---
title: How a growing MAT built trust with staff
description: Diverse Academies Trust is a multi-academy trust across Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire which needed to change their approach to workforce development during a period of rapid growth.
image: https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hubfs/BlueSky%2016x9.png
---

[![CEOE_ISBL_Logo_Set_RGB_ISBL Primary-1](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/CEOE_ISBL_Logo_Set_RGB_ISBL%20Primary-1.png?width=222&height=80&name=CEOE_ISBL_Logo_Set_RGB_ISBL%20Primary-1.png "CEOE_ISBL_Logo_Set_RGB_ISBL Primary-1")](https://isbl.org.uk)

- [Return to Main Site](https://isbl.org.uk/)
- [Events Calendar](https://isbl.org.uk/products/events/)
- [Latest News](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/tag/news)

[Register](https://isbl.org.uk/my-account/#register)

[Latest Articles](https://blog.isbl.org.uk) [Archive](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/tag/archive) [Membership Support](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/tag/membership-support) [Opinion](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/tag/opinion) [Research](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/tag/research)

# How a growing MAT built trust with staff

![](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/TNC-BlueSky_400x400.jpg?width=85&name=TNC-BlueSky_400x400.jpg)

 The National College  
June 27, 2024

<https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://blog.isbl.org.uk/how-a-growing-mat-built-trust-with-staff&title=How%20a%20growing%20MAT%20built%20trust%20with%20staff&picture=https://20333450.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20333450/BlueSky%2016x9.png&description=Diverse%20Academies%20Trust%20is%20a%20multi-academy%20trust%20across%20Nottinghamshire%20and%20Leicestershire%20which%20needed%20to%20change%20their%20approach%20to%20workforce%20development%20during%20a%20period%20of%20rapid%20growth.> <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?source=https://blog.isbl.org.uk/how-a-growing-mat-built-trust-with-staff&text=How%20a%20growing%20MAT%20built%20trust%20with%20staff> <http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.isbl.org.uk/how-a-growing-mat-built-trust-with-staff&title=How%20a%20growing%20MAT%20built%20trust%20with%20staff&summary=Diverse%20Academies%20Trust%20is%20a%20multi-academy%20trust%20across%20Nottinghamshire%20and%20Leicestershire%20which%20needed%20to%20change%20their%20approach%20to%20workforce%20development%20during%20a%20period%20of%20rapid%20growth.> [mailto:?subject=I%20wanted%20you%20to%20see%20this%20site&body=Check%20out%20this%20site:%0D%0AHow%20a%20growing%20MAT%20built%20trust%20with%20staff%0D%0Ahttps://blog.isbl.org.uk/how-a-growing-mat-built-trust-with-staff.](mailto:?subject=I%20wanted%20you%20to%20see%20this%20site&body=Check%20out%20this%20site:%0D%0AHow%20a%20growing%20MAT%20built%20trust%20with%20staff%0D%0Ahttps://blog.isbl.org.uk/how-a-growing-mat-built-trust-with-staff.)

Diverse Academies Trust is a multi-academy trust across Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire which needed to change their approach to workforce development during a period of rapid growth.  

“Some schools joined us from other trusts where performance management was used as a big stick to punish them - and there weren’t many carrots - so there wasn’t that trust built with staff. If you’re expecting people to be honest about their practice but you use performance management as a stick, the way they report on their practice isn’t going to be accurate.”

“We have done a lot of work supporting academies to change the culture, to demonstrate and explain how the personal development plan process should work and build up that trust so that staff engage more openly.”

BlueSky Education supports the trust’s professional development strategy, helping the leadership team to overcome some of the challenges of staff turnover. “BlueSky underpins the professional development, appraisal and coaching model which supports recruitment, career development and retention of good staff.”

“We see BlueSky as part of our benefits offer to staff – it underpins the PDP and staff can use BlueSky to support their career development.”

Read the full case study: [https://bit.ly/DiverseCaseStudy](https://bit.ly/DiverseCaseStudy)

![blusky](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blusky.png?width=1379&height=776&name=blusky.png)

 

![The National College](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hubfs/TNC-BlueSky_400x400.jpg)

The National College

## Related Articles

### [Why Strategic HR Matters: The Evolving Role of HR in Schools and Trusts April 1, 2026](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/why-strategic-hr-matters-the-evolving-role-of-hr-in-schools-and-trusts)

### [Are schools relying on AI too much? April 1, 2026](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/are-schools-relying-on-ai-too-much)

### [A smarter way to manage your MAT staffing April 1, 2026](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/a-smarter-way-to-manage-your-mat-staffing)

[![isbl-logo-white](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/isbl-logo-white.png?width=105&height=50&name=isbl-logo-white.png "isbl-logo-white")](https://blog.isbl.org.uk/)

- [Terms & Conditions](https://www.isbl.org.uk/terms-and-conditions)
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.isbl.org.uk/privacy-policy/)
- [Contact Us](https://www.isbl.org.uk/)

[ISBL website](https://www.isbl.org.uk/)

 Company Registered Number 03425492 Institute of School Business Leadership

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "The National College",
    "url" : "https://blog.isbl.org.uk/author/bluesky-education"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2024-06-27T10:57:37.887Z",
  "datePublished" : "2024-06-27T09:34:48.000Z",
  "headline" : "How a growing MAT built trust with staff",
  "image" : [ "https://blog.isbl.org.uk/hubfs/BlueSky%2016x9.png" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://blog.isbl.org.uk/how-a-growing-mat-built-trust-with-staff",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject"
    },
    "name" : "ISBL Trading Limited"
  }
}
```