Justin King: The secret behind successful business transformation

Former Sainsbury's CEO explains what was wrong with technology at the organisation, and how to run successful IT-led transformations

Former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King has explained how to run succesful business transformations, speaking at a conference run by Computing's sister title CRN.

Discussing the 'Making Sainsbury's great again' campaign which he instigated - quipping that the title may have been appropriate by a certain US President - he began by suggesting that "every chief executive should run the business for their mum."

"I told my mum I was going to run Sainsbury's, and she said; 'Are you sure darling, I go there every week and it's crap!'" he began.

"The problem was that everyone blamed it on IT. But you need to have control over your stock before you implement IT on top. IT can't solve fundamental operational failure.

"It's about how you take people on the journey. One of the reasons IT failed at Sainsbury's was because people thought IT would take away the thing they loved the most about their jobs, which was ordering product. We needed to explain to them what they could do with the free time the new technology would create, which is to actually lead people. You need to articulate how the change is good news for those on whom it is visited.

"When bad ideas are executed with IT, IT gets the blame. So you need to ask yourself just because you can do it, should you? Ask if it works for the customer first."

One of the first actions of the campaign, King stated, was to put out a large customer survey. The respond rate was impressive.

"We tried to talk to customers, and 250,000 responded. That was the core of the make it great campaign. Your new IT doesn't work they would say, because the availability of services wasn't there."

One of the crucial aspects of this survey, was that it was done on paper rather than electronically.

"If you use online technology for customer feedback, you create an echo chamber. You should ask questions from those you don't want the answer from. Those who haven't embraced the idea.

"All change starts with customers, and all change is for customers. Work with them and engage them, that's the number one activity in any change situation."

He continued to discuss his attitudes to others in his organisation, stressing that he thinks of everyone as colleagues.

"I call other people I work with colleagues. It's not a question of staff and managers, you're all in a collaborative endeavour. And it's the people on the front line who really get your customers. In any organisation, that's where to invest disproportionate time, those at the coalface.

"My number one test is to walk around a store with the store manager and ask a colleague a difficult question and look to see where their eyes go. If they go to me that tells me one thing, if they go to the store manager, that tells me another."

He added that he sees three categories of people in any change situation, and addressing those who ask difficult questions is critical.

"There are three types of people in any change, internal terrorists who get in the way, evangelicals who will cheerlead any process, and then in the middle you have the doubters. That's the most important group, and it's the biggest group. They put their hands up and ask why something will work, and too often they get shot down, but they're the most valuable resource in a change project."

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Justin King: The secret behind successful business transformation

Former Sainsbury's CEO explains what was wrong with technology at the organisation, and how to run successful IT-led transformations

And communicating with the entire organisation is similarly important, not just the 'doubters' group.

"Communication is key. However much communication you think you're doing, you're not doing enough. And it's a two way street, you should be listening as well as talking. Ask the questions you really don't want the answers to."

He also recommended that organisations wait for others to embrace a new technology before diving in.

"How do you embrace the fact that you won't get it right first time? What do I not know that I should, and how do I find it?

"That's part of the questions around whether you're trying to be a leader or a follwer. Second adopters are more successful empirically. Successful business transformation arrives at the time it's truly right for customers.

"Wallmart is an example of an exceptional IT-led retail business. They have a 'ready, aim, fire' model. It's too hard to be 100 per cent right on day one, so get to day one quickly and invest lots of effort in fixing it. That needs an exceptional feedback loop. If you find a problem, notify the relevant person immediately."

King's learnings come from the hard experience of running his own major change programme, which he described as "a very sigificant turnaround."

However, he added that the supermarket chain has gone on to adopt technology at a quicker pace than he would advise.

"The board at Sainsbury's has now embraced technology at a faster rate than I think is healthy. That's one of the reasons they changed CEO."

In June 2018 Sainsbury's appointed Clodagh Moriarty as its first ever CDO.