Leigh Smith Consulting

About Us

Our Mission
To build the capability of educational institutions and leaders to engage and manage their most influential investment; their people.
Who we are
Leigh-Smith Consulting is a new Organisational Development (OD) and Human Resource Management (HRM) consulting practice. We have 30 years of extensive experience in contemporary OD and HRM within a variety of organisations and sectors. As a new niche enterprise, we are focussing on the sector we know intimately -- providing expert OD and HRM consulting services to schools.

Leigh-Smith Consulting have a unique understanding of the education sector. The founding Director has more than 13 years of experience overseeing the development and provision of HRM and OD services as the Human Resources Manager at Geelong Grammar School. Recognised as one of the world’s leading schools with a reputation for excellence and innovation, Geelong Grammar School is also one of the most complex. We understand the current challenges within education. Of striving for best practice in teaching and learning to meet the diverse needs of students. Of managing the competing demands of resourcing essential support and operational services with those of managing the complexities and challenges of increasing compliance and legislative obligations. We recognise that the most important enabler is having engaged and skilled people to deliver those outcomes. Because we have a comprehensive understanding of schools, our extensive experience and knowledge of managing people in organisations can be accessed and applied immediately.

Leigh-Smith Consulting assist and enable schools to develop their own HRM and OD strategies and services aligned to their overall strategic objectives, needs and resourcing capabilities. We also support schools by providing advisory and project management services to manage issues, challenges and opportunities that are specific to each school.

Our philosophy is simple. The expectations and demands upon schools have changed significantly in the last decade whereby they must now adopt modern management practices to remain competitive and be successful. Leigh-Smith Consulting provides the knowledge, organisational architecture and relationship management skills to support schools to manage their own OD and HRM solutions to achieve these outcomes.

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Our expertise and knowledge

We specialise in providing the following services;

Development and delivery of OD and HRM strategies

We specialise in developing comprehensive OD and HRM strategies and support schools by;
• providing a framework and the architecture to develop and implement comprehensive OD and HRM strategies
• undertaking audits, gap analysis’ and providing recommendations on best practice
• providing ongoing support and consulting services to implement and manage OD and HRM strategies.

Leadership and management development

We support and provide advisory services to managers and leaders within schools, including;
• leadership and management development programmes that are customised to the specific challenges of leading and managing within educational settings
• coaching and mentoring services for managers and leaders and those aspiring to leadership roles.

Organisational culture and relationships

We assist schools to develop the organisational culture that supports and encourages cooperative and reciprocal organisational relationships. We have extensive experience in;
• enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction by identifying the Employee Values Proposition required to be an “employer of choice”
• talent management – identifying needs, improving recruitment and selection processes and skills, enhancing “onboarding” practices and developing retention strategies
• developing performance management and development systems and skills
• developing strategies, increasing awareness and providing training to maximise the benefits of diversity, EEO and the provision of employee assistance services,
• assessing team dynamics and developing strategies to enhance team effectiveness and cooperation
• developing HRM policies and practices that encourage trust and cooperation.

Organisational design

We have significant experience in undertaking structural and organisational reviews including;
• identify skills gaps and succession planning needs required to achieve educational and operational objectives
• developing structures, position documentation, competency profiles and classification systems.

Employee and industrial relations advisory services

We assist schools in developing their approach and strategies to best manage their industrial and employee relations obligations and challenges. Our approach is to create open and transparent negotiation of enterprise agreements and conditions of employment that are mutually beneficial and sustainable.

Investigations and performance management

We develop policies and practices to ensure employee expectations and obligations regarding appropriate workplace behaviour are clear and processes of managing relationships are transparent and consistent. We also provide advisory and intervention services related to;
• workplace investigations (including misconduct and recent legislation relating to child safety, the obligation to protect and mandatory reporting)
• performance counselling and development of improvement plans.

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Strategic alliances and partnerships

Leigh-Smith Consulting also work in partnership with other consultants and experts to ensure organisations have the most appropriate skills, resources and services available to meet their needs.

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Generalist OD and HRM services to organisations

Leigh-Smith Consulting do not just focus upon schools. Our skills, services and expertise can be applied within any organisation and industry sector.

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The Director of Leigh-Smith Consulting

Malcolm Leigh-Smith is the founding Director of Leigh-Smith Consulting. He has 30 years of extensive experience within senior HRM and OD roles within a variety of organisational settings and sectors. Malcolm has managed and coordinated HRM and OD functions, teams, consultants (internal and external) and service providers and has a record of improving organisational performance through employee engagement. Prior to establishing Leigh-Smith Consulting, he was the Human Resources Manager at Geelong Grammar School for more than 13 years. Malcolm’s background and skills are in organisational psychology and HRM (Masters of Organisational and Industrial Psychology and trained facilitator in Positive Psychology and Education). He has extensive experience in guiding and mentoring leadership groups, teams and individuals to develop management practices and systems that ensure equity, encourage and support employee engagement and the application of continuous improvement principles.

HUMANS ARE A SOCIAL MOVEMENT