The 18-month long campaign was nothing short of a revolution – a fact clearly demonstrated in the sharing of best practice and lessons learned along the way.

Why bother with engagement? Fergal shared some startling facts – 84% of Britain’s working population is not fully engaged. Yet engaged people are more powerful to an organisation than passive wage earners and can add value to a bottom line.

To engage Woolworths employees to really care about customers and make each and every one of them happy when they shopped in store required a multi layered communications approach with four steps devised by Fergal.

This involved peer-to-peer communication techniques, face-to-face roadshows for all employees, leadership workshops, traditional tools and channels and changing the performance management process.

“We had to simplify the strategy to mean something to the frontline so Making Families Smile became the mission, the purpose, the reason for everyone throughout the company.”

Another major learning was to get past the cynicism of managers. “We did that by releasing them to be themselves and use their natural energy and enthusiasm and personality for their roles.