5 Top Tips for HR Leaders: Are You Maximising the Impact of Stakeholder Engagement in Your Trust?
As a People/HR Leader in a Multi-Academy Trust, you play a vital role in ensuring that staff, parents, and pupils are engaged, heard, and supported. Your People Strategy shapes your trust's culture, retention & recruitment strategy, and overall success—but how effectively are you measuring its impact?
Many MATs collect stakeholder feedback through staff, parent, and pupil surveys, but are these insights truly driving change? Are you using the right tools? Could your approach be more cost-effective and impactful?
When Should You Start?
There is no set framework for when trusts should conduct surveys—it varies based on objectives. Some MATs run annual all-trust surveys, while others focus on topic-specific surveys such as job satisfaction, trust culture, behaviour, or curriculum.
Since we are now in February, HR Directors should consider:
?? Planning ahead for the 2025/26 academic year—will you begin stakeholder engagement from September 2025?
?? Taking action now—are there immediate insights needed to influence strategic decisions before the new school year?
?? Researching and implementing a new tool—if your current approach isn’t delivering the insights you need, is now the time to explore a solution that ensures you hit the ground running?
Let’s explore five key tips to help HR leaders rethink their current approach to stakeholder engagement and ensure they are making the most of their survey data.
1. Choose the Right Tools for Stakeholder Engagement
MATs approach surveys in different ways. Some manually create and distribute surveys using Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, while others use specialist providers like Welbee, Edurio, School Surveys, or QDP. Each approach has its strengths and limitations.
Manual Tools (Google/Microsoft Forms)
? Pros: Free to use, simple to set up, familiar to staff.
? Cons: Time-consuming to manage, lacks benchmarking capabilities, limited data analysis, harder to track engagement over time.
Survey Providers (Welbee, Edurio, QDP, etc.)
? Pros: Custom-built for education, provides in-depth analytics, benchmarking against other MATs, and expert support in interpreting data.
? Cons: Costs vary between providers, and effectiveness depends on how well insights are used.
?? Key Question: Is your current approach helping you capture meaningful, actionable data, or are you simply ticking a compliance box?
2. Data Is Only Useful If You Know How to Use It
Collecting stakeholder feedback is just the first step—what really matters is what happens next. Ask yourself:
?? Are survey insights being shared effectively with trust leadership, school leaders, and HR teams?
?? Are you able to interpret trends and take meaningful action?
?? Do you have access to expert analysis, or is your team left struggling to make sense of the data?
?? Tip: A provider like Welbee doesn’t just collect data—it helps MATs analyse, interpret, and embed survey findings into strategic decision-making.
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3. Ensure Strong Engagement at Every Stage of the Process
Even the most well-designed surveys are useless if response rates are low. HR leaders should consider:
?? How are surveys promoted? Are staff, parents, and pupils encouraged to participate?
?? Are you tracking engagement rates? Do different demographics respond differently?
?? Are questions structured effectively? A poorly designed survey leads to low engagement and unreliable results.
?? Tip: A specialist provider can support with best-practice survey design, ensuring high response rates and meaningful insights.
4. Align Survey Insights with the People Strategy
Stakeholder engagement should not be an isolated process—it should be woven into the People Strategy and wider trust objectives. HR teams should ask:
?? Tip: Your engagement strategy should go beyond just gathering feedback—it should actively drive improvements in staff well-being, recruitment, and retention.
5. Evaluate Your Return on Investment (ROI)
Is your current approach cost-effective and delivering real impact? Consider:
?? The cost of in-house vs. external solutions. Is manual data collection consuming valuable HR resources?
?? The value of expert analysis. Are you making data-driven decisions or just collecting numbers?
?? Long-term improvements. Can you demonstrate that engagement efforts are boosting staff well-being and retention?
?? Tip: A well-chosen provider delivers far more than just surveys—they provide the insights needed to shape a strong, sustainable People Strategy.
Final Thoughts: Time to Rethink Your Approach?
Stakeholder engagement is a powerful tool for Multi-Academy Trusts, but only if done right. By following these five tips, HR leaders can ensure their approach is effective, strategic, and delivering real value.
? How confident are you that your current stakeholder engagement approach is working? Could it be improved?
?? If you’re looking for a cost-effective, high-impact way to gather, analyse, and act on stakeholder feedback, Welbee is here to help. Get in touch to see how we can support your trust’s strategic decision-making.
?? We’d love to hear from you! Drop a comment below—how do you currently manage stakeholder engagement in your trust?
Director at Mynydd an HR services company
3 周Point 2 is spot on Mark - without that being successfully analysed you will lose the impact and points 3/4and 5 will disappoint.