The Learning Model: The fundamental requirement for you to create a new set of outcomes is your ability to change both thinking and behavior in such a way that your desired results are created consistently. This means that you will have to either break a habit or install a new habit. This is challenging but clearly doable. One of the biggest obstacles to change is this simple observation about change:
CHANGE=PAIN!
Getting people to change is one of the biggest challenges to leadership. Individual and corporate change is not a trivial task. Within all organizations are vested interests committed to maintaining the staus quo. Within the individual are similar internal interests which seek to preserve the staus quo. We operate in the world with a set of limiting beliefs and unconscious programming which defines and limits what we think is possible for us.
Our learning model seeks to empower our process of change by shifting our consciousness from a state of resistance to a state of learning. This means you must in some sense break the habit of being you. Sounds a bit odd on first blush I’m sure. But hear me out before you draw your conclusions. We all have a model of reality which is formed from our experiences, our family, our role in our family, our education, our self-belief, and our unique community of actors and reactors. To experience something different requires a different mindset. Not easy to acquire. Why? We are creatures of habit and comfort. We create a comfort zone through our behaviors. And this is where we automatically spend our time. Its a self-regulating world. Move to its edge and anxiety arises. Move beyond the edge and full blown panic ensues.
Shifting to a learners mindset provides a transition state from living in our comfort zone to stretching ourselves to include new actions and behaviors. There are many models of learning. Deferring to the sage advice of Occam’s Razor which states:
Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but—in the absence of certainty—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better.
This approach is consistent with the philosophy of Ken of Zen; simple is best. We use a three stage model of learning:
1. DO – go forth and have an experience
2. REVIEW – review what happened and what can be learned
3. PLAN – plan a way to tackle the next round of experience.
Nothing happens until something moves; an action is taken. This creates the experience. The results of the action are reviewed. Feedback is given. Adjustments based on the experience are made. The learning loop is activated. Simple.
Our coaching process moves you through many iterations of this simple yet effective learning model. Each iteration brings new awareness and increased effectiveness. Its a continuous process of small improvements in the tradition of Kaizen.
Our goal is to implement new behaviors which produce desired outcomes. When done with the Ken of Zen leads you to a path of mastery. The larger context for this process of continuous improvement is the movement of performance through these four stages of competence:
1. Unconscious Incompetence – Where you don’t know that you don’t know. This is commonly called “ignorance.”
2. Conscious Incompetence – This is where you become aware that you do not know what you think you know. You recognize the limits of your knowledge and ability. This prepares you use the three step learning model
3. Conscious Competence – You know that you know. Your results are consistent and predictable. You perform consistently at a high level.
4. Unconscious Competence – This is the stage of mastery. It takes many years of practice to reach this level of performance. Few if any reach it however it is worth the pursuit for those who are compelled to achieve mastery.