What Education Can Learn from High-Growth Organisations About Culture and Operational Excellence
By Lucy Jones
Head of Growth & Engagement, Centre for Education Operational Excellence (CEOE)
A recent post shared by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), featuring Ben Horowitz's culture document, prompted me to reflect on the relationship between culture and operational excellence in education.
The original document was created in the context of high-growth technology businesses, but its central message is universal: successful organisations are intentional about culture. They don't leave it to chance. Culture becomes a practical operating tool that shapes decision-making, behaviours, accountability and performance.
Earlier in my career, I had the opportunity to support high-growth businesses across the US and Europe, including portfolio companies of a16z. While every organisation was different, the strongest performers shared a common trait: they were clear about who they were, how they worked and what they expected from their people.
As organisations grow, complexity naturally increases. Teams expand, structures evolve and decision-making becomes more distributed. At that point, culture is no longer a "nice to have". It becomes essential for maintaining alignment, consistency and effectiveness across the organisation.
The best leaders understand this. They make culture explicit—not as a set of values written on a wall, but as a practical guide for how work gets done every day.
The Same Challenge Exists in Education
While education organisations operate in a very different environment to venture-backed technology companies, the challenge is remarkably similar.
Whether leading a multi-academy trust, university, technical college, maintained school or education support organisation, leaders must balance growth, complexity and performance while maintaining a clear focus on outcomes.
This is often viewed primarily as an operational challenge. Discussions around operational excellence frequently focus on governance, systems, processes, compliance, efficiency and performance measures.
All of these matter.
But they are only part of the picture.
At CEOE, we define Operational Excellence (OpEx™) as:
"The cultural transformation and technical enablement of an organisation that allows it to perform optimally and achieve its strategic objectives." [ceoe.org.uk]
This definition is important because it recognises something many organisations overlook: culture is not separate from operational excellence. It is a fundamental element of it.
Culture and Operational Excellence Go Hand in Hand
The OpEx for Education™ framework identifies five foundational pillars of sustainable operational excellence: culture, people, productivity, systems and data, and continuous improvement.
These pillars work together.
Strong systems without the right culture often result in compliance rather than commitment.
Clear processes without shared behaviours can create consistency, but not necessarily collaboration.
Performance measures without trust and accountability may drive short-term results while undermining long-term improvement.
A clearly defined culture helps align teams around a common purpose and ensures that improvements are sustained over time rather than relying on individual effort alone.
It helps people understand not only what they are trying to achieve, but how they are expected to work together to achieve it.
This is particularly important in education, where lasting improvement depends on collective effort across multiple teams, functions and stakeholders amidst a complex environment of changing and challenging policy headwinds.
From Aspiration to Execution
One of the most powerful lessons from high-growth organisations is that culture is most effective when it is translated into observable behaviours and embedded into everyday operations.
In other words, culture and operational excellence reinforce one another.
Strong culture creates the conditions for excellent execution, and excellent operations help turn cultural aspirations into everyday practice.
When the two are aligned, organisations are better equipped to:
Deliver consistent outcomes
Improve decision-making
Build resilience during periods of change
Sustain improvement over the long term
Achieve their strategic objectives more effectively
This is why operational excellence should never be viewed as purely a technical exercise. Sustainable success requires both technical enablement and cultural transformation.
A Question for Education Leaders
The a16z culture document raises an important question for organisations in every sector:
If culture shapes how decisions are made, how people work together and how improvement is sustained, can we truly achieve operational excellence without being deliberate about culture?
At CEOE, we believe the answer is no.
Culture isn't soft. It's one of the foundations of operational excellence.
And for education organisations seeking sustainable improvement, it may be one of the most important places to start.
At CEOE, we work with schools, trusts and education organisations to strengthen operational excellence through the combined power of culture, people, systems and continuous improvement. To discuss your organisation's challenges and opportunities, use this link Talk to CEOE or email us at enquiries@ceoe.org.uk
Source Attribution
Inspired by: Ben Horowitz's culture document shared by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Original post:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-culture-document-written-by-ben-horowitz-ugcPost-7476002301871247360-qxFS/
About the Author
Lucy Jones is Head of Growth & Engagement at the Centre for Education Operational Excellence (CEOE). She works with education leaders to advance operational excellence across schools, trusts and the wider education sector. Earlier in her career, she supported high-growth organisations across the US and Europe, including portfolio companies of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where she saw first-hand how strong culture underpins sustainable growth, effective decision-making and long-term organisational success.