Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring the concept of scenius in the context of nursing education.
Scenius is the collective creativity, intelligence, and innovation that happens when we work together, rather than alone. If you missed the first few articles, you can read them here:
Week 1 - Mutual Appreciation
Week 2 - Rapid Exchange of Tools and Ideas
This week, we turn to the third principle of scenius: network effects of success.
In researching this topic, I came across a documentary called Vertical Frontier, which beautifully captures a real-world example of scenius in action. The film tells the story of a group of young climbers in Yosemite National Park during the 1940s who pushed the limits of what was possible on the towering rock face of El Capitan.
😰 Now, I have to be honest, as I have a fairly intense fear of heights, and the parts of this film I watched definitely spiked my anxiety. But despite my sweaty palms, it was impossible to miss how the spirit of scenius was alive in their story.
Kevin Kelly describes the third ingredient of scenius as the network effects of success: when a record is broken, a hit happens, or a breakthrough erupts, the entire group claims it as their own, and that collective pride empowers them to keep reaching higher.
In Vertical Frontier, no single climber "conquered" El Capitan alone. One team would push halfway up the wall, innovating new techniques and equipment. Then another group, building on that success, would make more progress. Another team would experiment, refine the gear, and inch even closer to the summit. Progress wasn’t a single breakthrough. It was a steady, shared evolution, as each group learned and used new information and techniques from those who came before them.
📈 Little by little, risk by risk, the impossible became possible because they celebrated each other's progress and kept exchanging ideas, tools, and encouragement. That’s exactly what scenius looks like: a community of people creating momentum together, faster and more brilliantly than any individual could have done alone. Success isn’t isolated, and it lifts the community as a whole.
In nursing education, where faculty can often feel isolated in their challenges, intentionally celebrating shared wins can create powerful momentum.
📚 In the Classroom: Celebrate Group Wins
In the classroom, it’s easy to highlight individual high performers, but network effects happen when we celebrate collective growth.
One practical way to do this is through a class improvement milestone. For example, after a difficult first exam, set a goal for overall class improvement on the next test, such as increasing the average by five points. When the group hits it, celebrate as a team: include a shoutout in your LMS, offer a small token like a sticker or treat, or give extra points on a worksheet.
💡 The message is: We are getting stronger together. Remind students of the milestone goal throughout the week and use a few minutes of class time to allow students to share what is working in their exam preparations. It shows students that collaboration and collective learning are an expected part of the profession.
🩺 In Clinical: Stories That Belong to Everyone
In post-conference, try a quick “Success Swap.” Give each student a small slip of paper and ask them to write down one thing they are proud of from the day. Maybe they connected with a nervous patient, spoke up during rounds, or used their knowledge from theory in practice.
Collect the papers, mix them up, and have students randomly pull and read one aloud. As a group, take a moment to cheer each success. No names attached, just a shared celebration of growth, courage, and learning.
Another clinical idea is to write small notes to the staff on the unit. Most health systems have a formal recognition system. During one post-conference, ask students to use this system to submit a positive note for someone who has helped them during their clinical day.
💡 These are simple ways to celebrate progress as a group, encourage reflection, and model how to celebrate success collectively. When success feels shared, students are more connected, motivated, and ready to keep pushing forward, feeling inspired and driven by the collective wins of their peers.
👩🏫 Among Educators: Make Teaching Wins Visible
Faculty often innovate quietly. Someone redesigns a simulation or tries a new grading rubric, and even if it’s wildly successful, it sometimes stays tucked away in one course, out of the light, until it is “perfect.”
To create network effects among educators, make teaching wins visible. Host a "Teaching Showcase" where faculty can spend 5 minutes sharing something that worked well. This could be a new strategy, a retooled assignment, a clinical innovation. Keep it low-pressure, no slides required, just stories and quick wins. This activity can be done virtually, using a tool like a Slack channel or the opening section of a meeting agenda.
💡 If you facilitate this type of event, remember the goal isn't to celebrate completion. Instead, it’s to create momentum. When one person’s small success becomes something everyone can build on, the energy multiplies, and your peers can walk away feeling inspired and thinking, “Maybe I could try something new too.”
🌳 Success That Grows
The magic of scenius is that success doesn’t isolate people; it binds them together. In nursing education, we can harness the network effect by celebrating shared progress, lifting each other’s victories, and creating spaces where every success belongs to us all.
I’ve been working on a new community space for nurse educators inside Slack—and I’ll be honest, it’s a little scrappy right now. Part of me wants to hide it away until it’s “perfect,” but I’m trying to practice what I preach: build it out in the open, with your help.
Before we go any further, I’d love your input!
| How comfortable are you using Slack as a communication tool? |
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🎧 Check Out the Learning Lab RN Podcast
The first episode of the Learning Lab RN podcast is live! 🎉 Each episode features creative and practical tools from nurse educators who use them in their teaching practice. You can also access the tools to use in your classroom or clinical. Half of all sales go directly to the educator who created them.
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01: Clinical Loitering Tickets
A simple strategy to keep students engaged during clinical downtime.
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When we share what works, ideas grow, and we all move forward together. 🌱
See you next week, or maybe earlier if you tune in Thursday for the next episode! 🕶️
