A learning expedition is a study trip of one or more days in which a team meets, on the ground, the companies, researchers and entrepreneurs who are ahead on a given subject. Its purpose is to bring back ideas the team can apply in its own organisation and to decide together what comes next.
A learning expedition is a group study trip. The team travels for a few days, visits sites and meets people who have already worked through its question: a chief executive who changed how the company is governed, a researcher, the founder of a community venue. Each meeting is prepared in advance, and the group takes time to draw out what it will use back home.
In French it is also called an expédition apprenante or a voyage d'étude. The short form LEX is common.
The term comes from education. Outward Bound, the school Kurt Hahn and Lawrence Holt founded in Wales in 1941, inspired the Expeditionary Learning network of schools in the United States, funded in 1992 and opened in 1993. Its learning expeditions are four to nine week studies of a single theme, with fieldwork. Today the term also covers company study trips.
The idea rests on experiential learning. Psychologist David Kolb described it in 1984 as a four-stage cycle: live a situation, observe it, draw an idea from it, try it out. Otto Scharmer of MIT and the Presencing Institute turned it into a practice for leaders, sensing journeys, which take participants out of their routine to see their organisation through the eyes of other stakeholders.
in:Expeditions has organised learning expeditions since 2015: more than 100 so far, for more than 250 clients, including companies, institutions and schools. Its journalists choose the meetings from a map of 2,500 impact initiatives.
A company runs a learning expedition when it has to decide on a subject it knows little about: a new business model, a different governance, the ecological transition of its trade, a new way of working. Seeing how others went about it, with their figures and their mistakes, saves time.
For an executive committee, it helps build a shared strategic vision, design actions and anticipate possible futures. For a CSR or innovation team, it connects the business to the major transitions. For HR, it trains and brings people together at once: the group learns side by side, away from the office.
One example: in the Basque Country, a leadership team thinking about how value is shared meets MONDRAGON, a group of industrial cooperatives where more than 71,000 people work under the rule of one member, one vote.
In the in:Expeditions catalogue, a learning expedition costs from €700 to €4,000 per person, excluding VAT, for a group of at least 10 people. The lowest starting price is Paris (€700, 1 to 3 days), the highest is Geneva (€4,000, 1 to 4 days). For 10 people in Paris, the budget therefore starts at €7,000 excluding VAT.
The price depends on the destination, the number of days and the number of participants. Each destination page shows its starting price, and the quote is calculated on your programme.
The budget is made up of these items:
A learning expedition lasts from 1 to 8 days. One day is enough in Paris or Marseille. Allow 2 to 4 days for Amsterdam, Berlin, Freiburg or Lisbon, 3 to 5 days for Copenhagen, Oslo or the Basque Country, 4 to 6 days for Helsinki or Istanbul, and 4 to 8 days for Dakar.
The length follows the distance and the scope of the subject. A nearby destination reached by train suits a short format. A broad subject, such as Basque cooperative industry, needs several days of meetings.
Over three days, the rhythm often looks like this. Day 1: travel, kick-off lunch, first immersion, dinner with an expert. Day 2: workshop, project visits, lunch with a local organisation, time for reflection in the evening. Day 3: field visit, final lunch, closing session where each person says what they are taking away, departure.
All three formats bring a team together away from the office. What sets them apart is their purpose.
A learning expedition takes the group out to learn from other organisations. An offsite brings the team together to work on its own issues. Team building strengthens relationships through a shared activity. The formats are often combined: visits and meetings during the day, work among participants in the evening.
| Learning expedition | Offsite | Team building | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Learn from people who are ahead on a subject, then decide | Work on the team's own issues: strategy, organisation, action plan | Build cohesion and trust |
| Format | Site visits, prepared and facilitated meetings, group reflection | Working sessions and workshops, often at a venue outside the office | A shared activity: sport, games, cooking, a creative challenge |
| Length | 1 to 8 days (in:Expeditions catalogue) | Usually 1 to 3 days | Usually half a day to a day |
| What you bring back | Real cases, contacts, a participant handbook, ideas to apply at home | Decisions and an action plan | A closer team and shared memories |
At in:Expeditions, preparation follows six steps, in this order.
The in:Expeditions catalogue lists 21 destinations in France and abroad, many of them reachable by train. Five examples, from the lowest starting price to the highest:
To plan it yourself, Agent A\lex, the in:Expeditions AI agent, opens in Claude, ChatGPT, Le Chat or Gemini and builds the objectives, the day-by-day programme, the meetings, low-carbon logistics and the budget with you, using the in:Expeditions method.
To hand it over, send your brief (destination, dates, number of participants, objectives) and an in:Expeditions journalist will offer you a 15 to 45 minute interview.
Prices in the in:Expeditions catalogue apply to groups of at least 10 people. The programme then adapts to the size of the group: the Freitag workshop in Zurich, for example, hosts groups of 10 to 25.
Yes. The catalogue includes Paris, Marseille and the Côte des Légendes in Brittany. In Paris or Marseille, a single day is enough.
Business leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers, foundations and local authorities who have already made progress on the group's subject. in:Expeditions chooses them from a map of 2,500 impact initiatives and prepares each meeting.
Broadly, yes. All three describe a trip where a group learns from organisations on the ground. Learning expedition is the term French-speaking companies use, often shortened to LEX.
At in:Expeditions, journalists and expedition leaders. They introduce the group to each host, open the subjects, facilitate discussion and share their analysis at the end of each day.
A participant handbook with a page for each place and each person met, the group's notes and, after the return workshop, a list of ideas to put into practice. On request: summary sheets for each visit, a podcast or a video.
Agent A\lex