Pros
I had the privilege of working with one of the most capable and committed teams I have encountered in over 20 years in apprenticeship provision. The tutors, Data Analysts, Business Development staff and support teams were highly skilled, collaborative, and genuinely passionate about both the data and the learners they supported. Many individuals within the organisation demonstrate real integrity and dedication to improving outcomes for apprentices,....it was a pleasure working alongside people who cared deeply about their work and showed so much talent.
Kontras
Unfortunately, the strengths of the wider team were consistently overshadowed by a toxic leadership culture driven from the top of the organisation.
The CEO’s leadership style created an environment where many staff felt significant pressure and instability. Priorities shifted frequently, if not daily, and often appeared to be driven by personal ambitions and projects rather than the organisation’s core mission of delivering high-quality apprenticeships. Senior staff regularly found themselves trying to shield teams from unrealistic expectations and constantly changing demands.
This environment resulted in very high staff turnover. During my time with the company, more than a dozen colleagues left within a 12-month period, and from conversations with longer-serving staff this appeared to be an ongoing pattern rather than a temporary issue. Many highly capable and experienced professionals chose to leave because the working environment had become unsustainable.
A further challenge is that the current senior leadership team appears to consist largely of individuals who do not challenge the CEO’s direction. He surrounds himself by 'ye people'. This lack of constructive challenge reinforces the existing culture and makes meaningful change extremely unlikely, which contributes further to the ongoing loss of talented and experienced staff.
There also appears to be a disconnect between the organisation’s core activity and the CEO’s view of the business. Despite relying entirely on government-funded apprenticeships for its income, the CEO strongly resisted referring to the company as a training or apprenticeship provider, creating confusion about strategy and purpose and devaluing apprenticeships' and their contribution to skills within the sector,
Staff were frequently expected to work excessive hour, often well beyond a normal working week, in pursuit of constantly evolving priorities and projects that severally detracted from the organisations primary purpose, developing skills as well as the teams ability to fulfill this.
It is a real shame, as the organisation employed many talented people who genuinely care about learners. However, the leadership culture ultimately drives many of those people away and are still hemorrhaging staff as a result.
