Wickland Westcott

Mothercare - The DNA of Leadership

When Mothercare bought The Early Learning Centre in 2007, Chief Executive Ben Gordon and Group HR Director Sue Malti saw a need to define what great leadership looked like, to secure continued business success into the future. They commissioned Wickland Westcott - specifically our Team & Board Development Practice - to interview each member of the Executive and establish precisely what was required of their people in order to meet the challenges of continued global growth. After rigorous analysis a framework was created. Christened the Mothercare DNA, it defines the cornerstones of leadership for all levels within the merged business.

Establishing Strengths and Synergies

To embed this framework, the top 35 leaders took part in a purpose-built development programme, led by the Executive team. It was designed to help participants understand individually where their personal strengths and development opportunities lay, and to help them recognise the synergies available through genuine team-working.

Building for the future

Recruitment, development, performance management and reward strategies have been designed to reinforce this critical Mothercare DNA, and further workshops have been run with other groups of employees, suppliers and franchisees to deliver the message to the front line and bring it alive.

Keith McCambridge, from Wickland Westcott's Team Development Practice, comments: "Mothercare now has a clear understanding of what great leaders in their business look like and has a steering wheel to guide all HR strategy. Mothercare continues to outperform other specialist retailers in a tough market and some of that performance difference is down to the way in which it is led."

Group HR Director Sue Malti comments: "The DNA has mobilised leadership at all levels throughout the organisation. It has unified and focused that leadership on the delivery of consistent performance improvement."