Interviews
Explore Learning Head of HR: Leadership Is About Being A Great Role Model
Glassdoor Team
Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | 6 Dec 2017
Today, Glassdoor announced The UK’s Best Places To Work 2018. So, we caught up with Natalie Riddick, Head of HR at 20th ranked UK company Explore Learning to discuss what it means to be one of the top companies to work for in the UK for a second year in a row. We also discovered that they have a huge network of over 130 Maths and English tuition centres for children across the UK and their ‘promoting from within culture’ means employees have full autonomy on how these centres are run on a daily basis.
MDT: How do you help build a great company culture?
NR: From the start of the recruitment process and throughout their career with us, employee experience is at the forefront of everything that we do at Explore Learning, a network of over 130 maths and English tuition centres for children. We offer a training & coaching framework that provides our employees with the necessary tools to excel and encourage them to have autonomy in the running of their centres, which fosters a commitment and drive to be successful.
At Explore, our incredible people are what create our unique culture. We have an ethos of promoting from within which means our core vision and values are embedded throughout the company at every level. Our Operations Director Lisa Haycox started with Explore as a tutor back in 2002 and has progressed through the company, now sitting on the Board of Directors.
What does leadership mean to you?
For me, leadership is about being a great role model to those around you. Acting with integrity and compassion and creating a culture whereby people feel supported and inspired to be the best they can be.
A leader is able to demonstrate strong assertive skills when required, but creates a collaborative working environment and asks the right questions to elicit thoughts and ideas from the people around them. For me, being a great leader is always a work in progress.
What do you do to foster employee trust and engagement?
Employee feedback is key in engaging our people. Our ‘You Spoke, We Listened, Let’s Act’ campaign means many of our new business initiatives are driven by feedback from employees through focus groups and staff sentiment surveys. We provide our employees with the framework and support to hit their quarterly growth targets, but how they achieve them is down to them and their teams’ strengths.
Our 70:20:10 training model – 70% Experience Learning, 20% Collaborative Learning and 10% Formal Learning, ensures teams are engaged in their development and equipped with all the tools they need to drive the success of their centres, as well as their own personal development at Explore.
Your employees love working here as we see from the strong rating on Glassdoor - How do you make this a great place to work day in and day out?
Our culture is filtered through the company from the top down. Our Senior management team embody our company vision & values, and are committed to ensure that senior leadership visibility is felt throughout the company. Our centre buddy scheme teams each of our head office staff with a centre team for a whole year. This support is key, and with 72% of our Head Office having worked in one of our centres, it means that our head office can share ideas with our centre teams to support them.
Working at Explore Learning is incredibly rewarding. Everyone has the desire to provide the best service they can, and at the heart of everything is the drive to get it right for the children and families we work with.
What is the best part about working here?
Our incredible people.
What do you look for in informed candidates?
We’re always looking for candidates to align with our company visions and values, and embody our core competencies, demonstrating where they can make the biggest impact.
How do you retain talent - what are some of your best practices?
Our big annual celebration - the RADs – ‘Recognition Awards Dinner’ are held every January and reward the employees that embody our visions and values best. There are awards for Best in Education, Best Service, Best Staff and Best Ambassador, as well as a ‘Bill’s Award’ which our CEO, Bill Mills, presents to an outstanding individual that goes above and beyond.
We’re committed to talent tracking and ensuring that our incredible people are rewarded appropriately. Performance related pay is used at all levels to ensure our top talent is recognised.
What are some of the coolest or most unique perks and benefits you offer?
Our Summer Party takes on the form of a festival that sees our amazing employees donning some incredible fancy dress, setting up camp in bell tents, and dancing to live music.
We also offer our employees a paid volunteer day each year, as well as the opportunity to support our company charities. Employees have done all sorts, from fire walks, running activities at children’s hospital events and fundraising at festivals.
Want to work for inspirational leaders at Explore Learning? Apply here.
Glassdoor Team
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Tags:Informed CandidateLeadership
