Customer story · Retail
Building a coaching culture across 65 stores
How Ngahuia Group is building consistent capability across its teams and helping managers coach and grow their people.
Established in 2017, Ngahuia Group brings together two iconic footwear brands under one company umbrella: Number One Shoes, established in 1974, and Hannahs, established in 1868. With a network of 65 stores across New Zealand, Ngahuia Group takes pride in being a Kiwi-owned and operated business that places its people and customers at the core of everything it does.
We met with Jo McIndoe, Ngahuia Group L&D Lead, to talk about how the group is developing its people, creating consistency across its stores, and building a stronger coaching culture. With over 19 years of retail experience, from starting out on the shop floor at Hannahs, Jo understands the challenges of a fast-paced retail environment.
The challenge
When Ngahuia Group formed, Hannahs and Number One Shoes were still operating as two very separate businesses, which presented an opportunity to find a training provider that could work across both brands. The two service models were quite different: Hannahs specialised in a one-on-one selling approach, while Number One Shoes operated primarily as a self-service model.
Each brand had its own culture and processes. Ngahuia Group needed a simple way to provide consistent training and messaging across both brands, while still being able to customise content to suit its people. It was also important that the content was retail-focused, helping teams deliver a consistent customer experience regardless of the store they worked in.
The solution
Ngahuia Group explored other platforms but found nobody with the specialisation or retail expertise that RedSeed had. Once across the line, initial training courses were launched, followed by customised fundamentals of sales and customer service courses. The RedSeed platform allowed Ngahuia Group to reset and align their learning pathways so they could tailor training to specific roles and grow transferable skills for career development.
Jo operates on a 'no surprises' policy, so having a platform that could provide a far better first impression with consistent, clear messaging was a real advantage. One example was the topic of ram-raiding and threats to safety.
“We were able to quickly build an online course and load it into the RedSeed system pretty much immediately to ensure our team received the same training to keep them safe. We can also confidently identify who has and hasn't completed the training. That's a big one!”
From learning to coaching
Just as the business was finding its feet and developing its learning culture, COVID-19 interrupted its flow, shifting the training focus to other areas. Ngahuia Group made it through with a new outlook: to combine Number One Shoes and Hannahs in selected locations. This created an opportunity for RedSeed to build a customised sales programme for the Superstores, mapping the content to the unique needs of this environment and providing a consistent sales process across the country. RedSeed's embedded coaching allows managers to coach and grow their teams, helping create a consistent approach across the Superstore model.
Results and highlights
Team engagement, or energy, is a key measure of success for Ngahuia Group, with regular surveys used to measure the impact of training across both work-related and personal development content.
“We're seeing a shift in what employees expect or value from the company they're working for. If our people are engaged and feeling like they're being invested in, we know we will see the added benefits like higher retention.”
The RedSeed platform also allows Jo to measure her team's engagement through its energy score.
“The big one for us is around energy. We are now at 93% energy. 90% was our baseline target, so I'm incredibly proud of that 93% result; it shows that the majority of our team is actively engaged in training.”
- 93% team energy score, against a 90% baseline target
- Consistent training and messaging across two brands and 65 stores
- Safety-critical courses built and deployed to all teams almost immediately
A highlight for Jo was building the fundamentals and customer service courses alongside the RedSeed team.
“I spent a fair bit of time in the RedSeed office working hands-on with the team, getting the scripting right, being there for the filming and seeing it come together. It all comes back to the people and their experience.”
What's next: building manager capability
For Ngahuia Group, the next step is continuing to build on the strong engagement already established.
“We have built a true level of engagement in the business; our next step is to continue building that coaching culture and capability within our managers to ensure that we're adding value to complement the training. That's where the magic happens!”
Ngahuia Group has built strong engagement with learning across its stores. The next step is continuing to build the coaching capability of its managers, helping them reinforce that learning and grow their people. For Jo, that's where the real value happens. Read more customer stories.