Colleagues from across The Calico Group came together for the first in a series of workshops to help shape the next Customer Strategy.
The session, led by Deputy Chief Executive Helen Thompson, focused on taking an honest look at what customers need today and how the Group can keep improving the way it supports them.
The workshop began with a simple activity where everyone shared a personal photo that represented ‘living your best life’. Themes like family, calm, and pride shone through, and the conversation helped set a warm and reflective tone for the rest of the session.
Helen spoke about how the current Customer Strategy was created in 2022 with input from customers, colleagues, and examples from across the UK. While the foundations still feel right, colleagues agreed the world has changed since then. Cost‑of‑living pressures, wellbeing challenges, and increasing frustration in society mean customers are facing different realities now.
Small group discussions looked at the nine principles that guide how Calico works with customers. People felt they are still relevant but could be made clearer and more accessible; more visual, less text, and written in a friendlier way.
There was also a strong call for better communication with customers, more consistency across services, and more focus on measuring the impact Calico has on people’s lives. Several colleagues also suggested that ‘hope’ and ‘respect’ should feature more strongly in the updated strategy.
The session ended with a “truth wall”, where colleagues shared one truth about customer experience and one truth about working at Calico. This sparked open discussion and helped capture honest reflections to feed into the next stage of the review.
The session was also visually captured by Chris and Claire from MoreThanMinutes, who created real‑time illustrated minutes of the discussions. Their visual summary helped bring key points to life, making the ideas, reflections, and themes from the workshop clearer and more engaging for everyone involved.
Reflecting on the workshop, Helen said: “It is a while since we have done this type of activity and it has reminded me how important it is to hear the voices of colleagues and customers in shaping the way we work.
“There were so many different voices in the room, and all the input has sparked lots of ideas already.
“I’m really looking forward to the remaining sessions to see how exactly we as colleagues can shape something so important and integral for our customers.”
Feedback from this and upcoming workshops will be brought together to help refresh the Customer Strategy later this year. Further updates will be shared as the work continues.
