Empowering leadership at Picnic

Preparing young professionals for leadership

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Picnic recognized that its rapid growth required a strong internal pipeline of first-time leaders. These emerging leaders needed the right skills to drive results, foster collaboration, and improve talent retention and overall employee satisfaction.

Business need

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Scaling leadership development across the organization

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Since its founding in 2015, Picnic has transformed the way customers shop for groceries, delivering groceries free to the doorstep of millions in the Netherlands and Germany. Amidst this high growth, Picnic needed a structured learning path to help young professionals develop into effective leaders.

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“Picnic continues to grow exponentially. Therefore sourcing and retaining the right people is an ever-present challenge.”

Loek Bode

Supervisor in Picnic’s Assembly Center

The company’s challenge was to ensure that leadership training was not only scalable but also practical, helping participants embed skills into their day-to-day leadership style.

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Training solution

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Power skills for first-time leaders

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Picnic partnered with Lepaya to deliver the Leadership Essentials program, enrolling over 300 young leaders across 27 waves. The program was designed to meet the specific skill needs of each cohort, covering areas such as driving a feedback culture and handling difficult conversations.

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The program emphasized hands-on practice and real-world application, ensuring participants could immediately implement what they learned. Training blended classroom sessions, app-based exercises, and role-playing to embed skills effectively.

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Participants advanced through the program, developing self-efficacy in multiple leadership modules. Over 80% reported improvements in three or more of the five modules.

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“I see a real difference in how teams conduct themselves. That’s why we are looking at further programs with Lepaya to allow Captains, Supervisors and Hub Leads to dive deeper into leadership topics. Thanks to the leadership program, we have created a working environment where people are happier and work with us longer.”

Willemijn Veerman

Learning & Development Operations Manager

Impact

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Building a strong leadership pipeline

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Picnic’s Leadership Essentials program strengthened the company’s leadership culture, improving team collaboration, retention, and engagement. The program ensures that the next generation of leaders is equipped to guide Picnic’s ambitious growth trajectory.