G8 confirms broadening of strategic focus areas in updated corporate strategy

G8 Education has released details of its refreshed corporate strategy, the key operational roadmap that contains the Group’s primary strategic areas of focus and objectives for the next three years. 

 

The document builds on G8’s first multi year corporate strategy released in 2019 which, for the first time in the company’s history, formally introduced a business wide strategic framework and articulated clear medium term objectives that would be pursued via five strategic pillars. 

 

The 2023 Corporate Strategy holds G8’s fundamental purpose, values and visions more or less in place but broadens out the strategic focus areas and also introduces more emphasis on harnessing the scale benefits that accrue from G8’s size in a way that affords the broader network a range of “platforms” to allow for more choice and flexibility in the delivery of services to their families and children. 

 

Six not five strategic areas of focus in 2023 – 2026 corporate strategy 

 

The 2023 Strategy highlights six strategic areas of focus (compared to five in the 2019 version) for the Group namely; 

 

• Team, 
• Customer & branding, 
• Quality, 
• Education & inclusion, 
• Operating model and; 
• Financial sustainability

 

The five previous focus areas for the Group, outlined in the 2019 strategy, were: 

 

• Children’s learning 
• Team 
• Operational excellence 
• Profitable growth and; 
• Creating differentiation

 

The changes reflect an evolution in priorities, and also capabilities and learned experiences, within the group and will allow for a more targeted and nuanced approach to execution. 

 

As part of a current assessment snapshot of the state of the business through the lens of the six strategic focus areas it was noted that operating model and financial sustainability areas will need the most attention going forward. 

 

A key finding of the assessment was that G8 has a “significant opportunity to drive scale enabled efficiencies, including systems integration” , an observation which has likely informed the introduction of the notion of “platforms” as central to achieving success in these areas. 

 

Scale benefits to be harnessed to “develop a platform of capabilities” for centre use

 

The now very familiar early education and care multi-site operating model sees a range of business functions essentially outsourced from centres to a support office with a view to simplifying the day to day workload at centre level, and creating support centres that can be drawn upon at will. 

 

This model is currently being utilised across the ECEC sector by large and medium providers with different organisations reflecting cultures and governance types through what services are being provided, and by how many employees. 

 

Central to G8’s ongoing strategy is a recognition that there is an opportunity to reframe G8’s support office contribution away from departments towards “platforms” that can be accessed and leveraged by centres across the network. 

 

Underpinning this move is a desire to more effectively capture the many benefits that scale brings to a business like G8 through technology and automation with a view to reducing the cost to deliver services and improve their efficiency of distribution. 

 

Example platforms include:

 

• Systems and technology platforms
• Large data assets to drive insights /actions
• Fully compliant regulatory and compliance
• Professional development programs
• Educational and inclusivity programs
• Procurement roadmap
• People policies, processes and systems

 

The focus on “leveraging core platforms to optimise returns” is central to the near term with emphasis on this area scheduled for the remains of 2023 and 2024 with the ultimate aim to give centres the “autonomy to tailor attractive offerings for their families and team by leveraging G8’s platform of capabilities.”

 

To review G8’s 2023 Corporate Strategy please visit the website here.