innovative thinking: talking shop


The training videos include time on the shop floor, such as Rosalind Mace as Mrs Boggins facing off against 4K UHD TV


what will go into upcoming content, Andy adds. He also notes that there is flexibility built into the system; as the needs of the business change, so can the training content. There is also an advantage in having a longstanding training program on which to build. Nick comments: “We’re not starting from


zero. We have established and comprehensive, but scattered and analogue, training.” Andy adds: “The training portal is not a


replacement for conventional training. We’ll still do manufacturer training, which is product based. We do what we call ‘speed training’; we’ll get five manufacturers in on an evening for 20 minutes each, going over key points of a product. That prevents the staff having to go to one every week, or spending all night there, getting bored. That works well for us. “We have half hour sessions every week in every


shop, on any topic that’s relevant. We also do half day and day workshops, depending on the subject. Some people learn sitting in a classroom type environment, and some will learn sitting on their phone on the bus on the way home.”


‘A really exciting project’ The investment in people is part of the wider ethos at Hughes Electrical, Andy notes. The approach is reflected by the company’s other practices in terms of internal communication and sharing best practice between its stores. “We believe you should explain to your people what you need, and give them the tools to deliver it,” Andy explains. “You can’t expect your big picture objectives to occur if no one understands what’s happening. We start every year planning what we need, where we need to be, how the market has changed. We encourage input from staff managers on that; what do they think the trends are going to be this year? We then have our conference for all staff, explaining where


July/August 2016


we want to be, what we think the economy will be doing and so on.” This is followed by Andy and managing director


Robert Hughes visiting every work location in the company, meeting with their staff and discussing targets and plans for the year. “We don’t just email them and say, ‘Here’s


your targets’,” Nick adds. “It’s a conversation.” “I kiss goodbye to six weeks of every year,” Andy adds. “But we believe it’s the right way of doing it. Because then you can say, ‘For this shop, you’ve seen the big picture, this is your portion of it,’ then they can break it down to their staff, and you also hear what’s happening in their town.


People learn in different


ways. Some people learn sitting in a classroom type environment, and some will learn sitting on their phone on the bus on the way home


“We get that input. We hear what’s happening in their location, what they can do, what they might have issues with. I went into one of our smaller shops, where they’d taken one wall that last year was all TV, and this year it’s all SDAs. But talking to the manager, he sees more margin on each kettle he sells than he does on a 42in TV, so it’s the right call for them. If that works there, it might work elsewhere too. I think the main part of my job is sharing best practice.” Nick adds: “Any training we do backs these wider messages up, supporting the big picture. There are some ongoing themes, and some training you do regardless, but for example the videos being shot today have some key messages in that we wanted this year.”


T21 managing director Paul Laville is enthused


by working with the Hughes team to create dynamic and engaging content. “It’s a really exciting project,” he says. “We learned a lot from making the retra training videos last year, and the feedback we received was universally positive. For Hughes we have a slightly different energy because their sales culture is very specific. We’re using the same production company, Doubleshot, to produce the films, but we’re pushing the limits out further, so these films are even bolder and more adventurous in terms of storytelling their key training messages. It’s a fairly hectic couple of days, because we’re working around a store which is open and has customers coming in and out, but we’ve a really good team working behind the scenes, a great director and fantastic actors, which makes the project run very smoothly.” T21 is also responsible for creating the


umbrella site, which will include the training videos as well as the other training materials, inter-store leaderboards and links to manufacturer resources. “The videos are just part of the whole training website and the platform we’re working with Hughes to create,” Paul adds. “The whole back end of the site is really clever. You can see in real-time which members of staff are making progress, where there might be areas of weakness, and work to address those and avoid losing sales. It also shows up who’s really doing well. We’re giving Hughes all the information they might need, and giving the staff flexible and varied ways to learn.” The investment Hughes is demonstrating is only set to continue, Nick adds. “We’re spending more this year and next year for developing our employees than we ever have before,” he says. The drive to improve looks set to deliver positive results for the company again.


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