Colleen

Operations Development

Operations Development Manager

Joined Tesco May 2005

Previous work experience:Graduate Exchange in Kenya, AfricaStrategic Management and Performance Improvement Consulting for Bain & Co in Australia and the US working in a wide variety of industries from mining industry supply chain to telecommunicationsMBA at INSEAD in France

Tesco stood out as an employer because they focus on values and leadership. They encourage managers to take risks and be successful.

Since Joining Tesco, about 15 months ago, I have worked on 2 projects. The first was developing a future vision for the refrigerated distribution system - reviewing the processes from suppliers to distribution centres to stores: The second, which I'm working on now, is reducing the order lead times to improve the accuracy of the store deliveries of fresh foods.

To me, Tesco stood out as an employer because they focus on values and leadership. They encourage managers to take risks and be successful, rather than just maintaining the existing systems. Initially, I feared that I might get lost in the crowd of over 300,000 staff. This certainly hasn't been the case. In Operations Development, I have worked with different departments on high profile issues for Tesco. In every department, capable and experienced staff are given the authority they need to make decisions, so that I have never felt tied down by bureaucracy.

Working on improving operations, I am constantly asking people to do something different tomorrow compared to what they do today. I have been inspired by the bravery shown by everyone to take a leap forward and change their practices if it's better for customers. Also, the support from senior management is very encouraging, and even if things don't go perfectly to plan then the focus is on learning and improving for next time. Tesco culture stands out because of the expectation of high performance and that managers make the time to coach and develop people to meet this standard.

In summary, what I do on a day to day basis is:

• Diagnose and investigate key issues identified in Tesco operations, spanning every process from Suppliers to Store Delivery
• Develop and evaluate solutions that ensure the processes are more efficient and deliver better service for customers
• Work with the other Tesco departments to implement these solutions

Find out more about Operations Development.