We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Taylor, Deputy CEO for Operations at Leigh Academy’s Trust, an organisation with 33 academies and nearly 4,000 staff educating 25,000 students daily. Richard’s perspective on culture, engagement, and the transformative power of technology provides a compelling blueprint for any leader looking to build a thriving workplace.

Why People are the Heart of Your Organisation

Richard’s core philosophy resonates deeply: “We are nothing without our people”. For Leigh Academies Trust, retention isn’t just a buzzword; it’s directly linked to better outcomes for students. Teachers who stay longer build stronger relationships, contribute better performance, and create continuity in learning for students. As Richard puts it, they don’t “manufacture anything other than excellent students that go on and transform the world”.

The “Stay and Grow” Strategy: A Holistic Approach to Retention

Leigh Academy’s Trust has codified its commitment to people through its “Stay and Grow” strategy, a comprehensive approach to retention. This strategy is built on three pillars, informed by both external research, such as from the Education Endowment Foundation, and half a million data points from their own surveys over seven years:

  • Prioritising Professional Development: In education, continuous learning is in their DNA. Richard highlights the shift from generic inset days to individualised professional development, truly targeting what people actually need. This bespoke approach ensures that growth opportunities are relevant and impactful.
  • Building Relational Trust: This pillar emphasises transparent communication, shared decision-making, and meaningful recognition of achievement. This is where tools like Mo come into play, transforming recognition from an occasional award into an embedded, everyday practice.
  • Improving Working Conditions: This pillar focuses on meaningfully tackling teachers’ substantial workloads. This is a main driver why people leave the profession. Richard shares a fascinating insight here: sometimes the biggest stressors aren’t the core workload, but seemingly small operational issues, like how they log an IT support ticket.

“We are nothing without our people. We don’t manufacture anything other than excellent students that go on and transform the world.”

Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor Deputy CEO, Leigh Academies Trust

The Evolving Feedback Loop: From Surveys to Real-Time Understanding

Understanding how your people truly feel is paramount. While traditional staff surveys provide valuable insights, Richard is keen to evolve the feedback loop. He envisions a future where technology provides real-time understanding of employee engagement.

How AI is Revolutionising Education and Employee Experience

Richard is a firm believer in technology as an enabler, not a silver bullet. Leigh Academy’s Trust is at the forefront of deploying AI, not just for operational efficiency, but for direct impact on student and staff experience.

  • Exam performance: AI is being developed to analyse mock exam performance, identify knowledge gaps, and then tailor personalised online curricula for students to fill those gaps. This has the potential to significantly improve student outcomes, with research looking like it could deliver two grade points above where they would have been.
  • Homework automation: Teachers can set an entire year’s homework in a couple of hours, with the Trust’s AI platform not only managing the homework but also consistently marking it and creating “heat maps” of where knowledge gaps are. This dramatically reduces teacher workload.
  • Personalised staff learning: AI facilitates the rapid development of bespoke learning content. Richard mentions creating an entire 30-episode podcast series on leadership skills, designed and developed specifically for people managers within a school, in just four days.
  • Enhanced employee recognition: Platforms like Mo (or LAT Moments, as they call it) make recognition simple, visible, consistent, and fair across geographically dispersed academies. This instant, system-wide recognition transforms culture by allowing staff to feel valued by a much wider audience than ever before. They even use Mo to drive nominations for their annual award ceremony.
  • Improved communication: Tools like Viva Engage, part of the Microsoft suite, connect colleagues not just within an academy but across different academies, allowing teachers to share resources and stay connected.

“Technology doesn’t create engagement, but it can help you create the culture that can drive it in the right direction.”

Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor Deputy CEO, Leigh Academies Trust

Mindset Shifts for AI Adoption

Richard acknowledges the apprehension around AI, particularly the “myth that AI will eventually replace the teacher”. He firmly states that while AI will absolutely replace some of the “pointless administrative work” they have to do, it will never replace the skill, expertise, and relationship that a teacher has with a student – that human element that AI can never replicate. To truly harness AI’s potential, organisations need a mindset shift:

  • Embrace risk and innovation: Be willing to try new technologies and take chances on them, even if they’re not perfect.
  • Train for limitations: Understand and educate staff on AI hallucination and how to try and eliminate them. This is a critical skill set for the future.
  • Foster ethical use: Teach both students and staff to utilise AI responsibly and ethically, including proper referencing when AI is used in coursework or assignments.
  • Prioritise transparency: Address concerns about surveillance by being open about why and how AI technologies are used, highlighting the benefits for both individuals and the organisation.

Predictions for Workplace Culture and Engagement

Richard offers fascinating predictions for the near future:

In 12 months:

  • AI will improve the quality and speed of feedback, particularly in performance management, shifting it to an everyday activity from a twice-a-year one.
  • Digital tools will increasingly support daily people management activities like recognition, communication, recruitment, and personalised onboarding experiences. For instance, they are experimenting with AI to write individual employee welcome letters that talk about the individual and their fit within the organisation.

In 5 years:

  • A deeper embedding of artificial intelligence, potentially leading to “artificial super intelligence,” will anticipate needs and offer assistance even before it’s requested. It will move from being a “copilot” to a “critical friend”.
  • The biggest transformation will be in “personalisation at scale” for engagement. This means bespoke learning pathways (moving away from “sheep dipping” people through the same generic courses) and even individualised employee surveys that adapt to past feedback and ask questions most relevant to one’s role. Richard imagines AI helping managers understand individual drivers of engagement for each person they manage.

The Human Element: Sustaining Connection in a Tech-Driven World

Amidst all this technological advancement, how do we ensure the human connection and psychological safety remain at the forefront? Richard stresses that technology can, if not carefully managed, create a perception that there’s more surveillance. The answer lies in even greater transparency and openness, offsetting these potential challenges. Psychological safety, built on trust, is more crucial than ever. It’s about ensuring people feel secure to speak up, take risks, and truly belong.

The journey of Leigh Academy’s Trust demonstrates that by strategically embracing technology and putting people at the heart of their strategy, any organisation can cultivate a thriving, engaged, and high-performing culture. It’s about blending the best of human connection with the powerful capabilities of innovative tools to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and can truly flourish.