Jules Feiffer, 1979

How to help others learn faster & better

People are happier when they’re learning the way the brain likes to learn—through virtuous cycles of goal setting, information gathering, application, and reflection (VCoLs). They also learn faster and better.

My colleagues and I have spent over 20 years studying how learning works. We’ve published our results in academic journals, dissertations, conference presentations, and in this blog. We’ve also been teaching coaches, consultants, and educators how to use our learning tools to help people of all ages learn optimally with VCoL (LAP-1, ViP). And since we’re dyed-in-the-wool researchers, we’ve been paying close attention to what clients need to learn in order to help others learn optimally with VCoL.

In this article, the focus is on adult learners. Although much of what we’ve learned about adult learners is also true of younger learners, there are a couple of important differences. On the downside, adult learners are more likely to have solidly entrenched beliefs, emotions, and attitudes around learning that can get in the way of learning optimally. On the positive side, adults are freer than younger learners to experiment with VCoL

Here’s what’s required to help adults rediscover and make the most of their innate ability to learn optimally.

1. A solid understanding of how learning works, including the brain’s built-in motivational system for learning;
2. A solid understanding of VCoL, with its focus on usable knowledge;
3. The ability to use VCoL effectively and habitually in one’s own life;
4. The ability to help others habituate VCoLing skills.
5. The ability to integrate a few important teaching skills into one’s repertoire of coaching and consulting skills;
6. The ability to identify and work through the challenges (learning emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and habits) that confront adults who are building VCoL skills after a lifetime of learning focused on correctness; and
7. The ability to help clients target the specific skills they would benefit from building with VCoL.

We’re building and constantly refining a knowledgebase that lays out evidence-based learning sequences for a number of important skills (such as skills for thinking, learning, resolving conflicts, solving problems, communicating, collaborating, persuading, decision-making, and working with complexity). Individuals who graduate from LAP-1 are given access to several of these sequences and shown how to use them to support optimal learning.

If you’d like to learn how to provide optimal support for your clients’ learning and development, consider signing up for LAP-1. Classes begin in January and September.

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