66


John Lewis Partnership plc Annual Report and Accounts 2014


THE PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL REPORT CONTINUED How does the Council


influence policy? There are a number of ways in which the Council influences the direction of the Partnership over time, but in any given year, there are three principal opportunities. The first is through the Council’s right to ask the Chairman or the Board any question it wishes, knowing that they must answer unless doing so would in their opinion damage the Partnership’s interests (Rule 7). In the same vein, the Council may make recommendations to the Chairman on any subject.


On leadership, Councillors have consistently emphasised how much a Partner’s experience of the Partnership is dependent on their relationship with their line manager and have highlighted factors that put that relationship under pressure – the apparent inconsistency of manager: Partner ratios, the increasing amount of “signposting” managers need to do, and the lack of time for coaching and developing or even for listening to and welcoming Partners’ ideas and suggestions.


Councillors recognised that inspirational leadership could not be learned overnight and welcomed investment in the development of line managers and the drive for greater Partnership-wide consistency. Greater investment in systems has been a recurring theme over recent years in Council, so promised developments that would ultimately release managers to spend more time with their teams were also welcomed.


refreshed training and renewed emphasis on the active partnership between representatives and the responsible manager.


Proposals were comprehensively discussed at a historic “Council of Councils” meeting in May – the first time ever that the Divisional Councils and representatives of the Corporate and Partnership Services Forums had joined the Partnership Council for a conference.


In response to the debate on these themes in July, the Chairman reiterated the Council’s critical role in the Partnership’s structure of accountability, with the Partners effectively employing managers to run the business on their behalf.


The second approach, usually at a more detailed level, is through the work of the Council’s Specialist Groups – the Co-ownership Group, Partner Group and Financial Assistance Committee – each of which has 10 members. The detail of the Specialist Groups can be found on page 67.


The third opportunity to influence policy comes through the Council’s consideration of the Partner Survey results in July and October, pulling together all the analysis and discussions that have taken place at local, regional and divisional level.


Additionally, this year has seen the start of the pension benefit review, with the whole Council fully involved from the very beginning, rather than the detailed proposals being assessed by a specialist sub-committee as in previous reviews.


Addressing leadership,


diversity and democracy The key themes that emerged during the year under review on which the Council sought to influence the Chairman were leadership, diversity and democracy.


Comments on diversity were principally borne out of frustration that progress was not quicker. Action plans have been developed to address the variation in Partner Survey scores seen across ethnic groups. However, the results of these are not yet reflected in survey outcomes. Councillors wanted Partners to be able to see how the detail of the business plans addressed these important concerns.


Concerns for democracy, the third key theme, centred around the extent to which Partners in general, and the Council in particular, did genuinely influence the management. Council played a key part in influencing the Democracy Workstream, part of the Driving the Difference programme, in its refreshing of our democratic structures and purpose. Partnership-wide elections this year provided an excellent opportunity to cement the resulting four-level structure,


David Jones is the Council’s President and has served on the Partnership Board as well as the Waitrose and John Lewis Management Boards. He also emphasised the Council’s considerable power to influence the business through its sheer honesty in raising important issues before a captive management audience.


Throughout the year, the Council has been keen to see that change is properly managed. The powerful metaphor, introduced in March, of the Chairman as chief air traffic controller and major change projects as planes coming in to land, was revisited at subsequent meetings. How were priorities determined? How bumpy were the landings? Were there enough fire engines at the ready? Councillors constantly sought reassurance that Partners could continue to trust the Partnership, that there would be a more consistent Partner experience and that post- implementation assessments would properly determine whether we had achieved value for money and the right balance between what was right for the Partnership and right for Partners.


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