Passion, freedom and results at Halfords
Caryn Vanstone , John Pedley
Ashridge Consulting Ltd
Berkhamsted, Great Britain (UK)
2003, May 14
Annotation: Two years ago, Halfords was embarking on a period of change. The UK's largest retailer of car parts, cycles and associated leisure products, was revamping its 400-plus outlets and introducing new approaches in head office, but staff felt disenfranchised. In the warehouse, industrial action had only been narrowly avoided, and the atmosphere was one of control and resistance.
The change process started using appreciative storytelling to help the Board create a strategic intent and vision that could be used to widen the creative process throughout the organisation. Ashridge Consulting then formed a team with Halfords' internal consultants to bring this to life.
Over several months, using a mixture of group work, inquiry interviews, self-organising projects and mini-summits, Halfords created a culture change based on emerging values and genuine energy.
The results were dramatic, the cost of refitting stores was substantially reduced as a result of time and cost saving measures implemented by the staff themselves, while relations between management and workers in Halfords' distribution warehouse operation were improved.
The attachment contains the full case study story.
These achievements were acknowledged by the management consulting industry in the UK earlier in 2003 when it was announced Winner of the Organisational Development category of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) / Guardian Newspapers Awards for Best Practice. The win and the story of the work with Halfords were published in The Guardian (UK) on Thursday 6th February 2003, under the headline “A little more conversation”. The same story had also been featured in People Management (UK) in November 2002, entitled “Thanks for asking”.
ACL’s view of organisations as evolving social processes acknowledges the fact the organisations and individuals exist in increasingly dynamic circumstances. Since the completion of ACL’s work with Halfords, the company was sold by Boots to a venture capitalist group. Changes have been inevitable but the AI based work is being continued through the project teams and networks generated during the project.
Online Resources:
www.ashridgeconsulting.com
Resource Files:
Passion, freedom and results at Halfords (pdf )
|
|
