The three practices shortlisted in the Multiple Practice category at the Optician Awards night this spring were all branches of Specsavers. However, the Torquay branch trumped its sibling practices.
Branch director Simon Simmonds says: ‘The awards night was fantastic. We had fun putting together an Awards portfolio of activities, goals and achievements that we spent 12 months working towards. In my mind winning the Multiple Practice of the Year Optician Award is the nearest you can get to being the best of the best in the UK. The nervous energy throughout the day itself just kept on building. When we were announced as winners we couldn’t believe it. The emotional outpour was massive. A true night to remember.’
The Awards judges felt practices in the category inevitably follow corporate guidelines but this store managed to ‘inject fun’ by giving the team input into its approach to patient care. ‘This benefited the practice’s engagement with its catchment, to which from a large, well-equipped premises the team provided a large share of the eye care consultations given to the public in Torquay last year. It also used the facilities to offer pre-reg student training and gave its staff of 35 individual counsel on routes to career progression in the profession. This coincided with a landmark for revenue made in the practice,’ they said
At the EFY 2015 the practice reported £2 million annual turnover for the first time in the store’s 30 years of practice. The team had particular success in promoting contact lens sales, which represented 22% of business last year. The store says its market share increased to 72% in 2015, up from 68% in 2014. But prior to these sales achievements the branch was rocked by the unexpected passing of its long-serving store director Joy Filon. Service in the multiple suffered from a breakdown in team morale – a problem without a purchasable answer.
Simmonds says: ‘After the death of the store director in 2014 there was a new dynamic in store. Something that we had lost slightly and we were hindered by negative team members. Everything was too much trouble. Jobs were not getting done fully. This was critical in the realisation from the team that we could not operate like this. We needed to re-find a positive, “can do” attitude. It was like having a watershed moment.’
According to Simmonds the solution that changed the direction of the business was the employment of a team building strategy entitled, ‘the teamship rules’, used by Sir Clive Woodward while managing the Rugby World Cup winning England side of 2003.
Simmonds explains: ‘I was particularly interested in the fun part of this. I discussed the principle at the first meeting, and set out a framework. We gathered the team and laid out the five key behaviours that we needed to demonstrate in our work. These were: professionalism, pride, attitude, development and fun.’
Each behaviour was given to a different member of staff, and it was their responsibility to own this behaviour. Each then held a meeting to gather ideas and suggestions. They then picked the top two in each category. The actions followed the same principle applied to Sir Clive’s, in that the team proposed the behaviour. The top two from each category were all agreed to by the team, establishing 10 Torquay teamship rules. Our store behaviours are reflected in our business success.’
These 10 commandments were fine tuned over six weeks. Staff involved in this team-building process attested that the rules gave the team ‘something to strive towards and feel proud of’.
Simmonds says the team input in setting standards and work goals improved the business. The practice increased its hours to 8am to 8pm from 8.30am to 6pm.
Simmonds says: ‘Having a lot of stores within the chain means standards are high. Therefore to be noticed, and stand out from the other branches you have to be good. Focusing on identifying patient needs and preferences, we offer has meant sales figures simply look after themselves. It challenges you to go the extra mile. Therefore the community benefits from better service, driven by internal competition.
‘We promote the importance of having eye tests. Within the last year, apart from the routine cataracts, diabetes and glaucoma referrals, we have detected two cases of intra-cranial pressure; a case of choroidal melanoma and an undetected brain tumour. These cases really bring home the critical role we have as healthcare professionals. This Optician Award underlines our commitment to being a flagship for Specsavers that the industry should be proud of.’
Multiple practice of the year award
Winner: Specsavers, Torquay
Shortlisted: Specsavers, Chippenham
Specsavers, Salford