CoachingOurselves — The best way to learn

As a psychology major I learned that the most important work in psychology was research on how learning actually happens. The basic model is simple—you learn from experience. You have some kind of goal, you try something and then you get feedback on whether or not you are closer to your goal. If you are, you try that again. If you are not, you try something different. What you decide to try is determined either by so called “trial and error” or some kind of imitation of a role model. Sounds simple enough, but all the elements are in fact complicated.
The group was important because different members had different perceptions of what was going on which taught us a lot about perception and communication. Individual coaching can help once we have a clear focus, but when we try to learn more complex social processes and new ways of managing, learning how to become a learning group is critical. I think of a group as a “mutual help society” in which the learning is enhanced by our recognition that we are there to help each other to learn.
I think the greatest potential of CoachingOurselves is the potential in the group process of Helping Each Other to learn. Should you have a group process coach? Yes, but each member can play this role from time to time. You don’t need an outsider, you only need to identify the role and rotate it around the group. Most of us have the skills if we accept the role of helping the group to become a learning unit.
- learning the content of a given topic; and
- learning how to learn as a group.