MCA Awards 2024 Winner
We’re thrilled to announce that we have won the award for best project at the MCA Awards 2024, in the Change and Transformation in the Private Sector Category, for our work with Holland & Barrett.
We’re proud to support H&B’s ambition to help 100 million people achieve their health and wellness goals and have been working hand in hand with the H&B team to realise a strategic transformation of the business, culture of high performance teams and more.
Find out about what we’ve been doing…
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.
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.
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.
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
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). With the support of EG, Holland & Barrett’s performance has shifted positively on all fronts and the organisational climate has been transformed.