I am putting the finishing touches on a book called U-Turn Leadership for a retired CEO about how he saved failing organizations. The book is designed both as a standalone read and as the foundation for a course on leadership. Last night, he called to tell me something very important about designing the first class.

This very important point is based on a principle I strongly believe in: the wisdom of the crowd. Simply, we are all experts in something. Great learning draws it out.

The First Lesson

Designing the first class lays the foundation for everything that follows. You:

• set the tone for your interactions,
• establish the rules for success and
• describe the knowledge the students need to acquire to achieve mastery.

Now, expand that definition: Use that first interaction to get learners to feed you what they know. In the spirit of flipping the educational experience, let your class do the teaching.

If you want to get someone engaged in learning what you want to teach them, ask them about themselves. Show an interest in what they already know. Get their perspective. Understand their points of reference. Get them talking and thinking about what they know about the subject.

When your learners are teaching each other, they are involved in the class in a way that moves them from passive receptors to members of an active feedback loop. Putting them in the teacher’s seat in the beginning allows you to tap into all the knowledge in the room for a vibrant experience for everyone.

Wisdom of the Crowd

I have long believed that just about everything I am about to teach is already known collectively by the class. So before diving in and droning on, I present the material as questions. They find out how smart their classmates are, build respect for themselves and for each other before you enter the topic.

You also find where the gaps are, with whom, and how to adjust perceptions to make your material accessible to the learners.

In one case, I teach soft skills training to experienced service providers.  I introduce the class and tell them that they already know or instinctively do much of what we are going to talk about. In the case of this particular class, I am teaching wisdom to Solomon. So we use the classroom material to talk about cases and issues they encounter and I facilitate as they advise each other using the framework of the class material to guide discussions.

In a word, the method is Socratic. So, it’s nothing new. And just like in the classes themselves, I expect I am telling you things here that you already do and know.

Great classes remind you what you know and expand on it. Adult learning is all about making those connections. If you want great engagement, start by make your students the teachers. Tap into the wisdom of the crowd.

Applying the WOTC Formula

How will this play out in the first U-Turn Leadership class we are writing? We’ll ask the class to define leadership.  Yes, we have a formal framework that we call the 5 Absolute Attributes. But that first class is a discussion about the participants’ experiences with leadership.

The U-Turn Leadership book and seminar series is based on university classes that were full to brimming after word got out about them. The classes involved real-life examples and the exchanges in class solved problems. When you draw on the wisdom of your students, you have moved from the theoretical to what is real for them. When the learning is real and applicable, the students care.

Try this simple Wisdom-of-the-Crowd (WOTC) Formula when designing training, then watch the rest of your classes flow out of what you’ve shared with each other.

The WOTC Formula:

• Ask: Draw on the learner’s knowledge.
• Connect: Have the class teach each other to build a web of learning relationships.
• Encourage: Show them how smart they are.
• Structure: Give them a framework in which to do their thinking so their discussions and learning are aimed toward a goal.

By tapping into the wisdom of the crowd, your learners are enriched by each other. Appreciate their knowledge and create massive engagement.

How do you tap into the knowledge in your classroom? Share your strategies for learner engagement in the comment section below.