Earlier this week, EPM were delighted to be the headline sponsor of the MATA MAT Growth Conference 2024 in London, where we met and networked with over 100 MAT leaders. The line-up of speakers was excellent, and all lived up to their billing, covering every element of ‘growing beyond your locality.’ I was inspired by their candid thoughts and reassured that so many of the insights are rooted in culture, vision, mission and values, which for EPM are the core values at the heart of our people strategy work. Culture is complex and intangible and can be helpful to consider in the three sections below.
Culture of growth strategy
Many trusts express the ambition to grow, but not all compellingly articulate why. Those who are doing it well and sustainably, are doing so in the pursuit of excellence – recognising that embedding this at the heart of their culture, is key to delivering transformational change through education.
The pursuit of growth at all costs can be damaging; over time fragmenting the quality of a Trusts offer, and indeed, the overall MAT ‘brand’ (with subsequent negative impacts on pupil and staff recruitment and retention). MAT leaders today are certainly moving away from the concept of how big they can build their trust to a more wholesome approach of how they can deliver excellent educational outcomes, in a scalable way, whilst exercising their civic duties as “community anchors”, as defined by CST.
Instead, we saw a focus on consolidation and stabilisation in preparation for sustainable growth. It was a delight to see children at the heart of all presentations, with Trust leaders enthusiastic to celebrate (and rightly so) the life-enhancing experiences their MATs can offer by sharing resources across more schools.
Culture of attitude
Where trusts decide to embark on growth, there is some important soul-searching to do, and at EPM we work with trustees and trust leaders to understand drivers for growth and the attitude towards any new school joining the trust. For example:
- Being honest about the motivation for acquiring a school is key. Sharing a common ethos and strength through collaboration appeared to be the most powerful drivers.
- Having a clear sense of your red lines – providing clarity, from the outset, about what needs to change, what can remain, and where the balance lies between autonomy and full centralisation. Committing to the wider community, and proactively communicating with all stakeholders, at every stage is key.
- Recognising and reshaping the roles of key players is vital. Capacity in the central team is clearly a major challenge, and innovation in this area is crucial to provide the necessary infrastructure for growth. Prioritising wellbeing and workload management are key features of any people strategy within a MAT.
Growing MATs may be guilty of underestimating just how much communication is needed. Bringing all stakeholders on the journey is key. Own your narrative - it is your story to tell!
A culture of family
There was much discussion around the importance of a trust’s culture and character; building a sense of coherence across schools within the family is important for long-term success. Successful trusts have strong and well-articulated core beliefs, to ensure each one of their learners, regardless of the school they attend, benefits from the same high-quality education and experiences.
This concept extends to employees, who can be assured of the same access to support, development, and progression and so feel empowered by the prevailing culture. Rooted in their communities, thriving trusts understand the importance of local context and have extensive and powerful partnerships and networks to strengthen their identity. This fosters recruitment and retention of both colleagues and pupils and supports an identifiable and flourishing culture of family across all schools within the MAT.
Round up
Growth is not something to be undertaken lightly, and leaders are taking a more discerning approach to expansion. Certainly, from the experiences shared at this MAT Growth Conference, it was evident that however far and wide a trust expands, a strong culture and an embedded sense of identity are critical.
Thank you so much to the MAT Leaders who joined Rachel Kershaw and I for our roundtable discussion. From politics to funding, GAG pooling to top slicing, trade unions to trust branding, we skimmed the surface over lunch, leaving so much more to discuss.
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