Guoliang collaborates to deliver business improvement
In order to support its growth ambitions, the supermarket chain that Guoliang worked for as a customer assistant required its employees to be motivated, flexible and well trained. The management team recognised that a motivated workforce would work harder, be more productive and reduce labour costs. They also wanted to instil a culture of collaborative working, self-monitoring teams and customer service. The supermarket chain had discovered that it was important to create an environment of trust and respect and that in order to motivate their employees, individuals will need to work together with others to achieve individual and team performance goals. The manager emphasised the need to focus on customers, treat people fairly and be open to receiving feedback from others.

The supermarket worked to create a good work environment by:
• Valuing staff through an improved reward programme.
• Developing team as well as individual performance goals.
• Investing in employees through training and development, especially in developing the individual’s understanding of their impact on others.
• Investing in team-building activities to improve communication and cooperation.
• Improve communication through the company intranet, newsletters and formal communication structures such as appraisals and team briefings.
• Delegating decision making to a team level.

The result
The focus on creating an environment where the team could work together on their performance goals resulted in Guoliang and his team members, making a genuine effort to build trust and support each other to meet the team goals. There was a real interest in how the team was progressing and the emphasis on rewarding good performance meant that every individual in the team was committed to delivering his or her best. The team was able to highlight work practices which could be done more efficiently and also recommended areas where the organisation could save money, which resulted in reductions in costly inventory levels and resolving longstanding issues with a particular supplier.