level; we were able to make a difference at the school in a way that was aligned with our different values and bring our behavioural framework alive for our graduates as they prepared to leap into the world of work. Their takeaways were very much about increased self-awareness and a great sense of camaraderie amongst the cohort, an experience we shall definitely repeat."

Sue Round, Head of Leadership Development

Testimonials
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Beatrice Venditti
HR Manager
Stryker
"Our experience has been extremely effective for both professional and personal development. For all the participants, it was a 'rediscovery' process as colleagues. Impact facilitated the sessions with a professional and enthusiastic approach. Our team was stretched and challenged physically and emotionally. In module two, it was great to demonstrate what team and inclusion stand for - no prejudice and much personal learning. We are committed to go forward. Thank you for this fantastic experience!"
Natasha Hepburn
Director of Technology Leadership Development
Cigna
"Due to the ever-changing technology environment, the programme has continued to evolve over the past decade. TSLP is able to adapt to the current talent needs of the organisation in a deliberate and timely manner. Remaining flexible as the industry changes, keeping alumni involved to mentor and advocate for current participants and tracking progress in measurable and actionable ways are aspects of the programme that continue to establish a track record of success."
Louise Turnbridge
Senior Manager - People & Organisational Development
Sony
"My brief to Impact was to create an assignment that would unite senior people in a common task to demonstrate that their combined skills create greater capacity to find solutions to strategic problems. Using the parallel challenges within the NGO’s brief, this event enabled us to address the challenges of strategic marketing in our organisation. Plus the team found extra motivation from the fact that their marketing expertise was able to really help Sight Savers."