Global drama academy
Building confidence and alignment at scale: inside a global drama academy franchise
By Rosie Reynolds (CMO and business strategist)
Photo by Nikita Nikitin from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/teacher-working-with-children-11163602/
Results:
30% increase in revenue
Seamless global consistency
Substantial global growth across 36 countries
New revenue streams
Just after turning 22 and eager to start my journey as an entrepreneur, I purchased the regional franchise rights for a well-known drama academy in my home county, as it was rapidly expanding across the globe. The drama academy offered a structured curriculum for children and young adults that prioritized confidence and self-esteem over individual performance, and over time, the academy as a whole grew to operate in 36 countries, reaching over 100,000 students. The academy’s foundational ethos was built upon a robust, highly structured curriculum, the design of which was meticulous: a student entering our program at age four and staying until age eighteen would never repeat a single class. Our pedagogy had a very specific "golden thread"; instead of putting students in the spotlight or forcing them to perform monologues, the Academy’s goal was to build "big voices," confidence, and self-esteem collectively using structured, curated group participation.
High-quality services required knowledge sharing and alignment
With such a focus on nurturing confidence and self-esteem, every class taught needed to be a safe and familiar place for students.
If a family in the UK had a child enrolled in the Academy and then emigrated to Australia or Malta, their child could walk into a local academy and seamlessly transition without missing class, seamlessly following on from their last session.
To successfully deliver the curriculum in this way across the globe, we required strict adherence to our teaching style and continuous alignment across the franchise. We also faced the ongoing challenge of staff turnover, a natural result of the part-time nature of many teaching roles.
Backstage at year end performances
Lighting design by students of the academy
Internal gatherings dissolved silos and built value
The solution to the twin challenges of curriculum alignment and staff turnover was to host regular internal gatherings. These events were held three times a year to workshop the upcoming term's curriculum. Led by curriculum experts, these were highly interactive train-the-trainer workshops in which teachers would act out the lessons, playing the role of the children.
As the Academy grew, so did the scope of the events, expanding beyond teaching alignment to become dynamic hubs for knowledge-sharing. Drawing 50 to 100 participants from as far as Canada and India, they became the space to share best practices around marketing initiatives, school outreach strategies, and academy management. Franchisees shared practical insights, such as recommendations for set builders or costume suppliers, and technical tips on theatre lighting and audio systems.
Guidelines were safe boundaries to delivery, not blockers.
Operating a global franchise with high quality standards required the curriculum and teaching methods to be locked down. For example, teachers were trained to use nonverbal tools such as tambourines and clicks to guide the class and manage attention without ever raising their voices. In the context of a drama classroom, you might think of guardrails as blockers to creativity, but for the drama academy, these guardrails opened safe channels for innovation.
Rosie Reynolds
Spotlighting innovation delivered effective best practice adoption
If a franchise holder wanted to adapt or innovate around a method, they had to seek permission. Our central management team held weekly or monthly check-ins, actively listening for new, effective practices emerging from the field.
When I developed a successful innovation, adapting lesson plans to align with the UK National Curriculum to secure paid, in-school workshops for franchisees, the head office took notice. My proposal underwent rigorous verification, and once validated, I was invited to present my ideas in a spotlight session at our next seminar, and the approach was subsequently rolled out as a new product standard across the entire organization. This innovation opened revenue streams and in-school reach that had not been available before.
Formalized knowledge-sharing supported innovation
As there was already a healthy culture of knowledge sharing, the new approach was soon bolstered by supporting materials such as FAQs for school heads and governors, letters for parents, pricing structures, and a forum for suggesting and curating changes.
Dealing with schools and education authorities on a more formal level galvanized changes at the drama academy head office. On an operational level, the head office already maintained tight guidelines on teaching and administration, such as digital registers, fee collection, branding and marketing materials. In response to the new relationships with schools, the head office strengthened core templated materials, which simplified things for franchise owners, enabling them to focus their energy on teaching rather than administrative burdens.
Conferences developed community and culture
Internal conferences were successful because they connected people, creating safe spaces for great ideas and much-needed reflection. Running a franchise business can sometimes be a lonely endeavor, and the academy’s conferences gave many owners the opportunity to meet with friendly faces for support.
Franchisees with fewer students were paired with successful franchisees, resulting in increased class numbers and profits. Innovators would receive recognition and celebration, such as the ‘Franchisee of the Year’ award, and become respected influencers in the academy.
Ultimately, this culture of continuous alignment, sharing, and support drove the realization of incredible strategic value. It maintained core pedagogical philosophy worldwide, enabled massive global expansion, and culminated in the successful sale of the business to a large international entertainment group, one that already operated a leading competitor in the children's performing arts franchise space.
Authors’ commentary
This story demonstrates the value of key techniques described in Adapt Together in a context arguably more challenging than many enterprise settings. The regular staff gatherings produced cross-organization alignment enabling global curriculum delivery, in a similar way to what we see from internal conferences.
The use of strict operational guidelines produced in-class behaviors that gave more space for learning and creativity, mirroring the use of well-defined boundaries to drive aligned, autonomous execution - the essence of the TagMe technique.
The management team functioned much like an Innovation and Practices Enabling Team (IPET), seeking out and curating effective practices being devised by franchise holders.
The innovation dynamic at the drama academy was enhanced by formalizing frameworks for knowledge sharing and curation. Adapt Together calls these activities Active Knowledge Diffusion (AKD), a powerful and transformative approach to building knowledge-sharing communities within organizations.
Ultimately, the success of the drama academy proves that when a highly distributed workforce can act as an empowered community, the results are extraordinary. This is the essence of Adapt Together.
Matthew Skelton and Renee Hawkins
Techniques used
Internal conferences for cross-organization alignment
Boundaries to enable autonomous, aligned execution (TagMe)
Innovation and Practices Enabling Team (IPET)
Active Knowledge Diffusion (AKD)
About the author
Rosie Reynolds
Rosie Reynolds is a strategic marketing leader with over 15 years of experience transforming how brands connect with customers to drive sustainable revenue growth and capture market opportunities across diverse sectors.
Rosie brings experience in translating business objectives into market-winning strategies through both data-driven insights and a deep understanding of customers’ needs. She's served as a trusted advisor to multiple brands across SaaS, cybersecurity, financial services, and FMCG sectors, pioneering expansion strategies that consistently deliver revenue growth whilst adapting to rapid market changes.
