Behind the Scenes: How We Curate Learning Expeditions – From Selecting Innovation Labs to Building 90-Day Implementation Plans

Many organisations invest heavily in exposure – conferences, site visits, study tours – yet struggle to translate what leaders see into what the organisation actually does differently. The gap is rarely inspiration. It is, in fact, design.

The same research by Middlesex University’s Institute for Work Based Learning showed that 56% of HR Managers considered training and development to be an essential business enabler. However, while research highlights that organisations spend tens of billions annually on leadership development, workplace application of learning is often low. This is unless design and follow-through systems are built into the process. 

This is where Learning Expedition differs. 

At Learning Expedition, programmes are curated with a simple principle in mind: experience only matters if it is deliberately converted into execution. That belief shapes every decision – from which innovation labs are selected, to how reflection is facilitated, to why activation planning begins before participants ever commence.

So what does that process actually look like? Let’s get into it.

Why Experience Alone Is Not Enough

There is growing consensus that traditional leadership development – classroom-based, content-heavy, and disconnected from real work – is no longer sufficient for today’s operating environment.

Harvard Business Review has consistently highlighted that leadership development fails when learning is not embedded into real organisational challenges, with one author writing, “For the most part, the learning doesn’t lead to better organizational performance, because people soon revert to their old ways of doing things.”

This insight underpins Learning Expedition’s approach: exposure must be paired with structure, interpretation, and accountability – otherwise it becomes anecdotal rather than transformative.

Step One: Selecting What Leaders and Their Teams Need to See — Not What’s Trendy

Curating an expedition begins with selection, not destination branding.

Rather than visiting “impressive” companies, Learning Expedition identifies innovation labs, startups, and operating models that surface patterns relevant to the client’s strategic questions. These may include:

• accelerators shaping emerging categories

• companies operating at the intersection of technology and culture

• organisations experimenting with new business models, customer engagement, or workforce design

“Organizations need to embed learning into the flow of work so people can continuously develop skills in real time,” writes Deloitte. 

Step Two: Facilitated Synthesis — Turning Observation into Insight

Exposure without interpretation is tourism.

This is why Learning Expedition builds structured reflection into every day of the programme. After site visits and encounters, participants engage in facilitated synthesis sessions designed to surface meaning:

• What behaviours did we observe that differ from our own context?

• Which assumptions were challenged?

• What signals might indicate broader shifts in our industry or market?

This design choice reflects a core principle of adult learning: people learn most effectively when experience is deliberately processed, not simply consumed.

McKinsey’s research on capability building reinforces the same logic behind experiential design. In Activating Middle Managers Through Capability Building, the firm notes that “when capabilities are practiced and built in the flow of work, managers can immediately apply what they’ve learned and continue building their capabilities even after the seminar or webinar is over,” underlining that effective learning must be integrated with real work rather than isolated from it.

Step Three: Activation – Designing What Happens After the Experience

The most distinctive element of Learning Expedition’s approach is what happens after exposure and reflection.

Many leadership programmes end with inspiration. Learning Expedition ends with a plan.

Each expedition incorporates a 30/60/90-day activation framework, developed before participants return to their daily roles. This structure reflects how organisations realistically absorb change:

• 30 days: translate insight into priorities and decisions

• 60 days: test ideas in live conditions, identify friction

• 90 days: evaluate what scales, what holds, and what should stop

This focus on follow-through aligns directly with leadership research that finds that leadership programmes are significantly more effective when learning occurs in real-world contexts that reflect participants’ actual work environments, enabling deeper skill refinement and longer-lasting change.

By embedding activation into programme architecture, Learning Expedition reduces the risk that insight dissipates under operational pressure.

The need for design discipline in leadership learning is increasing.

Organisations operating in volatile, technology-driven environments are under growing pressure to translate insight into execution. Learning that sits apart from day-to-day work struggles to compete with operational demands, while programmes that are embedded into how decisions are made and work is done are more likely to influence behaviour.

At the same time, many transformation efforts stall not because direction is unclear, but because the behavioural and systemic shifts required to implement change are underestimated. Without deliberate mechanisms for follow-through, even well-articulated strategies remain aspirational.

In this context, experiential learning is not a “nice-to-have” – but its value depends entirely on whether it is designed to survive re-entry into daily work.

At Learning Expedition, every expedition is designed backwards – starting with the question: what must change in the organisation within the next quarter? From there, exposure is curated, reflection is structured, and activation is built into the programme from day one.

By treating expeditions as strategic interventions – not events – Learning Expedition helps leaders convert what they see into what their organisations do differently.