Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has launched a new leadership training programme, as it looks to claw back market share from rival retailers Asda and Tesco.
The scheme, which started at the end of June and runs until early November, is targeted at the company’s top 1,000 leaders, supermarket managers and their grade equivalent or above.
Imelda Walsh, HR director at Sainsbury’s, said the scheme will help the retailer – which is third in the UK grocery market behind Tesco and Asda – get the most out of its leaders.
“We are putting them through a leadership programme that involves some self-examination, looking at style and behaviours, how you put behaviours into practice, and feeding that back into the programme,” she told Personnel Today.
The move echoes Tesco’s focus on training in the 1990s, which helped it become today’s leading player in the grocery market, according to Andrea Cockram, an analyst at retail research company Verdict.
“What really helped Tesco get off the ground in the 1990s was that it recognised that its staff were not as well trained as those at Sainsbury’s,” said Cockram. “It put a lot of effort into that and it paid off.”
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