Lizzie
Video transcript
My name’s Lizzie Nott. I’m a manager within the Strategy Team. The Strategy Team sits under the managing director, and we work across all the different functions in the business to help them implement projects and develop the projects they need to take the business forward - whether that’s developing a new proposition or a new channel.
There were two reasons I decided to join the Partnership. The first thing that attracted me to apply to Waitrose was the brand. It’s a great food and drink brand; and who doesn’t love great food and drink and enjoy eating Waitrose produce? The second thing, when I actually came to Waitrose, was the people I met when I actually came to Waitrose, and just how warm, welcoming and energetic they were, how much enthusiasm they had for their jobs, and also how bright they were all.
I work with people from all levels of the organisation and from all sorts of different backgrounds. So from supply chain and retail and store development and the commercial side and the buying teams, it’s a huge variety of people all with very different experiences ? and often with very different opinions. Trying to find a way through all of those different opinions and getting people to come to an agreement is really challenging, but also a fun part of my job too, most of the time.
One of the key things that people need is to be flexible and adaptable. Waitrose is going through a huge amount of change at the moment. As a result you need to be prepared to cope with that change and to respond to that change, but equally to be involved in driving it. I think alongside that it’s really helpful to be energetic and enthusiastic and helping to push the business forward. In the future I’d like to move into a more operational role in the business. I don’t know exactly where I want to go, but my job gives me the opportunity to work across a number of different areas which is giving me great experience and exposure to a variety of parts of the business.
I think these Partnerships have brought the individual progression in a number of ways. Personally I’ve been really fortunate to be able to work in a whole number of different areas of the business, which has allowed me to develop areas of expertise. And in some instances where I particularly ask to be allowed to work on something, so I could learn about that area of the business. They’ve also sent me on training courses which have been really helpful in developing the skills I need to do my job effectively. And perhaps most excitingly, and also most scarily, it allowed me to work with some very senior members of the organisation and to develop experience at working at that level.
One big piece of work that we’ve been involved in in the last couple of years is the convenience format and developing that, and working alongside the store development team to put that in place. Seeing that level of change happen in the business, and thinking about what it means for where Waitrose is going to go, is really exciting.
