Going places with S&N

When Scottish & Newcastle recently moved into a new head office,the company did it with a difference. Phil Mellows reports

Next to death, so they say, moving home is the most stressful thing that can happen to you. Most of us just want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Even thinking about it can be painful.

That's not how Scottish & Newcastle Retail (S&N) approached its recent head office relocation, though.

For the 600 staff involved, the move to Lakeside House in Northampton was more than just a matter of packing your stuff into a crate and waiting anxiously to find out whether the same crate was waiting for you at the other end.

Completed in November, the whole exercise was designed to be a learning experience and an opportunity to shake people out of their habitual attitudes. Crumbs, some even said it could be fun!

The culture change itself is rooted in S&N's role in the pub industry. Pubs and bars are about creating a warm and welcoming environment and S&N wanted to create a similar culture in its head office, treating its office and support staff like customers of the company.

Like other big pub companies, S&N consists of a head office and staff in the pubs and in the field which can sometimes generate an "us and them" attitude. This potentially divisive culture was aggravated by a prolonged period of change for the company which saw it move from a regional operation to a divisional structure, acquire the Greenalls estate and, in January this year, restructure the business again to focus on the top end of the pub market.

This involved S&N disposing of a large number of its pubs and the jobs that went with them.

There was a need to unite the company, to draw a line under the changes which had taken place, to make the company less departmental and to improve communications.

As managing director Bob Ivell (pictured below with training administrator Lynda Newman)​ pointed out, the timing of the move put it at the heart of this culture change.

It would form a kind of hinge, a turning point to take the change a stage further. Moving would be seized upon as an opportunity rather than endured as an unpleasant interruption to office life.

"It was one important part of a larger process, the culture change that we have been making for the past 12 or 15 months," he said. "Moving could have made it a relatively difficult period for us, but as we come out of it, morale is very high."

Bob is "amazed" at how some of the language created to ease the move has become a part of the everyday vocabulary at Lakeside.

For instance, people are going around calling each other, or themselves, "Tiggers" and "Eeyores". Tiggers are positive, bouncy and ready to help, while Eeyores will always find something wrong.

"You can call someone an Eeyore without being offensive," said Bob. "And people will say things like 'I'm being a bit of an Eeyore today' when they are in a bad mood.

"It's interesting how people have taken to the language and it shows that they are thinking about how they are behaving.

"There are always sceptics, of course, but on the whole people have enjoyed it. It's made us all sit up and think about how we work with and talk to other people."

The pub managers and staff who deal with S&N headquarters every day should also notice a difference.

"It was something that was happening anyway as we have tried to change the relationships between the units and head office," said Bob.

Part of the wider culture change has also encouraged central managers and staff to go out and spend a couple of days working in a pub.

"By understanding other people's jobs, you can be more positive and helpful," Bob added. "If you've worked in a pub, you won't be phoning the manager at Friday lunchtime, for instance."

A moving story​

A team made up of people from different areas of the business was given the job of communicating the company's vision and values as part of the office move, with the aim of creating a better culture and better ways of working.

Recognising that change and moving can be stressful, the team chose to focus on a positive moving experience - going on holiday - rather than the more negative moving home experience. The move to new offices and beginning of a new way of working was themed accordingly, from pre-move tours to passports.

The team put together the following programme:

• Postcard invitations​ - people were sent postcards inviting them to attend a tour of the new office, something that became known to insiders as "sheep-dipping".
• "Big Move" intranet site​ - with information on Lakeside including floorplans, photographs of the building and information on the move itself.
• Orientation tours​ - people went on a tour of the new premises themed as a holiday to make it more fun and upbeat. They were bussed over in alphabetical order to break down barriers between departments and position. A tour guide talked them through the trip and the contents of their welcome pack. After touring the building they ended up having drinks at the café in the new offices.
• Welcome pack​ - this consisted of a pull-out map of the floor layout and information on different departments and what they do, a postcard to send in their views and a "passport".
• The passport ​- in addition to being stamped when the tour was done this is now stamped when head office staff have done their two days working in a pub and again when they do work experience in different departments. While this isn't compulsory, incentives are given for acquiring stamps.
• Workshops​ - people moved in over a period of days with workshops taking place even before they had unpacked. The workshops involved people giving feedback about areas which need addressing within the business, for example poor communication, as well as understanding and experiencing company values. In keeping with the holiday theme, the room was set up like an aeroplane with a facilitator - the captain - and was headed by a member of the S&N executive or a head of department. Flight tickets, boarding passes and honking geese - an inflight video showing how geese are good at teamwork - were all used to communicate the message.
• Commitment wall​ - the workshop ended with people committing themselves to doing something differently by writing on the outside of the brick what they are going to do. They also had the option of writing a personal, confidential frustration and putting this inside a brick. Heads of department will review the commitment bricks from members of their department and review the pledges along with any areas which have been identified as issues for their department.
• Goodie bags​ - When they arrived at their desks, people found a bottle of champagne, a new mouse mat and coaster waiting for them.
• Welcome parties​ - as on the first day of a holiday, the company held four cross-departmental drinks parties, hosted by Bob Ivell, for people to get to know each other in an informal setting.