The secret behind Coop’s successful quality work
Sofia Trattner works as a quality specialist at Coop. She bears the main responsibility for the co-operative’s so called “egenkontroll”, which is the system Coop and GetCompliant have developed together. We contacted Sofia because we wanted to know more about how they work, what part she plays and what the secret behind their success is.
Coop and GetCompliant have a long relationship. Coop, which is a co-operative owned by its members with over 600 stores in Sweden, wanted a system that could provide them with all the information related to quality rules, policy and branch standards in one place. Coop then started a collaboration with GetCompliant that resulted in “egenkontroll”, a system that does all that. Today, five years after the collaboration started, everyone at Coop has easy access to the information needed to provide high quality in their stores.
Sofia explains that she works in the head office and has the central responsibility for the system. She’s the one that makes sure the information is correct and that it follows the law and Coop’s policy. However, each co-operative branch has its own quality coordinator whose purpose is to make sure the “egenkontroll” is followed.
- The quality coordinator is the spider in the web. He or she knows exactly how everything in the store works. We have about 15-20 quality coordinators with different backgrounds, and we meet every year to discuss improvements and give feedback, Sofia says.
“Egenkontrollen” has been developed with the help of these quality coordinators. They are the ones who use it on a daily basis, therefore, their input was highly valued and appreciated in the process.
- While developing an app that will serve everyone, different opinions will of course occur. However, it's better that we at the head office adjust our way of working than the other way around. The system should be developed for the co-workers in the store. In the end, everyone was happy, we did it together and it was a team effort!
Another important part of Coops quality work, is what Sofia calls the key performance indicators. These are measured the same way in every store and the statistics are then sent to head office. A key figure refers to the number of times a task should be completed over a certain period of time. For example, maybe the freezer should be checked three times a day, this is then a key figure.
- It’s like a reward system. The head office can see the execution rate of all the stores which motivates them to complete the key figures. I think there’s a little bit of psychology in that, Sofia explains.
Another of Sofia’s tasks is to make sure the information inside the ”egenkontroll” is relevant for each store. She emphasizes the importance of this by explaining that the co-workers in the store would lose commitment if she put in unnecessary information.
- The program is alive. It should constantly be updated with important and relevant information to help and motivate my co-workers.
According to Sofia, Coop’s quality department works so well thanks to a number of things; the egenkontroll, the key performance indicators and the quality coordinators, but most of all, it comes down to teamwork. She explains that they all come from different backgrounds and have different skills, but that they help and learn from each other. Everyone plays an important role and has been involved in the whole process, which in turn, has made them ambassadors.
We want to thank Sofia for sharing how she and Coop work with GetCompliant. We are happy they are satisfied with our product and hope to continue our collaboration in the future.
