The 14-day course which is run over a five-month period has equipped an initial cohort of ten Ford Retail managers with skills and competencies in coaching and a QCF level 7 NLP Practitioners qualification.
Further staff will join future programmes, working alongside the recognised leading UK retailer.
Ford Retail HR director, John Roberts, said: "We're immensely pleased to be working with John Lewis and Waitrose in this way.
"Not only are our people fortunate to be developing first-class coaching skills through this superb learning programme but they are also working alongside some of the best retail professionals in the UK. For Ford Retail, it's part of our long-term culture change programme where leadership, coaching and mentoring are essential qualities expected of all our managers."
The coaching programme, which John Lewis and Waitrose have run for the past seven years, is part of a wider set of initiatives within Ford Retail, which aims to develop their managers to be the best within the auto-retail sector. The company has already received widespread acclaim for its pioneering 'Moments of Truth' customer experience initiative where each one of its 3,000 staff gain a recognised NVQ or Diploma in customer service.
Chris Bush, education strategy and learning initiatives manager at Waitrose, added: "The Ford Retail managers have excelled themselves and been great ambassadors for their company and the Ford brand. Our people have very much benefitted from working alongside them."
The course leads to a graduteship in Coaching from the City and Guilds and an NLP Practitioners Certificate in Coaching.
