Oasis Community Learning: Using Skills Licence to break down silos
Oasis Community Learning (OCL), one of the UK’s leading multi-academy trusts, manages over 50 academies across the country.
OCL identified challenges with their organisational alignment. Teams were siloed, using different processes and terminologies, which led to inefficiencies, breakdowns in communication, and a lack of unified goals.
After years of attempting to tackle these issues through conventional training, OCL needed more than a provider; they needed a partner to provide training cohesively across their organisation, in a flexible and simplified way. That’s when they turned to QA’s Skills licence.
The challenge: silos blocking progress
OCL needed a custom solution that would unify their approach, align their teams, and eliminate silos once and for all.
QA responded with a clear action plan to deliver change through our ITIL portfolio: focus on the leadership first and then scale. From C-suite alignment, we moved to a widespread approach for over 250 senior staff members over two years, blending virtual and in-person delivery across multiple locations.
The power of Skills Licence: more training for less
Securing this extensive training threatened to be costly and complex. But not with QA's Skills Licence offering. Skills Licence allowed OCL to lock in annual savings and benefit from flexible, on-demand access to QA’s full range of training services over a 12-month period.
With our cooperative approach, OCL were able to ensure that every aspect of their training strategy was aligned to their specific needs, without the administrative burden of managing individual training sessions.
This flexible, cost-effective solution helped OCL scale the training across their network of academies, ensuring that as new challenges emerged, they had the resources and tools at their fingertips to address them.
Don’t just take it from us, here’s what Rob Lamont, OCL’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer had to say:
“The skills license you offer is competitive, and it makes it easy for us to get staff trained without the usual administrative barriers. Skills license allowed us to remove some of that friction. Junior managers could book training easily without going through complex procurement processes, which meant uptake was much higher. We didn’t have to plan every course in advance; instead allowing us to book training as and when needed, based on demand.”
A strategic partnership; a comprehensive solution
OCL knew an off-the-shelf solution would not meet the needs of their non-IT teams. Instead, they needed a partner to collaborate on something tailored to their organisation, and found this in QA.
Rob shared: “The relationship works so well because of the flexibility QA offer, and their willingness to adapt training to meet our specific needs.
“With QA, it’s more than just a supplier relationship – it’s a partnership. We co-create solutions together, which has been essential in crafting the training programmes we need.”
It was this level of partnership that enabled OCL to overcome enduring challenges and transform their culture, resulting in teams feeling more value and connected, and a consistent service management approach.
The future
OCL continue to invest in a rolling Skills Licence, to invest in deepening ITIL skills to develop their framework further, and integrate service management across their national services. “We're also considering applying service management principles to our educational services,” says Rob, “something that hasn’t been done much in the education sector. Our partnership with QA will continue to evolve, focusing on these new areas.”
The success of QA’s partnership with OCL highlights the power of custom training programmes, strategic alignment and a streamlined training management system thanks to the QA Skills Licence.