Chapter Two
I Am a Learner

When I look back on it now, I am so glad that the one thing I had in my life was my belief that everything in life is a learning experience, whether it be positive or negative. If you can see it as a learning experience, you can turn any negative into a positive.

Neve Campbell

I am a learner. True or false? Maybe? Sometimes? How would you answer? Many would answer false. They believe that they have what psychologist Carol Dweck calls a “fixed identity.” People are born smart or dumb. The smart ones “get it,” and the dumb ones never will. Others aren’t sure. They got through school reasonably well and have managed to accomplish many things on the job, but they are not sure this is because of any effort they made to learn. It seemed almost automatic for them. Still others might answer, “Sometimes I am a learner.” They may be specialists who can deliberately learn things about their specialty quickly and easily, but when a partner says “Let’s take a dance class,” they reply, “I can’t dance.” They adopt a fixed identity outside of their specialty.

The correct answer is true. You are a learner. Learning is almost synonymous with life itself. We share the capacity to learn with all other living things. The process of evolution is a learning process, and as humans we stand at the pinnacle of the capacity to learn. But learning is such a wondrous, powerful, and mysteriously complex process that you may not be aware of it. From the moment you entered the world, you have been learning all the time, and as a baby and young child the speed and power of your learning were enormous. Most of this learning was unconscious, occurring through a simple cycle of learning that James Zull, a biologist and founding director of Case Western Reserve University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE), calls the exploration/mimicry learning process. This cycle uses only a limited part of the brain and the sensory and motor regions without intervening reflection and thinking. The child learns language in this way, mimicking and repeating the sounds of the mother’s voice. Through this process, we learn many complex skills from walking, talking, reading, and writing to even more sophisticated expert skills, such as medical diagnosis.

In adults, the process slows somewhat because of fixed habits, skills, and entrenched beliefs. The networks established in our brains by these habits, skills, and beliefs reduce the brain’s openness to learning and determine most of our behavior unconsciously and automatically. This is called “automaticity,” and research suggests that as much as 90 percent of our behavior is determined in this way. It is little wonder that someone might answer “maybe,” not being sure whether they are a learner.

Paradoxically, however, as the frontal regions of our brains mature, we also become capable of what we call full-cycle learning. In addition to simply perceiving and acting, we develop the capacity for critical reflection and conceptual, creative thinking. We develop the ability to take conscious control of our learning, deliberately focusing our learning power on anything we choose. We can critically examine, evaluate, and change habits and beliefs that we acquired automatically through associating with others, and we can improve existing skills and develop new ones.

The First Step—Embracing a Learning Identity

The first step on the learning way is embracing a learning identity—a confidence and belief in your capacity to learn. Many people believe that they are incapable of learning. Learning from experience must start with the belief that learning and developing from life experiences is possible. Most learning requires conscious attention, effort, and time. These activities seem like a waste of time to those who do not believe that they have the ability to learn.

Paulo Freire demonstrated the importance of developing a learning identity in his literacy work with Brazilian peasant farmers. Freire believed that oppressed individuals absorb society’s message that they are unproductive and incapable of learning and develop these negative stereotypes as a fixed identity. So the Brazilian farmers could escape this negative identity, Freire helped them develop critical consciousness through reflection and action. Breaking free of their negative, fixed identity helped the farmers understand that they could analyze and change the political and cultural realities affecting their lives. They formed consciousness-raising, protest, and labor organizations to bring about changes in their conditions. People with a learning identity see themselves as learners, seek out experiences with a learning attitude, and believe in their ability to learn.

Learners approach a difficult challenge with a mastery response, persist in the face of obstacles, learn from criticism, and are inspired by and learn from the success of others. In contrast, people with a fixed identity avoid challenges, give up easily, avoid criticism, and feel threatened by the success of others. Not surprisingly, students with a learning identity, regardless of their tested intelligence, are more successful in school than those with a fixed identity.

You can learn to consider yourself a learner. Being able to say with confidence, “I am a learner,” is not accomplished overnight; a learning identity develops over time. The vast majority of us have elements of both fixed and learning identities. We may feel that we are good at learning some things, like sports, and not good at others, like mathematics. We must learn to overcome characteristics that reinforce a fixed self—such as negative self-talk, avoidance of risk and failure, and being threatened by the successes of others—and build those that reinforce a learning self—such as trusting one’s ability to learn from experience, seeking new experiences and challenges, persistence, learning from mistakes, and using others’ success as a source of learning.

The Second Step—Learning How to Learn

To thrive on the learning way requires knowing how to learn. Let’s examine this process more closely in a common experience that we all share: meeting someone new.

Cheryl is attending a reception for new employees at her company. She enters the room and walks over to a smiling well-dressed woman near the door. “Hi, my name is Cheryl Johnson, and I’m in accounting. Welcome to TLC!” The woman responds by introducing herself, saying that she has just started working in the president’s office.

Cheryl says, “I just love your dress! It looks so great on you. Where did you get it?”

The woman, beaming, says, “thanks,” and a lively conversation continues for some time before Cheryl moves on to greet others.

Later that evening at dinner with her husband, Cheryl says, “I met the new hire in the president’s office at the reception, and she was wearing a dress that would be perfect for our trip this weekend. It’s on sale at Ann Taylor.”

“Did—what did you say her name was—say how much it cost?” he asks.

Cheryl suddenly realizes that she has no recollection of the woman’s name. “You know I am no good at remembering names.”

“I know,” he chuckles.

Nearly everyone has had an experience like Cheryl’s of failing to remember someone’s name after meeting them. A bad memory for names is the most common explanation people come up with. There are a number of reasons why Cheryl might not have learned the new employee’s name, and most of them are more probable than “a bad memory.” The most likely one in this case is that Cheryl didn’t hear or take in the employee’s name in the first place. Having just entered the room, she may have been still thinking about work or feeling nervous about meeting a bunch of new people. People often meet in a distracting environment or with feelings of uneasiness without giving the exchange of their names full attention.

Cheryl also may have been focused on learning something else from the experience, having spied a dress that she liked. The conversation was, after all, a successful learning experience from her point of view. Unfortunately, however, it appears that she also learned something more consequential from the experience—that she is no good at remembering names. Her husband’s comment unintentionally reinforced her fixed, nonlearning view of herself as someone who has a bad memory for names.

If you, like Cheryl, have trouble remembering names, adopt a learning attitude and apply the experiential learning cycle to the problem. The experiential learning cycle is a four-step learning process that is applied several times in every interaction: experience, reflect, think, and act. When first meeting a new person, attend to the experience of being with that person and hearing his or her name. Get a feeling for the person. If you miss the name, slow down the interaction and ask the person to repeat it. Don’t be embarrassed. Most people are flattered that you care to get their name right. Next, reflect on your experience of the person and what his or her name means to you. Think by connecting your reflections to related concepts you may have, such as, “This Betty is different than the other Bettys I know. My sister’s name is Betty, too. The staff members in the president’s office are now Betty, Sarah, and Kyle.” Finally, act. Use the person’s name several times in your conversation and in later conversations with others.

Let’s take a closer look at the learning cycle and how we learn from our life experiences with another example. Imagine driving to work on a rainy day in your aging Ford, lost in thought, planning your day’s activities. You flip on the windshield wipers and find they are not working. You suddenly are brought back to the immediate situation, searching for a solution, checking to see if you can see OK in the light rain. The little tinge of anxiety you feel subsides, and your attention shifts to the worn and dirty seats, the rough hesitation when you accelerate, and the beat-up look of your car. You begin to imagine, “Maybe it’s time to buy a new car.” You become aware of all the fancy cars surrounding you on the freeway and wonder, “Can I afford it?” You spend the rest of your drive to work dreaming of the possibilities. At your desk, you search Consumer Reports online for the best options and begin researching alternatives in earnest. That weekend, you visit local dealers, take a couple of test drives, and finally trade the old Ford in for a new one.

This simple story describes a process of learning from experience that follows what we call the experiential learning cycle (see Figure 2.1). The learning process was initiated by the concrete experience of windshield wipers failing to turn on. This unexpected event demanded conscious attention and led to reflective observation about the experience, beginning with a check to see if emergency action was necessary and then progressing to broader ideas about the implications of the malfunction and the possibilities of buying a new car. The thought of buying a new car engaged abstract thinking—in this case, researching models of cars and analyzing the costs and benefits of each one. This resulted in deciding to engage in active experimentation: exploring auto dealers, taking test drives, and ultimately deciding to buy. This cycle is so simple and natural that we engage in it without even being aware that we are learning. It goes on almost effortlessly all the time, and it is constantly transforming our lives; that new car might save your life, or at least make it more enjoyable and less stressful.

To understand how the learning cycle transforms our lives, let’s take a closer look at Figure 2.1. Notice that the four steps of the learning cycle occupy two dimensions. These dimensions represent two different ways in which we understand the world. Our knowledge of the old Ford comes from directly experiencing the car and its aging parts. On the other hand, our knowledge of the car world comes from thinking about the features and prices of different cars on the market and interpreting those facts. Experiencing and thinking are different ways of knowing the world. Experiencing is direct and specific to the context we are in, while abstract thinking is generalized and applicable in all contexts. Neither experiencing nor thinking can function alone—we must use both dimensions and all four steps of the cycle in order to learn effectively.

The second dimension of the learning cycle includes reflective observation and active experimentation, the two ways we transform and connect our experiences and thoughts. We connect our experience of the wiper breakdown to our knowledge about possible new car options by reflecting about the meaning and implications of our experience. We transform our abstract thinking about the car world into the decision to buy a car by acting on our research and testing out options.

Reflecting and acting are ways of transforming experiences and thoughts that require one another to produce learning. When we reflect without acting, we have trouble accomplishing change and may become overwhelmed with possibilities, but when we act without reflecting on the consequences of our actions, our decisions become aimless and random.

Using all of the four steps of the learning cycle leads to full-cycle learning. Full-cycle learners touch all the bases—experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting—in an ongoing process that adapts to what is being learned and in what environment.

James Zull explores the neurological basis of experiential learning in his 2002 book, The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning. His basic idea is that knowledge resides in networks of neurons in the neocortex that are constructed through learning from experience. Learning is a process that builds on the foundation of each individual’s neuronal structure; every learner is unique and will interpret experiences differently. Learning from experience results in modification, growth, and pruning of neurons, synapses, and neuronal networks. Thus learning physically changes the brain.

Zull saw a link between experiential learning and the structure of the brain and suggested that understanding the brain’s structure can enrich our understanding of the experiential learning process. This relationship between the learning cycle and the process of brain functioning is shown in Figure 2.2. The figure illustrates that concrete experiences are processed in the sensory cortex, reflective observation involves the temporal integrative cortex, the creation of new abstract concepts occurs in the frontal integrative cortex, and active testing involves the motor cortex. In other words, the learning cycle mirrors the structure of the brain.

Zull proposed that these regions of the brain were heavily but not exclusively involved in the modes of the learning cycle He describes a cognitive neuroscience experiment showing that monkeys can distinguish cats from dogs and, more importantly, in doing so, they followed the sequence of the learning cycle in the brain regions his theory predicted. First, the sensory cortex of each monkey was activated by its direct experience: perceiving cat and dog images. Then its temporal cortex was stimulated as it reflected on those images, comparing the images it was being shown to previous images it remembered. Next, its frontal integrative cortex was active as it thought about each image, deciding whether the image represented a cat or dog. Finally, its motor brain was active when the monkey tested its judgment by pressing a red button or a green button, depending on whether it thought the image represented a dog or a cat.

You may notice that this idea of learning from experience is different from the idea of learning that you may have experienced in school. The most important aspect of the learning cycle is that it describes the learning process as an ongoing spiral that leads us to new experiences. This is quite different from the model of learning where information transferred from the teacher to the learner is meant to be memorized for later recall and testing. In the linear model, the learner is a passive recipient of information, whereas in the cycle of learning, learners receive information through experiences, reflect on it, think about it abstractly to connect it with related information, and then use it to take action. Here, we are both receivers of information and creators of information.

Thus, the second step on the learning way, after embracing a learning identity, is to use the learning cycle as a guide to choose your life path and shape your destiny. We are shaped by our experiences, but through learning we have the transformative power to choose the experiences that are most fulfilling in order to shape our destiny. As infants, we are born with the potential to be anything. Our brains, with as many neurons as stars in the Milky Way, are largely undeveloped. With our first breath, we begin to learn and build neuronal connections, establishing patterns of perception and action as we explore our environment. Gradually, these connections will determine and shape our life path, defining a road ahead but leaving behind many “roads not taken.” We learn a language, but don’t learn others. We develop some skills and interests and avoid others. Through our lifetime, our one hundred billion neurons will be programmed by countless trips through the learning cycle, with over one thousand trillion connections defining our hopes and dreams, who we are, and what we can be. As adults who believe in ourselves as learners, we have the power to control these choices through deliberate learning from our life experiences.

Using the Learning Cycle for a Life of Learning

In the learning way, the definition of learning expands from what happens in the classroom to what happens in life. The way we learn is actually the way we live. The learning cycle applies not only to formal learning situations but also to day-to-day problem-solving, decision-making, creating, and innovating. The learning cycle can even guide us through personal interactions, meetings, telephone calls, and teamwork. We can approach every situation as a learning opportunity and benefit from using the learning cycle as a guide.

The following story about Amelia illustrates how the learning cycle can guide decision-making for maximum effectiveness. Amelia had been offered a programmer position with a new IT company and needed to compare this offer with staying in her current role at an established company. Amelia started by focusing on the experience of being offered a new job. She tuned in to how she felt during the interview and what her emotions and intuition were telling her about the role, the organization, and her new colleagues. Amelia then reflected to inquire more deeply about her feelings and connect them with the information she had about the position and the company. She sought others’ opinions and looked from many perspectives to examine the upsides and downsides of making the change. Here, Amelia took time to test her assumptions, making sure that she examined the ramifications of all of the information she possessed. Next, Amelia stepped back to use abstract thinking. She considered the benefits of this offer compared to staying at her job by concentrating on the facts and quantitative data that were available to her. During this phase, Amelia judged that she was missing an important piece of information about the amount of travel that would be required in the new job. When she was ready to act, rather than committing to a firm decision, Amelia called the interviewer to inquire about the missing information she needed to make the decision. Once she received it, she realized that she needed to cycle through the process again, adding this new information into the mix. Amelia recognized that some parts of the cycle were easier for her than others, but she was satisfied that this process of decision-making included her feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and actions. She knew the outcome would reflect this holistic perspective.

The learning cycle can be used to learn new skills or apply existing skills to new situations. For instance, Alex used the learning cycle to learn how to develop clients in his new role as a partner in a law firm. For eight years as an associate, Alex had worked fifty- to sixty-hour weeks at his firm in order to exceed the expectations of the partners who would decide if he would be one of the few attorneys they would select to join them as owners of the firm. Finally, last year, Alex was voted in as an equity partner. As a part-owner, Alex would share in the profits of the firm, and he would also be required to bring in his own clients. Nothing in Alex’s past had prepared him to build new business with clients—or so he thought. In fact, as an associate, he rarely interacted with clients, and he preferred it that way. Alex loved the practice of law, but now that he needed to learn the business of law too, he thought, “I did not become a lawyer to be a salesman.”

Alex had a breakthrough when his firm sponsored a professional development program that focused on building a client base. Here, using the learning cycle, Alex began to view client development as a learning challenge that he could master, not something to be avoided. In the experiencing mode, he would need to build authentic relationships so that he could build trust with prospective customers, which is the essence of creating a positive client experience. To do that, he would need to learn about their values, perspectives, and ideal outcomes. In reflection, Alex spent time mulling over relationships he had already built with partners in the firm. He realized that he had some experience on which to draw because he had developed internal clients with partners who had sent work his way. He also thought about the many networks of acquaintances he had developed over the years. Might they be interested in his services?

Alex progressed to abstract thinking by drawing on something he knew well: his ability to synthesize lots of information. He created contact lists of prospective clients, placing them on several lists according to how well he knew them. Here, Alex focused on his own expertise, too, by staying on the forefront of his field and providing exceptional value to existing clients. He thought of the many ways he could provide information to enhance his reputation by publishing articles and blogs and speaking to interest groups and community organizations. Next, Alex devised a plan to give his client development efforts the same energy he gave to his legal work. He firmly committed to allocating one hour per week to client development activities. This consisted primarily of reaching out by email and phone and having a monthly lunch date with a strategic prospect. Finally, Alex enlisted the acting mode of the learning cycle when he met with people and, when appropriate, asked for their business. Alex admitted that this part of the cycle would be the most difficult for him because it was the most unfamiliar. He would need to practice on some low-risk prospects before he built his confidence to execute this portion of the process on large and complex clients, but Alex was convinced that he could learn.

Six months later, Alex was finding the most success in the experiencing, reflecting, and thinking parts of the learning cycle. For instance, he was enjoying reconnecting with past acquaintances and getting to know people in his network. Although asking people to hire him as their attorney was still uncomfortable for him, Alex was partnering with more senior colleagues who became role models during prospective client meetings. One colleague in particular seemed to have a softer style that Alex liked, and he noticed that he did not feel nervous when this colleague asked for business at all. Alex was learning from experience in many ways.

What if Alex had completely missed one portion of the learning cycle as he approached the client development process, or what if he focused on only one step? Had he ignored the experiencing step, he might have dismissed the power of building relationships. But focusing exclusively on experiencing would not yield results either, because Alex might come up with new ideas without taking action. Skipping the reflecting step might have left Alex without the information he needed on his clients or on his legal specialty, but overfocusing on this step could have left him in analysis paralysis. If Alex had skipped abstract thinking, he would have omitted the very important step of setting goals and measuring himself against a standard. Getting stuck in abstract thinking, however, would have left him recreating the same outcome time and again with no new information to refine it, or he might have aimed for the wrong goal entirely. Finally, skipping the acting step would result in Alex never taking his intention into the outside world of real client development efforts. All the careful planning in the world would have been of no value if Alex had not executed the plan. Yet, if Alex only asked for business without planning or backing up his plans with substance, he would have quickly lost the impeccable reputation he was trying to develop.

Amelia and Alex used the learning cycle to address challenges they faced at work, but the cycle can be used even for household duties as well. For example, Jane found the learning cycle helpful for grocery shopping. When she considered her grocery shopping process, she realized that she was favoring the experiencing and acting steps of the learning cycle and avoiding the reflecting and abstract thinking steps. She said,

I prefer to go shopping when I am down to brass tacks in the fridge. I have a general, big idea of what I need, but I rarely make out a shopping list or scan for existing ingredients required to make specific recipes. When I enter the store—usually when I am hungry—I love the sensory overload of the produce section. The colors, smells, and textures of the fruits and vegetables make me imagine that I will actually consume all that I buy. Occasionally, I feel like a smart shopper who compares pricing, but typically I have preferred brands that are my “go-to” standards. It’s only after I get home—usually around 6 pm—when I am starting to make dinner that I find a missing ingredient that is central to the dinner I planned to make. Without fail, I vow to start a grocery list for next time, yet I don’t make one.

What’s missing in Jane’s approach? She could use reflecting to identify the items that she wants and needs and then create a list of all the ingredients she needs for those meals. Then, Jane could use thinking to research where she will find the best prices to determine if what she has on her list falls within her budget and to commit to a routine time to shop when she is not hungry so that she can shop using a more practical approach.

In contrast to Jane, who relied heavily on the experiencing step, many professionals tend to neglect experiencing—especially those who specialize in science, math, engineering, or technology. Many of these individuals rely heavily on quantitative problem solving and may not realize the importance of direct experience. One example of a professional like this is Claire, a managing partner of a large law firm. Claire had the opportunity to participate in a leadership development program where she role-played a real client situation to receive feedback on her approach. The client assigned to her in the role-play was grappling with a decision regarding whether to accept a generous offer from a competitor to buy his privately held business. This client had started the business from scratch some fifty years earlier and had built it into a thriving manufacturing facility that employed several family members and many people in the local community.

Claire listened intently to all the facts and proceeded to give the man all the correct advice on structuring the complex deal to his greatest advantage. During the feedback, the client simply shook his head and said, “You got all the numbers right, and your technical expertise was impeccable, but that didn’t matter because you didn’t pick up on what was important to me. All I needed was for you to appreciate what an emotional decision this has been. It has been the most difficult decision of my life, and I just needed someone to acknowledge that there is more involved than the money.” While Claire had provided rock-solid technical advice, she had not been receptive to the impact that emotions were playing in the client’s experience because she was not connected to her own emotions.

The Third Step—Discovering Your Learning Style

The next chapter is focused on step three in the learning way: discovering your unique learning style. As you can see in the examples above, few of us are automatically able to manage all parts of the learning cycle with equal ease and flexibility. We find a unique approach that works, and we continue to hone this preference over time until it becomes a stable guiding force. Understanding our own approach to this process provides a breakthrough in self-awareness. It illustrates which part of the process we favor and which we currently underuse or avoid.

Learning Cycle Checklist for Action

Use the following checklist to make sure you remember and use the learning cycle:

 

Create a map of the learning cycle: experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting.

Monitor the way you move around the cycle, noticing which modes are more comfortable and which you avoid or underutilize.

Practice Using the Learning Cycle

Practice navigating the learning cycle. By taking a few minutes to experience going around the learning cycle for yourself, you can see how it works for you in transforming experience into learning. First read through the steps below. Take time to complete each before moving on to the next one.

 

1. Create a learning space. First you need to make a quiet space for yourself to focus on the exercise without distraction. Get physically comfortable and relaxed. Be aware of all that your mind is preoccupied with and consciously set all of those thoughts aside for a few minutes. You can come back to them when you are done.

2. Focus on an immediate experience. Let an experience emerge in the space you have made. For instance, you may notice a sensation or feeling in your body. Focus on it and tune in. Resist the temptation to put those feelings into words. Try to experience the sensations and feelings as vividly as possible. Take enough time for this so that distractions don’t interfere with what you are now feeling.

3. Move to reflection. Sit back and review what you experienced in the last few moments. Become detached and think of yourself as an observer looking and listening to what you just went through. Don’t try to explain the experience at this point. The goal is just to take it in and replay it in your mind as vividly as possible.

4. Conceptualize the experience. Now replay your reflections again and try to make sense of them. What is your interpretation of what you were feeling and experiencing? Try to create a concept, word, or idea that summarizes the various aspects of your experience.

5. Move to action. What action can you take as a result? Actions can be big or small. You may want to tell someone about what you just went through and get his or her perspective. Your experience may have provided a new insight that makes you want to try a new approach, ask a question, or do something that will move you toward a goal.

6. The cycle begins again. Your action will create new experiences and feelings. These may be a little more focused than in the first cycle. You may want to repeat the above steps again or put it aside for later.

Reflections on Using the Learning Cycle:

You may find it helpful to journal about your use of the learning cycle. Below, you will find prompts for your reflections.

 

Describe a recent situation in which you were successful and map the sequence of events (internal and external) on the learning cycle.

Think of a recent situation in which you were not as successful as you would have liked. Map the events on the learning cycle. Were any steps missing? How might you have benefited from using the learning cycle as your guide?

Describe a peak moment in your life. Describe how you moved through the learning cycle. Write about how the event unfolded in terms of what occurred during each part of the cycle.

Pick a theme that is important to you. Create a project or an art piece based on this theme. This can be a poem, sculpture, song, dance, drawing, game, or any kind of creative response. Use the learning cycle to guide you through the process of creation, making changes along the way and being aware that the process is more important than the end product. Reflect on the process and be aware of how the process required you to use the learning cycle. Notice the part of the process that were most comfortable.