Leadership
I had the privilege to attend and present at the Red Kite Learning Trust conference earlier this month. The conference focused on technology and operational excellence and I had the pleasure of hearing Mark share his remarkable journey from corporate boardrooms to craft beer startups and back again. It was full of sharp insights, hard lessons, and generous humour. And although Mark came from outside education, everything he said resonated deeply with the challenges we face in transforming our schools and trusts.
Innovation, after all, is not exclusive to products and profit. It is equally critical in public service and education, especially in an era where we are asked to deliver more with less, adapt to ever-changing demands, and scale solutions in complex environments. Mark’s message was clear: we need to develop dual capability – the systems to operate efficiently and the mindset to innovate boldly.
Education Needs Both Operating Systems
Mark made a key distinction between two kinds of operating models: the execution engine that delivers day-to-day operations and the venture engine that tests and scales new ideas. Most organisations, he noted, tend to have one or the other. Rarely both.
This is exactly the tension we see in schools and trusts. We are excellent at routine. We have compliance nailed. But when it comes to scaling innovation – whether it is adopting AI tools, rethinking MIS procurement, or designing cross-school digital infrastructure – many organisations get stuck.
To thrive, we must adopt what Mark called an “ambidextrous mindset” – where operational excellence and innovation coexist. In digital terms, this means building agile infrastructure and governance systems that allow us to test, learn and iterate without compromising on safeguarding, finance, or educational standards.
Focus: Know What You’re Brilliant At
One of Mark’s central themes was the power of focus. In a sea of demands, distractions and half-funded initiatives, organisations need to double down on their unique strengths. This lesson is vital for multi-academy trusts navigating digital strategy.
Too many digital programmes try to do everything: plug every gap, satisfy every voice, chase every metric. The trusts that succeed are those that focus on what they do exceptionally well – whether that is community engagement, teacher development, or data-led decision making – and build digital systems that amplify that strength.
Ask yourself: what is your trust’s digital superpower? What would other trusts look at and wish they had?
Originality: Redefining Constraints
Mark’s advent calendar anecdote was more than just clever marketing. It was a lesson in reframing constraints. Faced with a warehouse bottleneck in December, they created demand in November. The limitation led to innovation.
Schools face their own unmovable constraints: the school day, term dates, inspection cycles, budget limits. But what if we treated these not as roadblocks, but as design prompts? What if we asked: how might we innovate within (or even around) the structure of the school year?
In our work at TransforMATive, we see the best ideas emerge when teams are given permission to think differently. AI use in lesson planning, dynamic timetabling, shared procurement across trusts – these ideas often come from the margins, not the centre.
Results: Move from Theory to Test
Mark was rightly sceptical of focus groups and “big launch” thinking. He reminded us that the only way to test desirability is to put something in front of people and see if they will actually use it. He used the framework of desirability, feasibility, and viability – a tool we should be applying more often in education technology projects.
This means:
- Building minimum viable pilots instead of massive rollouts
- Listening to real feedback from users – not just reports
- Using data to guide iteration, not to punish deviation
We need to create a culture in education where testing small and failing safely is not just accepted, but expected.
Growth: From Pilot to Scale
Once something works, the next challenge is scaling it without breaking it. Mark’s story of Perfect Draft and the beer gifting platform mirrored the challenge we see in trusts: how do you scale a good idea from one school to many?
Here, governance matters. Advisory boards, communities of practice, digital leadership networks – these are the infrastructure we need to scale ideas responsibly. We have seen trusts grow AI practices from a single classroom to a trust-wide strategy by embedding support, professional development, and shared learning pathways.
If your digital project is stuck at pilot stage, ask yourself: who is helping you grow it?
Ecosystem: Innovation is a Team Sport
The final message was perhaps the most important. Innovation is never a solo effort. Mark reminded us that building an innovation ecosystem involves talent, knowledge, funding and most of all, community. He spoke of partnering across geography and sector, assembling diverse skills and creating the conditions where ideas can thrive.
In education, this is critical. No single trust can solve the sector’s challenges alone. We need federated learning, shared platforms, and transparent knowledge exchange. We need partnerships with EdTech firms, universities, local authorities, and yes, with each other.
At TransforMATive, we are building these ecosystems every day – across MATs, with AI policy developers, with software providers and frontline educators – all with one aim: better outcomes for children.
Conclusion: Forge a Path Forward
Mark summarised his approach using the acronym FORGE: Focus, Originality, Results, Growth, Ecosystem. It is a model worth borrowing.
In a time of tight budgets, rising need and accelerated change, we do not just need innovation. We need intentional, inclusive, and strategic innovation.
We need digital leadership that is not afraid to test, fail, listen and grow.
We need operational structures that deliver stability, and cultural mindsets that invite disruption.
And above all, we need to remember that technology is only ever a means to an end. That end must be a better, fairer, more empowering education system for all.
