Members only
When 230 John Lewis leaders arrived at their first-ever joint summit, they weren’t just attending another corporate event – they were stepping into the future of the company’s customer care. The gathering marked the official launch of a multi-year transformation, designed to reshape how the John Lewis Partnership serves millions of customers while strengthening the resilience and unity of its people.
The John Lewis Partnership’s Customer Care team consists of 1,800 partners, handling 7.5 million contacts annually.
At the start of 2025, it launched its multi-year transformation programme (CCTx), set to modernise its entire Customer Care estate. The role of the internal communications team was to help leaders prepare for this significant change. To do this, it collaborated with senior leaders to develop and coordinate a pioneering leadership summit, acting as business partners to ensure the team was informed and inspired for the journey ahead.
Laying the foundations for customer care transformation
IC’s primary goal was to set the scene for the transformation by uniting 230 leaders from its in-house and outsourced teams for the first time, making a significant investment in their development. To do this, it set some key objectives:
- Build a shared understanding of the CCTx vision.
- Shift mindsets towards change resilience.
- Engage leaders on key workstream plans.
- Cultivate a one-team ethos through networking.
- Ensure leaders walk away with clear personal commitments.
- Enable cascade of key messages and commitments to the wider estate.
As this was the team's first time organising an external event, it began with extensive research.
To secure the necessary budget, the team presented tiered Bronze, Silver and Gold options to leadership, gaining approval for its aspirational Gold plan. This enabled them to create an immersive two-day summit with a keynote speaker and high-quality, personalised materials. IC facilitated a working group to develop the agenda and launched the CCTx programme with custom branding to create a unique look and feel.
As part of its supplier engagement, IC worked closely with Resource to design and produce personalised welcome packs that would set the tone for the summit. These packs included bespoke notebooks featuring a welcome message from the head of customer care, branded pens, vegan-friendly chocolate bars and lanyards customised with attendees' names and team colours.
By collaborating on the content and creative elements, IC ensured that the packs reinforced the CCTx branding, aligned with their summit messaging, and made every attendee feel valued from the moment they arrived. These packs were an important part of the strategy to create a memorable first impression and support engagement throughout the event.
John Lewis' IC team and Resource developed welcome packs for attendees
Executing a leadership summit to drive transformation
To ensure the event was inclusive, the IC team considered the specific needs of all attendees, arranging for Ramadan prayer spaces, catering to neurodiversity and allergy requirements, and ensuring full accessibility.
The team established a network of Summit Ambassadors to provide support and gather real-time feedback, providing them with a pre-briefing so they were fully prepared to facilitate conversations and keep their teams on track.
The comms team arrived a day early for set-up, sound checks and final run-throughs. On the morning of the event, they set up the welcome desk, arranging for attendees to arrive in two waves to avoid crowding.
One of the key highlights of the welcome experience was the personalised packs, which had been designed to reflect the spirit of the CCTx journey and to make leaders feel individually recognised. The packs were laid out at the welcome desk, enabling a warm, personal greeting as each attendee arrived.
Leaders commented positively on receiving materials that were tailored specifically to them, including their name-badged lanyards and a personal note, which helped build excitement and engagement from the outset. The thought and care put into these packs, co-created with Resource, contributed significantly to the sense of occasion and set the tone for the summit’s collaborative atmosphere.
A warm and personalised welcome to the customer care summit
The first session was led by the head of customer care, who articulated the CCTx vision, followed by an open Q&A with the senior leadership team. This enabled leaders to fully understand and explore the vision, bringing to life what it means for them. This was followed by an inspirational keynote on resilience from explorer Mark Agnew.
The day concluded with dinner, a celebration of leaders who had completed their coaching qualification, and a disco, all of which gave the usually remote leaders more valuable opportunities to connect.
On the second day, attendees were split into groups for immersive sessions. Some rotated through workshops on specific workstream plans, while others co-created a vision for their 'Leader of the Future', reflecting on the need for listening skills, openness, and transparency. The day ended with a final Q&A to ensure clarity before leaders headed back to their teams.
How leaders are taking transformation forward
IC’s follow-up strategy was immediate. One attendee had volunteered to act as the resident vlogger for the event, capturing real-time content, enabling the team to cascade a summary video the next morning to the wider team. This was followed by a detailed summary pack with key slides and discussion summaries.
Those unable to attend received a personalised pack and a postcard with a QR code to the vlog, ensuring they felt included in the transformation journey.
The energy at the event was palpable, and feedback was gathered via multiple channels, including real-time surveys from the ambassadors and a post-event survey sent to all attendees.
The event earned an overall score of 4.2 out of 5. Qualitative feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with attendees noting how well organised the event was, and that it was a great chance to talk to partners and get a clear view of what change entails.
Constructive feedback indicated a desire for more detailed information on concrete next steps and workstream roadmaps – a key learning for future communications. A senior leadership retrospective echoed the value of networking while emphasising the need to bring next steps to life.
The immediate cascade to the wider estate was highly effective. The summary article and vlog, which landed the morning after the summit, received 902 page views and 116 likes, with positive comments. This new experience was a significant learning opportunity that has empowered John Lewis’ leaders to drive the transformation forward.
