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Specsavers: A leadership development success story

The case for continuous learning: why leaders can't afford to stop growing

At [Specsavers](https://www.specsavers.com.au/?srsltid=AfmBOoomHIx6jSqNsRpg5xK-_lns1-8bMe5SBTx8PGht3hoE_P2Qu8UP), people are at the heart of everything they do. 

With a clear purpose to help change lives through better sight and hearing, Specsavers understands that truly making a difference comes from empowering its store partners to grow and thrive as leaders.

By fostering a [culture of shared learning](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/create-a-learning-culture-at-work) across the partnership model, Specsavers aims to create an environment where its leaders feel supported, valued and proud to belong – strengthening the very foundations on which the business was built.

Sharing more about Specsavers' partnership development strategy and how Growth Faculty supports this journey, is [Henny Jaakkola](https://www.insightnews.com.au/specsavers-stories-henny-jaakkola/), Partner Engagement and Development Manager for Specsavers in Australia and New Zealand, whose role focuses exclusively on "making our store owners, who we call partners, feel skilled, supported, connected and respected."

Empowering store partners to grow 

While Specsavers has always had a robust focus on development, Henny shared that several years ago the business identified that it needed to be looking into the future and ensure it had the leadership capabilities needed not only for today, but for tomorrow as well. 

She says it became clear that while the stores were growing rapidly, the capability of business owners wasn’t keeping pace. The two growth journeys were out of sync. To address this, Specsavers recognised the need to invest in their partners’ development - equipping them to be capable, confident business owners and effective leaders of their teams. 

In a business traditionally focused on operational capability, they deliberately shifted their focus towards leadership capability to drive greater impact.

As Henny explains, "From that moment on, leadership development and increasing future capabilities for our store partners has been at the centre of our development offering."

Leadership at the core of business success

This commitment to partner leadership development is structured around “Specsavers Seven," the partnership's leadership framework comprising seven key areas, or in their terms, success factors:

1.  **Developing Self** - Building personal resilience and wellbeing
2.  **Energising Teams** - Coaching, developing, and supporting team members
3.  **Leading Commercially** - Making strategic business decisions
4.  **Customer Experience** - Maintaining their impressive NPS scores
5.  **Embracing Change** - Adapting to the company's fast growth
6.  **Impacting Brand** - Collaborating across stores for collective success
7.  **Leading Together** - Partnering effectively between retail and optometry leaders

With this comprehensive framework in place, Specsavers looked to work with external experts to continuously bring fresh leadership insights to their team.

The Specsavers Seven

When asked why Specsavers partnered with Growth Faculty, Henny was clear, "We’re a partnership business, we know you can achieve great things when you work with people who are experts in their field - we know our partners and Specsavers well, so it’s important we work with the best outside our industry to bring the latest and best leadership insights to our people.”

The [Growth Faculty Business Solutions Enterprise package](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/ForBusiness) has become instrumental in helping to fulfill this promise. It helps the Partner Engagement and Development Managers (PEDMs) stay current with leadership trends and grow professionally, which in turn allows them to bring cutting-edge content to Specsavers' own conventions and training programs.

#### What's most valuable about Growth Faculty?

What makes Growth Faculty stand out for Specsavers? Henny points to two key factors drawn from her personal experience:

"It's the easiness of it... the latest and the hot topics and the hot talkers and these bite-size sessions means you can learn in a way that  suits you. You can do it when you have the time. So, I think it's the easiness and accessibility of it which makes it better, but also the quality of the speakers and the sessions -they are very relevant."

The alignment between Growth Faculty's content and Specsavers' existing leadership frameworks has been particularly valuable. Henny notes how Growth Faculty sessions have complemented their existing work:

"[Patrick Lencioni](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/patrick-lencioni-frameworks-for-high-performing-teams) is a good example where we've used his theories before and then we did the [Six Types of Working Genius](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/6typesofworkinggenius) masterclass and some of that was incorporated to the work we do. Or [Dan Pink](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/what-really-motivates-us-daniel-pink-event-summary), same thing. We've already referred to him in our learning offering, and then we did his talk, and we were able to add some more."

Why Specsavers partners with Growth Faculty

As a Growth Faculty Business Solutions Enterprise client, Specsavers has access to the Learning Champions Club, which provides additional benefits. Though Henny had only attended one session at the time of the interview, she found significant value in the validation it provided:

"The reassurance that what we're doing is on the right path and we're doing it in the right way... When you go to these sessions, you realise how much our organisation supports us and helps us to really lift the importance of the partners' capability roles."

This reassurance is particularly meaningful for L&D professionals who sometimes struggle to secure "airtime" and organisational support for their initiatives.

The Learning Champions Club

While it’s one thing to just invest in leadership development, it’s another to measure impact and adapt to ensure it is constantly fit for purpose. Specsavers’ measurement initiatives include:

1.  **Annual Satisfaction Surveys** - The Franchise Relationship Institute's ACE Franchise Satisfaction Survey shows improving scores year over year in Australia and New Zealand.
2.  **Partner Feedback** - Henny shares that "91% of our partners said that ongoing leadership improvement is critical for their sustained performance and satisfaction."
3.  **Participation Metrics** - Nearly all partners achieve their leadership professional development points annually.
4.  **Great Place to Work Survey** - Employee responses continue to increase, with improving scores that have placed Specsavers on "Best Place to Work" lists.

Measuring success

Looking ahead, Henny Jaakkola sees peer-to-peer social learning becoming increasingly important:

"As part of the leadership professional development journey partners undertake every year, a significant focus on learning is through pay-it-forward activity. For example, if a Partner is in a hosted session with other partners talking about real life topics, if they can then link the topic back to the Specsavers Seven capability and their own leadership, it qualifies  for Partner Continuous Leadership Development (PCLD) points.

This is an exciting example of real-world application and collaborative problem-solving, leveraging the diverse experiences within their partner network.

The future of learning at Specsavers

In busy corporate and retail workplaces, finding time for learning is always challenging. Henny says she appreciates Growth Faculty's flexibility:

"What's great is the opportunity to also see the recording... It's that flexibility of being able to schedule it when you have the time. But also, then sometimes it's only live, and you need to prioritise it."

This blend of live sessions and recordings allows Specsavers' busy leaders to integrate learning into their schedules without compromising on quality or relevance.

Making time for growth

When asked what she would say to someone considering the Growth Faculty Business Solutions Enterprise package, Henny doesn’t hesitate:

"I would say ‘go for it!’ The energy that you get from hearing from all of these top speakers and also when you get to brainstorm with other professionals, it does give you new ideas. It gives you energy, it gives you reassurance that what you're doing is working. So absolutely, go for it."

For Specsavers, this investment has supported their commitment to leadership development, helping to ensure that their partners feel skilled, supported, connected, and respected, and creating a foundation for continued business success.

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Image credit: Specsavers

Specsavers: A leadership development success story

Feeling skilled, supported, connected and respected is key to Specsavers’ success

Keep informed
Stay Inspired

Specsavers: A leadership development success story

Feeling skilled, supported, connected and respected is key to Specsavers’ success

Keep informedStay Inspired

Keep informed
Stay Inspired