Highlighting Leadership Excellence at The Expedition School

This month marks a significant milestone for us at Leaders Building Leaders as we kick off our tenth year in business. Established in April 2014, I led the company's first retreat around the second week of July that year. We are proud of the impact we've made over the past decade and remain dedicated to empowering leaders and fostering excellence.

To celebrate, each week I am going to highlight one of our school's in our Empowered Executives: Inner Circle. The Inner Circle is a weekly virtual mastermind made up of public charter school principals, directors, and other administrators. They come together to share breakthroughs, gain advice, strategy and new perspectives from leaders in their positions. 

The first school I desire to highlight is The Expedition School (TES) in Hillsborough, North Carolina. When I wrote my book on high performing charter schools, the chapter on a Healthy School Culture Conducive for Learning, it was a school like TES that I modeled it after. 

The Expedition School, serving students in grades K-8, opened in 2014. Its founder, and school leader Tammy Finch, holds the title of Director of Education and Curriculum. 

The Expedition School Mission is to embrace the natural curiosity of children and empower them to become innovative problem solvers and community builders, and to provide excellent and innovative education to students through experiential project based learning and STEM focused curriculum.

Website: https://www.theexpeditionschool.com/ 

The Expedition School has been one of the top performing public schools in the state since its inception in 2014. The Expedition School earned the distinction as a Kindness Certified School for its commitment to creating a culture of kindness. The Expedition School has been ranked #2 in North Carolina Charter Middle Schools, and #7 in North Carolina Middle Schools.  Schools are ranked on their performance on state-required tests, graduation, and how well they prepare their students for high school.

Recently, I had the privilege of facilitating a leadership training session at The Expedition School, a remarkable K-8 learning institution led by the inspiring Tammy Finch. What stands out about this school is their intentional approach to everything they do. From staff meetings to employee development and mini-classes, they consistently model and utilize the same instructional methods and strategies teachers use in the classroom.

Everything they do is intentional. All meetings and time together have a clear purpose. They intentionally equip employees, model the expected practices and develop relationships and deeper understanding. 

One example was just prior to my workshop I observed a morning meeting where teachers led the session using the same language, directions, and strategies to guide the whole group. It was evident that their values-focused approach is deeply ingrained in their daily routines.

A second example was years ago, prior to leading the TES board in a training, Tammy led the board through a core values based exercise. The board worked together to define what the core values looked like from a board perspective (examples and non-examples) and committed to "modeling the way" through those values. That's the top down leadership I love to see!

Years ago, I remember Tammy saying years ago about the budget, that it always had to include the pillars of the school, Project Based Learning and Responsive Classrooms through a values based model. The ability of our employees to carry out these two programs at a high level is what ensures our school’s success and sustainability.  

The workshop I led, Winning With People, focused on relationship building (personal, peers and others), social and emotional learning, communication and a little bit of self care. 

• Self-Leadership: Understanding and leveraging personal strengths through personality profile.
• Team Communication: Building effective intrapersonal and external communication strategies within teams.
• Strengths and Personal Values: Identifying and aligning personal values with team goals.

Our time together during the workshop was 100% people focused. We dedicated the day to self-discovery and team-building, engaging in critical conversations around self-leadership, team communication, strengths, and personal values. This training was part of our Winning With People Program, designed to enhance personal and professional growth.

Everyone on the team got the chance to see where they are, and their team members are on the personality wheel. It's critical that people know and understand how their personality impacts what they do, how people perceive them, the actions they may take and the unintended consequences of those actions if they are not AWARE.

You see, people need to become AWARE before they can BEWARE of their personality. Leadership is not about me, it's about my ability to lead and achieve through the talents of others. 

The Expedition School exemplifies how intentional practices and a focus on values can create a thriving educational environment. I am inspired by their commitment and look forward to seeing the continued growth and success of their leaders and students.

I’d highly recommend you taking a look at their page and reaching out to leadership. Maybe you can visit the school. Our principal consortium and Teacher Leader Academy have both toured and been blown away by the culture Tammy and her team have designed and nurtured. 

The Expedition School is a member of our Inner Circle and school leader consortiums. We are blessed to be able to ask Tammy and her team questions every week on how they are succeeding at such a high level. 

Stay tuned for more client highlights as we continue to celebrate ten years of service to schools!

Keep making a difference,

The LBL Team