Last weekend, I flew to Oregon to work with school leaders. They were gathered at a gorgeous university in the western part of the state. The attendees were dedicated—some drove six hours through long rural stretches (and zero cell service!) to be there. The organizer, Eric Nichols, made it happen— he orchestrates several similar events throughout the year— and it was an awesome experience, start to finish.
Among other things, I led the group in an activity I called the “Expertise Exercise.”
The exercise is a way to leverage the experiences in the room, many of whom have been doing this work for a very long time.
It’s not unlike the “EdCamp” model, but it has a few more guardrails and an immediate list of takeaways that everyone can utilize. It was pretty slick.
I want to share the framework so you can run it with your own staff, or, if you are a leader of leaders, you might try this with your team. Or—why not?—do it with students. Or your PTO/PTA!
Here are the steps I used for this group of school leaders:
Group Up: Divide your staff into groups of 5–6.
Assign Topics: Give each group a topic that relates directly to their work (see my list below).
Share Stories (20 Mins): Each group member tells a story—a success, a failure, or a lightbulb moment—related to their topic.
Facilitate: Assign a facilitator for each group to keep the stories moving. Designate a note-taker to capture a one-line "Lesson Learned" from each story.
Report Out: Groups share their "greatest hit" with the whole room.
The Artifact: Collect and compile all one-line responses into a shared doc or slide deck. Distribute it so your staff has a go-to toolkit of peer-tested strategies—living evidence of the team’s collective wisdom.
I used these specific categories for leaders (consolidated here for brevity), but you should pivot these based on your audience (leaders, teachers, students, or parents):
Logistics: Operations, Budget, & Facilities
Relationships: Parent Management & Community Resources
Culture: Discipline, Shared Leadership, & Hiring
The "Human" Element: Compassion & Decision Fatigue, Avoiding Burnout
Instruction: Curriculum Cycles & Instructional Resources
It was fun to walk around and listen to the conversations. I’d encouraged people to tell their disaster stories as much as their celebrations—just so there was a lesson learned, it didn’t matter how they got there.
The report-outs were thoughtful, timely, and extremely practical. Since the share-outs were based on real stories, we got quite a few good laughs, too.
At the lunch break, I reviewed the written takeaways from each group. They’d come up with almost 35 statements, and every single one packed a punch. I consolidated them into a document that I linked to the event agenda, so every person had access to it. I called it “What We Know.”
Next week, I’ll tell you some of their insights.
But here’s the point: The group’s compilation was a reminder that we often look outward for answers when the greatest expertise is already sitting right there next to us. If you try this exercise, you might be surprised by the brilliance your team has been waiting to share!
Still learning—every day!—and staying curious along the way—
Jen