Rush academy re-evaluates educational offering
Published
30th Aug 2022
by Josie Jackson
Founded in 1994, RUSH Hair have continuously pushed the boundaries of hairdressing and their commitment to education is apparent, with the stand alone RUSH Academy in London’s Covent Garden and ongoing education and development provided to each member of their team.
Many will remember the opening of the RUSH Academy on Bedford Street in London’s prestigious Covent Garden back in 2017, which was a momentous occasion for the entire RUSH team. This hub of education was, and remains, an integral part of the RUSH brand and is the epicentre of learning for their team. The Academy is mapped out to provide continuous and ever evolving education to the RUSH team.
The Academy itself hosts a variety of different areas, all conducive the RUSH Educational experience, whether you are a new start or experienced and long serving member of the team. Entering the main space, you arrive into a hub of activity and creativity, with all breakout areas laid out to link into the main teaching area. The breakout areas include a creative classroom, bespoke colour bar, workshop space as well as management offices and a beautiful hand-crafted retail area.
Fast forward a few years, a global pandemic and an impending recession, the RUSH Academy has pivoted their offerings, bringing a new structure to the space, a new strategy towards education and a new approach to education and development for the RUSH team. Throughout lockdown, the team took the chance to reset and re-evaluate the academy, as well as the overall business. co-founder Stell Andrew, along with academy director Adam Bryant and international creative director Andy Heasman, took the opportunity to review the Academy, the overall education focus, and the operation of the space – they evaluated every area of the training on offer, the ROI, those who they were servicing and of course, their team.
Homing in on the academy, the team stripped their current strategies back and looked at the main centre focus of what they were providing. They all agreed that after the pandemic, they wanted to make changes and felt that these changes would benefit the team tremendously. They wanted their team to be renowned as experts in cutting, colour and styling, known to provide exceptional service and skills as well as being ahead of industry trends and techniques.
The team put a brand-new strategy and purpose into place for the Academy; this focused solely on the education and training of their own core team of stylists, managers and assistants. Plans have been put into place and executed, to ensure the ‘team’ receive the very best in hairdressing education across every sector of the craft, from foundation skills to creative colour, session styling to retail, management to customer service.
Every single RUSH team member is welcomed to the academy at any time, with new team members receiving detailed and in-depth onboarding with academy director Adam Bryant. Adam oversees the introduction the continual education and is integral to coaching the ever-evolving versions of each individual who is part of the RUSH Team. The onboarding covers education in the foundation hairdressing skills, customer service, retail and the RUSH Way, which covers the brands values, strategies and visions. They are added into a whatsapp group where they can instantly communicate and remain in contact with their mentor – this 24/7 access and support has resulted in an increased retention rate from pre pandemic of 77% to, in March 22 to 93%.
From here, the continual education is put into action with every member of the RUSH team welcomed in at any time to further their career, skills and confidence.
As well as team management and education, the RUSH Academy still offers external education opportunities to groups of 25 or more. With groups from both the UK, USA, Singapore, Taiwan and Mexico already experiencing the RUSH Way, the opportunity to be educated by the award-winning RUSH Artistic Team is very much still available to those both in the UK and overseas.
