Building great leaders through everyday coaching

R.M.Williams, a renowned Australian premium footwear and clothing brand, has crafted products that stand the test of time since 1932. With a heritage deeply rooted in Australian culture and craftsmanship, the company has evolved into a global icon of quality and style, expanding its retail presence across Australia and beyond.

We caught up with Kirsty James, Senior Manager, Internal Communications & Employee Experience, to talk about how R.M.Williams is developing its people, building great leaders, and creating the behaviours behind its signature customer experience. Kirsty's journey began with R.M.Williams in 1996 as a 19-year-old.

“I started as the office junior, and then I was lucky enough to progress through various roles. It was predominantly retail-focused to begin with. We only had 13 company stores when I started, and we've got 60 now.”

From retail sales and operations to wholesale, e-commerce and manufacturing, Kirsty has experienced a wide variety of roles. Now, 27 years on, she is developing the team and sharing her love for the brand. “You don't stay somewhere for that long unless you're passionate about it.”

The challenge

About five years ago, R.M.Williams' retail network was getting bigger and bigger. They needed to train their teams quickly and easily without getting everyone together in one place. Initially the business chose an alternative training provider that gave the team access to online courses and a basic build tool. It worked for what R.M.Williams needed at the time, but as the business evolved, so did its expectations.

Kirsty surveyed the existing team and users, asking what they liked about the current platform and what frustrated them. The feedback helped the business determine they were searching for something more engaging and interactive that would drive positive behaviour change.

“It's all well and good to ask the team to complete the training, but if you can't see any change at the end, or if people aren't engaged in it, then it's a complete waste of everyone's time.”

The solution

Kirsty thoroughly researched the market, with several demonstrations and conversations with five or six training providers.

“We did our due diligence, but when I saw RedSeed, I knew it was going to tick all the boxes that we needed at this point in time. Driving behaviour change to ensure the customer is our number one focus, always, was our priority.”

By using RedSeed's video-based format, with supporting images and interactive activities, Kirsty was able to drive up engagement and retention. The ability to use short videos and less text also helped accommodate different learning styles across a diverse employee base.

“What I love about RedSeed is our ability to build customer-focused courses that are 100% bespoke to R.M.Williams. It's as simple as watching the videos that are filmed in our own stores with our own products and going out and practising.”

Another priority was a simpler, less overwhelming onboarding programme. With the previous platform, new employees were assigned every training piece at once, receiving around 30 courses and an email for each. Kirsty now uses RedSeed's learning pathways to provide a clear order of courses that no longer overwhelms new hires. R.M.Williams launched its new platform, the R.M.Williams Learning Library, starting with manufacturing and distribution teams before launching to retail.

Starting with the managers

For R.M.Williams, getting buy-in across the business needed to start with its managers. The business gathered its Store Managers across three workshops and facilitated face-to-face learning on the importance of leadership and building a learning culture.

“We completed a couple of the leadership courses together and went through the entire platform, then discussed any barriers to success that our Store Managers envisaged and found solutions as a group. They were then able to confidently go back to their teams and get them excited about what was coming.”

Store Managers used the platform for a month before it was launched to the wider retail network.

“The launch is super important in how your teams perceive and engage with it. The way we launched our Learning Library was really positively received and proved to be successful.”

Looking beyond course completion

Although it was early days for results, Kirsty was excited about the initial wins across the business.

“Our supply chain is sitting at around 80% energy, which blows me away given that they are out on the front line with no technology in front of them and have to make time to find another space to do their learning.”

Initial feedback from retail was also positive, particularly around how easy the Learning Library was to use and how interactive and engaging the content was. Going forward, Kirsty is interested in looking beyond engagement alone.

“We have KPIs that our retail teams are striving for, particularly from a service point of view. We will be looking closely at customer feedback, along with how conversion, UPT, ATV and sales growth compare to each store's energy levels.”

What's next: building great leaders

Looking ahead, a core focus for R.M.Williams is to build great leaders, in particular leaders who understand the importance of coaching and developing their people.

“We want to build leaders that have regular coaching conversations with their teams. What did you learn today? How are we going to practise that? What worked well? Leadership is a constant conversation, and building leaders that role model expected behaviours, empower their team and facilitate learning rather than telling, is our number one.”

An omnichannel future is also top of mind. With retail, wholesale and digital channels increasingly connected, R.M.Williams wants to provide the same signature customer experience across every touchpoint. For R.M.Williams, learning is only part of the picture. The next step is continuing to build leaders who coach, develop their people, and help turn learning into everyday behaviour. Read more customer stories.