Ex-Asda director shares top tips
A FORMER executive of one of the country’s biggest retailers, who revolutionised its approach to recruitment and reward, has passed on the secrets of his success.
David Smith, former IT and People director at Asda, told a business conference how, over 15 years, Asda became one of the best places in the country to work, and been ranked number one in the respected Sunday Times survey.
Speaking at the Elevation event at the City of Manchester Stadium organised by law firm George Davies and accountancy form Champion, Mr Smith who left Asda two years ago, set out the seven steps towards building a high performance culture.
The first he said was to hire the right people – Asda broke the mould by not seeking young, fit, available people, but individuals with an out-going and gregarious nature.
“Hiring decisions are the most important decisions you ever make. At Asda we decided to differentiate ourselves by our people and started to run half-day assessment centres for people working on the shop floor.
“We went from the middle of the pack to being the best for service. When you hire someone who is really good – it has an impact.”
His second tip is to communicate well with staff , stating: “This is something most businesses admit that they don’t do well.”
Keeping staff at all levels “in the loop” is key to getting their engagement.
He added: “The more people know about a business, the more they care – the contention that only the board need to know about the big stuff, is absolute rubbish in my view,”
Mr Smith told the 200 people at the event that listening to staff concerns is also key. Feedback gleaned from staff ‘on the shop floor’ he said had helped cut absenteeism, and in one case made the business £500,000.
His fourth tip for success was about leadership. He said many businesses were run on autocratic lines on a “command and control basis”.
“I believe if you lead people well the organisation will perform.”
Tackling under-performing members of staff – not an area that any business is adept at – should not be ducked as this creates a log-jam of talent and can stymie the progress of “rising stars”.
Recognising success is Mr Smith’s sixth tip. He said businesses, quite correctly,y have a “default focus on what is going wrong” -but rewarding good performance is often overlooked, even in a small way, helped lift performance and engagement.
Trying to make staff enjoy their work – and making it fun – was the final ingredient on his menu for success.
