I’m extremely proud and honoured to fly the flag for store colleagues.
I’ve worked with so many store colleagues and I love to help them to improve the business. It’s my job, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do anyway — it’s nice to be nice!
I’m Jon Hickinbotham.
I started at Sainsbury’s as a C4 experience designer, working on products and strategy. It meant working closely with engineering and business teams. Then I moved to a senior role, primarily on research projects.
My role has recently changed again — it’s about Staff Experience Design so it’s my task to get the most out of the design team. I consult and manage my time to get involved in projects that might need any level of design resource. I’ll guide them, point out any holes that need filling or if we could improve ways of working and so on. I’m using my knowledge to push design on, in the team and across the business, and really enjoying it.
Sainsbury’s is the most flexible place I’ve ever worked, by far! My day starts with taking my son to nursery, grabbing a coffee and my laptop and saying hello to the team before anything else. I get the smaller things out of the way first and then move on to the bigger tasks.
There’s lots I enjoy about it but helping others is a highlight. Perhaps I can share experiences in the immediate or wider team, guide people through challenges and being useful that way. Most of my happiness comes from flying the flag for store colleagues, making sure that their voices are heard and they’re being represented.
I also enjoy that I have capacity to change the way the business works. It’s unique in that I get to lead by example on how to do design in big projects where no design has ever been done. There’s lots of scope too for improving ways of working with colleagues, such as the way we manage up. I’m often asked how to do all these different things and the left to my own devices to do it, which is something I’ve always craved anyway.
I get nice feedback from my team — they’re always appreciative. And I have full autonomy over my time so that I can really influence the way the business works with design for the better.
Not long ago, we did a piece of work to understand what is bothering our colleagues in store — stopping them doing what they need to do, or making them not enjoy their job. We found lots of methods and ways to improve, and created a framework that’s still in place now. I had the opportunity to speak to 40 or 50 colleagues and ask them what’s up! They told us, and it was a lovely piece of work. Years on we can still use it to frame our design work. I still remember what they said too, and use it in my design.
I’ve won the odd award in my time here, which has really blown me away as they’re colleague and management-led awards. The whole of the engineering family for retail has a special award for a singular person of the year, in the whole of the business, who has helped them achieve their goals, and I won that, which was incredible. It was nice to have the recognition for the team and business.
It’s important to do what makes you happy.
