Woolworths Limited provides over 202,000 jobs and an additional 769,438 indirect jobs in their supply chain (Woolworths, 2017) giving Woolworths huge negotiating power with supplier contracts, especially for fresh food. In 2016, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigated for Unconscionable Conduct towards suppliers (ACCC, 2016), sparking an action research project to move from negotiation to value creation through a series of workshops and individual coaching.
This presentation explores the impact of collective mindfulness through Presencing (Scharmer, 2007) on value creation in Woolworths supply chain and the subsequent impact on employees, suppliers and communities, as measured through independent research company Advantage. Value for employees, suppliers and consumers arose from improved supermarket behaviour, supply chain efficiencies, category development and increased new product development. Better internal stakeholder relationships improved decision making, efficiency and the ability to act quickly on opportunities.
While value creation in supermarket supply chains (Candelo Casalegno, Civera & Mosca, 2018; Jaradat, Adams, Abutabenjeh, & Keating, 2017), mindfulness in workplaces (Mayer & Surtee, 2015; Shao & Skarlickli, 2009), organisational systems (Meadows, 2008) and change in organisations research exists (Kotter, 2014), this talk explores the underrepresented intersection of systems theory, mindfulness and value creation in order to create whole systems change.