resetting for growth: Holland & Barrett’s breakthrough transformation
Winner of the MCA Change Management in the private sector award, 2024
the challenge
United by a clear vision, Holland & Barrett sought to evolve from a high-street retailer to an omni-channel, international service provider that helps over 100 million people achieve their health and wellness goals.
Despite this strong vision, a committed, well-trained workforce and teams bursting with ideas, the organisation had struggled previously to achieve wide-ranging transformation. Store estate and product ranges needed a refresh. In addition, H&B faced challenges common to many high-street retailers following Covid, including cost of living crisis and rapid inflation. H&B was a success story in waiting, but not living up to its potential.
the results
After 12 months. sales had grown by more than 10%, significantly above the market rate, with Holland & Barrett reclaiming market share lost in previous years.
Employee engagement continues to improve and customers have noticed (H&B ranked 9th in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index results).
A complete transformation in organisational climate and overall performance.
the process
What was needed was an agent of change to enable a fast-paced, engaging and comprehensive transformation which would bring focus to the teams and enable the delivery of new products, store refits, operational improvements, technology tools and more. This required a methodical, structured, and people-centric approach to a fundamentally human problem – how to work better together.
We designed a programme around core principles including:
· Putting H&B’s people at the heart of the change
· Building bridges and connecting different parts of the organisation
· Setting clear targets and milestones and making progress visible
· Accelerating delivery in critical parts of the organisation
· Working collaboratively in joint consultant/client teams
· Establishing a climate of accountability and psychological safety
The programme was named ‘Reset’: it was Holland & Barrett’s chance to start again. Working as one team, we collaborated with the Executive and Senior Leadership teams to refresh the strategy, define plans and accountabilities with cross-functional support, and to develop high performing teams, focused on delivering the transformation. We further supported – and enabled the delivery – by establishing a bespoke governance mechanism as well providing targeted subject matter expertise in joint client/consultant teams enabling H&B to accelerate the delivery of critical parts of the plan.