This “revolution” had many precursors, some of which have been referred to in previous chapters. But Miller points to one specific day that, for him, marks the birth of cognitive psychology and cognitive science as an interdisciplinary effort: September 11, 1956. The Special Interest Group in Information Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had organized a symposium, with the first day devoted to coding theory. September 11 was the second day of the symposium, and participants presented a series of papers that could have been seen as just a hodge-podge of unrelated research topics.

On that day in 1956, however, Miller and others exercised their very human capacity for meaning making by seeing the various papers as part of a larger whole. In Miller’s words:

Thus, in putting mental activity back into psychology, cognitive psychology restored creating subjective meaning to the list of human functions. In a revolutionary stroke for the academic world, the mind became an active part of psychology.

By 1956, “Behaviorism was an exciting adventure for experimental psychology but by the mid-1950s it had become apparent that it could not succeed” (Miller, 2003, p. 142). Along with this rediscovery of the mind by cognitive psychologists and advances in developmental psychology, educational theorists were making discoveries that are closely related. The question “Why do we do what we do?” began to be answered in ways that broke away from mechanistic assumptions.

Rather than treating learning as a product or outcome, recent thinkers see it as a process (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 1998). Knowing about the process of learning is crucial for coaches. And, since most coaches work with adults, it is important for us to know that adult learning has specific characteristics, specifically that adults learn best when they are actively engaged as part of the process.

This chapter covers the next topics:

The cognitive revolution, located mainly in mid-20th-century North America, stimulated an explosion of interest in topics that had been considered “merely” philosophical or speculative or on the sidelines of “real” behaviorist research.

None of these changes is a direct example of learning. Learning refers to those changes in a person’s capacity that last longer than immediate reflexes and that are not attributable to growth, illness or accidents, or physiological processes (Tight, 1996). As Malcolm Knowles (Knowles et al., 1998) points out, learning results when individuals interact with their environment to fulfill a need, resulting in a greater ability of those individuals to adapt to their environment.

Clearly, this ability to improve how we deal with our environment is a major factor in the survival of the human species, so learning has been important since well before written history began. For most of that history, learning occurred unconsciously—a child watching his father fashion an arrowhead from volcanic glass; an apprentice working alongside a blacksmith; a group of women carding wool, weaving, and sewing together. After the invention of writing and books, conscious learning often was seen as the purview of a select few: first monks in monasteries and then government officials or scholars in universities. But the pace of change has accelerated to the point where Peter Senge (1990) asserts that every organization should be a learning organization and every person a lifelong learner.

When we first started writing this chapter, we titled it “Adult Learning.” Our friends in the education field laughed and insisted that learning was learning, whatever one’s age, and that the same principles applied. As we will see, this is true with very few exceptions.

Research on formal learning in the Western world was at first focused on young people in school. More recently, research has shown that learning is different in some ways for different age groups. Theories have arisen that account for how people gain knowledge when they are beyond what used to be called “school age” and are “independent,” as defined by societal norms. The interest in this topic has been so intense that no single theory covers the field. In the introduction to the canonical book The Adult Learner, Knowles and colleagues (1998) acknowledge that the subject is too complex to be covered by a single theory or set of principles. Instead, they cite the story of the blind men describing an elephant—each one touching a different part of the animal and claiming that it is like a rope (when touching the tail), a pillar (when feeling a leg), or a snake (after contact with the trunk). Because of the differing perspectives on adult learning, the authors call for a multifaceted conception.

A typical coaching engagement can be seen as a form of adult learning, and coaches may benefit from understanding the rich heritage that learning theories provide. For instance, Carl Rogers (1951) proposed that we cannot actually teach another person directly; all we can do is facilitate the learning. Tight (1996) agrees that what was once seen as imparting knowledge or doing things to passive students is now defined as facilitating self-directed learning.

Tight (1996) criticizes the commonly accepted definitions of learning because they focus on the individual learner without acknowledging the importance, especially for adults, of the learner’s social context and interactions—that is, their experience—whether in an organization or a community. In essence, he sees learning as being influenced by the learner’s social systems. He also describes the current approaches to adult learning as more trial and error, in keeping with the fact that both individuals and organizations are unique in many ways and thus may not be well served by a cookbook approach to learning. “[T]he business of adult learning comes down to a largely rule-of-thumb or heuristic approach. In other words, if it works, do it again; if it doesn’t, modify it or try another approach altogether” (Tight, 1996, p. 24). Thus, the issue for learning theory today is how to facilitate learning in unique situations.

A coach benefits from having theoretical principles that can serve as guides. Even more important is the coach’s ability to creatively devise ways of working with clients that match the particular needs of each client and his or her situation.

Constructivism, or creativity, has also had a powerful influence on learning theory. Like andragogy in general, constructivism stresses personal autonomy, experiential learning, and problem solving. Constructivism also highlights the need to connect new learning to old in order to retain it and the importance of the learning context, which cannot be separated from the learning itself. Constructivism has contributed to a mechanistic-to-systemic shift in many fields, including sociology, anthropology, psychology, and psychotherapy. Savery and Duffy (1995) describe principles of constructivism in learning theory, many of which apply to coaching quite directly.

Current learning theory is multidimensional, emphasizes the subjective experience of the learner, and recognizes the importance of context. For those reasons, we consider learning theory to be one of the pillars that lifts coaching above the mechanistic bedrock of the early 20th century.

The next sections discuss the main principles of adult learning.

Self-directed learning, pioneered by Alan Tough (1971, 1982) in the 1970s and 1980s, is learning in which “the responsibility for, and control of, the learning experience—its planning, delivery and assessment—is largely transferred from the institution to the individual learner” (Tight, 1996, p. 101). Ideally, coaching is both flexible and self-directed, as the client determines the direction of and is responsible for the learning, and the coaching process is customized to meet the client’s needs.

Self-directed learning is a composite of two distinct dimensions: self-teaching (the ability to teach oneself something) and personal autonomy (assuming ownership and control of one’s learning). A person may self-teach without personal autonomy, or vice versa, depending on the circumstances and the learner’s abilities.

Patrick Penland (1979) asked a sample of adult learners why they preferred to learn on their own instead of taking a course. These same reasons may also explain why adults choose coaching. The listed percentages of adults indicated the response that was “most important” to them:

Experience has a major influence on how new learning is retained and stored in long-term memory. Ormrod (1990) offers four principles:

Children view experience as something that happens to them, while adults view experience as part and parcel of their own identities and as something they do. Adult learners may consider any learning situation that goes counter to their experience as a personal rejection or devaluation.

In addition, our experiences help us to develop schemas, habits, and biases that may be productive in our daily lives but may prevent us from learning new ways of thinking. To address this, adult learning facilitators look for ways to help learners become aware of and examine their existing mindsets and become more open-minded. When new learning significantly challenges our current thinking, unlearning may be necessary before new learning can be integrated.

Schön defines two different forms of action learning: knowing-in-action and reflection-in-action. The former is similar to single-loop learning, in that nothing is challenging our current thinking, and we continue operating much as we did before. Reflection-in-action is similar to double-loop learning. It is a process of thinking while doing, and requires not only reflection to discover challenges to our current thinking but also effort to evolve our thinking accordingly.

Not surprisingly, effective facilitators and learners are able to engage both reflection-in-action and double-loop learning.

Adult learning experts advocate performing a needs assessment and a context analysis prior to setting learning objectives. The learner and facilitator should work together to determine how to best go about doing the needs assessment. Needs assessment methods include doing a gap analysis between current and desired proficiencies, looking at performance reviews, looking at best practices, administering formal assessments, and soliciting information from others (such as family, friends, and coworkers). Learners may not want to include others in the needs assessment, but it has the additional benefit of increasing commitment of others to the success of the learning process.

In addition, the facilitator should analyze the context of the learning. This means understanding “the major influences in the setting where learners are likely to apply what they learn” (Knox, 1986, p. 67). This is similar to a systems approach and helps learners use learning strategies that take advantage of encouraging factors in the learning environment and that combat discouraging environmental factors.

In other words, in order to take prior learning into account, the facilitator must conduct:

Active learning is both supportive and challenging. It serves as a model for learning, exploration, and self-directed learning. It helps learners gain confidence in their learning abilities, provide each other with feedback, and gives them empowering flexibility that can lead to serendipitous discoveries (Knox, 1986).

Regarding step 2, Tight (1996) explains that some researchers consider critically reflecting on a learning experience to be the crucial element in gaining the greatest benefit from the experience. This element could be conceived of as a “learning conversation” where the reflection takes place initially with the assistance of a teacher or facilitator but, with practice, is carried out by learners on their own. For coaches, the ability to help a client reflect on his or her experience is crucial for maximizing the learning from coaching.

The needs assessment and context analysis are likely to result in too many learning objectives. To narrow them down, the learner selects those objectives that are desirable, feasible, productive, satisfying, and efficient, and that have brief and clear expected outcomes. This is similar to S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals often used in coaching. The resulting set of learning objectives are likely to evolve over time (Knox, 1986).

In such instances, teaching entails helping learners process ideas more deeply, confront discrepancies between current and desired proficiencies, recognize differing perspectives, examine assumptions and values, and consider higher-level reasoning. Such a transformation is more likely when adults gain a broad view of “themselves as learners with goals to pursue and efficacy in the learning process” (Knox, 1986, p. 25).

Victor Vroom’s (1995) expectancy theory of adult motivation in the workplace proposes that an adult’s motivation to learn is based on three factors:

Raymond Wlodowski (1985) asserts that an adult’s motivation to learn is based on four factors (the first two of which are variants of factors in expectancy theory):

In summary, learners are most motivated when they believe that they can succeed at learning and that the learning is personally valuable (i.e., important and helpful with a problem or task in their lives).

Adult learning experts (Knox, 1986) suggest several guidelines for providing effective feedback, though these are often meant for more formal feedback processes, such as grading and assessment:

Positive feedback (designed to encourage more of the same) is one way to reinforce a newly learned behavior. Other means of reinforcement include praise, recognition, rewards, role models, best practice standards and, perhaps most important, the successful use of learning in the actual performance setting (work, home, etc).

In what may be a surprising suggestion, Knox (1986) recommends that feedback and external reinforcement be used only some of the time, and on an irregular schedule, so that the learner becomes self-directing and self-correcting rather than dependent on the instructor or coach.

The inquiry mode of instruction involves the instructor and learner working together to solve problems that neither has previously mastered. Knox’s (1986) explanation of inquiry reveals that this is the mode most commonly used in coaching.

In the inquiry mode, the learner and facilitator focus on problem solving. By practicing this process, the learner discovers and formulates satisfactory solutions at the same time as drawing general meaning out of the learning experience. “The instructor’s contribution emphasizes helping participants use inquiry procedures so that they learn how to learn. Typically instructors help learners discover major rules and concepts” (Knox, 1986, p. 143).

In the performance mode, performance is used as a learning vehicle. Coaches, especially those with a behavioral focus, often use this mode. The goal is for the learner to achieve a repeatable, high level of performance through doing “real” work. The instructor encourages the learner to gain practical experience that is both successful and encourages growth while also providing feedback and encouraging reflection about the learner’s performance.

Knox offers three recommendations for effective questioning:

Knox (1986) notes that being able to follow a learner’s thought process “is the highest art of teaching, and doing it well depends on great understanding of both content and learners. The outstanding teachers of history have asked thought-providing and insight-producing questions” (p. 146). In coaching, it is often argued that powerful questioning is still possible without the coach having mastered the content. Nonetheless, most coaches would agree that powerful questioning that follows the learner’s thinking is the highest art of coaching. In chapter 15, we discuss the concept of collaborative, contingent conversations and how engaging with another in this way actually can have salutary effects on brain development.

With regard to questions, we also refer to the discussion of the “Learner/ Judger” mindset as taught by Marilee Adams (2004). According to Adams, questions we ask ourselves trigger states of mind that guide our actions and interactions with others. Helping a client become aware of those questions and develop the ability to ask herself or himself those questions that trigger a learner mindset can be a powerful support.

For coaching sessions, a W-P-W approach can be effective by providing focus and motivation at the beginning of a session and reflection and integration at the end of a session.

Rogers offers the next guidelines, suggesting that an ideal facilitator (adapted from Rogers, 1969, pp. 164-166):

When a person engages in this complexity-enhancing process over time—in general, requiring some 10,000 hours of practice—expertise in that field or endeavor is the result. Remember that flow occurs at the point where there is challenge, but not so much that it overwhelms capability. The repetition of flow activity expands the limits of one’s capability so that greater challenges may be taken on. And, to repeat, expertise is not a thing that is acquired and put in the bank. It must be an ongoing process—it must be continual expertising—for expertise to be maintained.

Furthermore, Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993) make it clear that expertising is not an isolated, individualistic process. They agree with Csikszentmihalyi (1996) that social contexts that are nonjudgmental, respectful, and encouraging are more likely to produce flow and expertise.

When coaches understand this, we can adopt learning principles to encourage expertising and the development of higher levels of performance and capability on the part of our clients. These principles also apply to the development of expertise in coaching.

Learning principles could well provide an outline for coach training:

Recommendations for an effective learning facilitator also apply almost directly to coaches:

Expertising is one way to conceive of the necessity for balancing challenge and existing capacity in order to encourage ongoing development of clients.

Coaching institutions and the profession of coaching owe a debt of gratitude to educators for providing a pillar that helps to lift coaching above mechanistic assumptions about how people learn.

Studies comparing brain activity when leaders are engaged in various tasks are taking management and leadership theory into the realm of neuroscience. Psychometric measures that include brain activity are already emerging.

Developmental research into attachment has been a major influence in the recognition of the importance of social relationships to cognitive, emotional, mental health, and brain development. Thus, developmental psychology has been part of moving beyond individualistic limitations.

Cognitive psychology has begun to overlap with social psychology, and both have become more integrated with neuroscience as the social aspects of the human brain have been revealed.

Something must happen in the brain in order for learning to occur. There is evidence for the involvement of certain brain structures in learning: the hippocampus, the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex. Procedural learning appears to be stored in a different place in the brain from semantic learning. However, neuroscience has not yet provided a detailed and integrated description of what happens when learning occurs, much less exactly how or why. This is partly because, as Rose (2005) and Brothers (2001) point out, we are in the very early stages of the development of neuroscience.

The increasing ability of learners to deal with complexity as they engage in flow and develop expertise echoes discoveries in systems theory regarding how systems change. The connections a learner makes in perceiving patterns, learning skills, and creating meaning are made possible by neuronal connections. Given certain conditions, all of these connections increase in complexity as a human being engages with others and reflects on life’s experiences. In chapter 9 we consider the Neuroscience Platform that deals with the connections and problem-solving activities we call thinking.