Tesco makes 10 years of team development in just 12 months

This case study was originally written in 2019. In 2025, it was updated to reflect long-term results. A new section has been added to share the latest impacts of team development.

Background

When Matt Simister took over as CEO of Tesco Central Europe, the business was struggling. Operating across Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia, the region was fragmented—teams were siloed, engagement was low, and profits were unpredictable. To turn things around, Matt brought in Complete to work with his newly formed leadership team and lay the foundations for a stronger, more connected organisation.

The Challenge

The team faced deep-rooted challenges: low trust, poor collaboration, and an over-reliance on the CEO for decision-making. Each country functioned in isolation, leading to inefficiencies and duplication. Culture and commercial outcomes were both in need of transformation—quickly and sustainably.

The Complete Team Development and Coaching Approach

Complete designed a bespoke team journey grounded in our developmental framework. Over the course of eight full-day sessions, we helped Tesco CE’s leadership team evolve from siloed experts to a high-performing, aligned collective. Using diagnostic tools like the Team Development Inventory and Leadership Values Profile, we tailored the experience to unlock trust, build resilience, and embed a deeper sense of purpose across the team. What followed was a transformation—culturally, commercially, and relationally.

A word from the client…

“I feel the progress we’ve made every day. We went from being a very disconnected team, with no real professional relationships, to a team who are no longer reliant on the leader and step up to take ownership. To be talked about as a benchmark for others, I take a lot of pride in that.”
– Matt Simister, Former CEO, Tesco Central Europe