Two coaches can both say they practice cognitive coaching and mean completely different work. Cognitive Coaching, with capitals, is the model Arthur Costa and Robert Garmston developed in education in the mid-1980s to build self-directed thinking, and it is what most courses using the name teach.
Cognitive behavioral coaching is a separate approach drawn from cognitive behavioral theory, working with thoughts, emotions, behavior and goals. Cognitive enhancement coaching is a third thing again, aimed at mental performance rather than reflection. Which one you are buying or describing matters when you choose training, read the research or explain your own practice to a client.
TL;DR
Cognitive Coaching is Costa and Garmston’s model for helping people manage and adjust their own thinking, built on four support functions, which are coaching, collaborating, consulting and evaluating, and five States of Mind that give a coach areas to explore. Its conversations run as a cycle of planning, observing and reflecting. Cognitive behavioral coaching comes from cognitive behavioral theory and works with thoughts, emotions, behavior and goals, and cognitive enhancement work targets mental performance instead. Most published research on the Costa-Garmston model comes from schools, so check which approach a course teaches and read the evidence against the clients you actually work with.
How We Compared These Approaches
What we cover: the approaches that share the name cognitive coaching, with the detail concentrated on the Costa-Garmston model, its four support functions, its five States of Mind and its conversation cycle.
Where the information comes from: the model as Thinking Collaborative describes it, since it runs the official seminars, and a published account of the model being used with teachers.
How we chose what to include: each part had to help a coach identify which approach a course or colleague means, or use the model with a client.
What we left out: cognitive behavioral therapy as clinical practice, a syllabus of the official seminars, and claims about brain training that the sources here cannot support.
Limits: most published work on the model comes from schools, and the account described below followed two teachers, so it shows how the model worked in one setting rather than how every client responds.
What Is Cognitive Coaching?
Cognitive coaching helps a person examine and improve their own thinking, so they can plan, monitor and adjust their work themselves rather than depend on the coach for answers.
The name carries more than one approach. Cognitive Coaching, the named model, was developed by Arthur Costa and Robert Garmston in education in the mid-1980s and is now taught through Thinking Collaborative. Cognitive behavioral coaching grew from cognitive behavioral theory and works with the connections between thoughts, emotions, behavior and goals.
Both differ from behavioral coaching, which works directly on observable actions, and from NLP coaching, which works with language, perception and patterns of response.
Which Cognitive Approach Does Someone Mean?
When a course page, a book or a colleague says cognitive coaching, three things are in play and the wording usually gives it away.
| Approach | Where it comes from | Main focus | How to recognize it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognitive Coaching | Costa and Garmston, developed in education | Helping people examine and develop their own thinking | Names Costa, Garmston, Thinking Collaborative, the States of Mind or the four support functions |
| Cognitive behavioral coaching | Cognitive behavioral theory adapted to coaching | Thoughts, emotions, behavior and goal-directed change | Talks about beliefs, thinking patterns and behavioral experiments |
| Cognitive enhancement coaching | Mental performance and productivity work | Attention, memory, focus and mental capacity | Talks about brain training, focus or mental performance rather than reflection |
The third is worth naming because it shares the word and almost nothing else. If a provider promises sharper attention or expanded mental capacity, that is performance work and not the Costa-Garmston model, whatever the page is called.
What Is the Costa-Garmston Cognitive Coaching Model?
Costa and Garmston built the model around self-directed thinking, on the view that better thinking produces better practice. Thinking Collaborative now runs the official Cognitive Coaching seminars and describes the aim as helping people manage, monitor and adjust their own thinking and actions.
The coach supports that with listening, pausing, paraphrasing, carefully chosen questions and structured conversations for planning and reflection. The model also uses the idea of holonomy, which in plain terms means being able to think and act independently while still working well with others.
Two parts of the model do most of the work in practice: the four support functions and the five States of Mind.
What Are the Four Support Functions?
The model names four ways of supporting another person, and the difference between them is who is doing the thinking.
| Support function | What happens | When it may be useful |
|---|---|---|
| Coaching | The coach helps the client examine their own thinking | The client needs time and support to reflect, plan or solve a problem |
| Collaborating | Coach and client contribute ideas together | Both have something useful to bring to the discussion |
| Consulting | The coach provides relevant information or expertise | The client needs information or advice the coach is qualified to give |
| Evaluating | Work is considered against an existing standard | Performance needs reviewing against agreed criteria |
1. Coaching
Coaching is the mediative function, and the one the model is named for. The coach helps the client notice and examine their own thinking through questions, paraphrasing, pauses and reflection, while the client keeps responsibility for working the situation through and deciding what to do.
2. Collaborating
In collaboration both people contribute to the thinking. The coach may offer an idea while the client brings their knowledge of the situation, and they develop possible approaches together.
3. Consulting
Consulting is for when the coach holds information or expertise the client needs, such as explaining an option or sharing relevant knowledge. In this model that is consulting, not coaching, and the distinction is deliberate.
4. Evaluating
Evaluation brings in an existing standard or set of criteria. For an external professional coach it comes up less often, unless evaluation is already part of the engagement.
A client may need different kinds of support at different moments in the same conversation. If you move from helping them think to contributing ideas, giving information or applying a standard, say so, because being clear about which role you are in is one of the coaching fundamentals in any coaching relationship.
FIGURE::Whose thinking leads in each support function
What Are the Five States of Mind?
The five States of Mind describe capacities the model sets out to develop, and they give a coach somewhere to look when a conversation stalls.
- Efficacy. Believing you can influence an outcome and take useful action.
- Flexibility. Being able to consider other perspectives and possibilities.
- Craftsmanship. Attending to quality, accuracy and continued improvement.
- Consciousness. Being aware of your own thoughts, feelings, actions and impact.
- Interdependence. Working effectively with others while still thinking for yourself.
Thinking Collaborative describes consciousness as the entry point to the others, because a person needs some awareness of their thinking before they can examine or change it.
Use them as prompts rather than labels. If a client sees only one option, flexibility is the area to explore. If they feel they have no influence over the situation, efficacy is the more useful place to start.
What Does a Cognitive Coach Do in a Session?
A cognitive coach spends most of the session helping the client think out loud, and very little of it supplying answers.
In practice that means asking a question and leaving the silence alone, paraphrasing what the client said so they can hear it, and pausing before responding so the client keeps the thinking. When the coach does offer something, they name the shift first.
The conversations follow a three-part cycle drawn from classroom observation. In the planning conversation the client names what they want to achieve and what they want to pay attention to. Then the work happens and information is gathered about what occurred.
In the reflecting conversation the client examines what happened and what they learned from it.
A leadership client might plan what they want from an upcoming meeting and decide what to notice during it, then review it afterward. The coach does not decide in advance what the client should have done differently.
FIGURE::The cycle applied to a leadership meeting
What Does the Research Tell Us?
Most published work on Cognitive Coaching comes from education. One early account in Educational Leadership followed two teachers over four months. Both described changes in their thinking and their teaching, along with early discomfort at the silence, the self-analysis and the absence of a right answer to produce.
The same account shows the coach supplying direct information when the teachers needed something they could not reach through reflection alone, which is the consulting function being used deliberately.
It is a descriptive account of two people, so it shows how the model worked in one setting rather than proving that every client or organization will respond the same way. Read it as an illustration, not as evidence of effect.
How Do You Check a Cognitive Coaching Course?
Start with which approach the course actually teaches, because the name alone will not tell you.
If the description refers to Costa, Garmston, Thinking Collaborative, the States of Mind or the four support functions, it is the named model. Thinking Collaborative runs the official Foundation and Advanced Seminars, and its trainer pathway is separate from completing them, so check which level you are buying.
If the description works from cognitive behavioral principles, with thoughts, emotions, behaviors and goals, it is cognitive behavioral coaching. If it promises focus, memory or mental capacity, it is performance work and a different purchase entirely.
Then check where you plan to use it. The model’s roots and most of its research are in education, even though the training is now used in other organizational settings, so look at who was studied and whether that setting resembles your clients.
Can Cognitive Coaching Be Used Outside Education?
Cognitive Coaching works outside education, and its educational roots still matter. The model began in schools and much of its published research stays connected to teachers and educational leadership, while Thinking Collaborative now also offers seminars for corporate settings and group coaching.
Using it with business or leadership clients means adapting the language and the examples. A planning conversation covers a leadership meeting, a difficult decision or a stakeholder conversation rather than a classroom observation.
The purpose does not change. The client becomes more aware of their own thinking and more able to manage it without you. If the work needs reframing or broader personal change instead, transformational coaching techniques are built for that.
Conclusion
Before you book a cognitive coaching course or tell a client you practice it, settle which approach the name refers to. Costa and Garmston’s model develops self-directed thinking through four support functions and five States of Mind.
Cognitive behavioral coaching comes from a different tradition, and cognitive enhancement work targets mental performance. Only one of the three is what a Thinking Collaborative seminar teaches.
If you apply the model outside education, keep its roots in view and use examples from the work your clients actually do.
Key Takeaways
- Three things share the name. Costa and Garmston’s model, cognitive behavioral coaching, and cognitive enhancement work aimed at mental performance.
- Identify the model by its vocabulary. Costa, Garmston, Thinking Collaborative, States of Mind or support functions means the named model.
- Four support functions. Coaching, collaborating, consulting and evaluating differ by who does the thinking.
- Five States of Mind. Efficacy, flexibility, craftsmanship, consciousness and interdependence, used as prompts rather than labels.
- Name the shift. When you move from helping the client think to giving information or applying a standard, say so.
- Read the evidence in context. Most published work comes from schools, and the best known account followed two teachers.
- Check the level before you pay. The official seminars and the trainer pathway are separate purchases.
Cognitive coaching builds on what the client worked out in the last conversation, which only helps if the thread survives between sessions. Simply.Coach leadership coaching software keeps goals, reflections, actions, stakeholder input and progress together, so a planning conversation can pick up exactly where the last reflection ended. Start your 14 day free trial today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is Cognitive Coaching?
Cognitive coaching can refer to two different approaches. Cognitive Coaching is Costa and Garmston's model for developing self-directed thinking, originally developed in education. Cognitive behavioral coaching is a separate approach based on cognitive behavioral principles.
What Are the Five States of Mind in Cognitive Coaching?
The five States of Mind are efficacy, flexibility, craftsmanship, consciousness, and interdependence. They describe capacities that support self-directed thinking and can give coaches areas to explore with a client.
What Are the Four Support Functions in Cognitive Coaching?
The four support functions are coaching, collaborating, consulting, and evaluating. Coaching helps the client examine their own thinking, collaboration involves shared thinking, consulting provides relevant expertise or information, and evaluation uses an existing standard.
Is Cognitive Coaching the Same as Cognitive Behavioral Coaching?
No. Costa and Garmston's Cognitive Coaching model was developed in education and focuses on self-directed thinking. Cognitive behavioral coaching comes from cognitive behavioral principles and works with thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and goals.
Is Cognitive Coaching Only for Teachers?
No. Cognitive Coaching was developed in education, and much of its research remains education-focused. The model is now also used in corporate and group settings.
How Do I Get Training in Cognitive Coaching?
Thinking Collaborative provides the official Cognitive Coaching Foundation and Advanced Seminars. Its trainer-development pathway is separate from completing the seminars, so check which level of training fits how you plan to use the model.
Is Cognitive Coaching the Same as Therapy?
No. Cognitive Coaching and cognitive behavioral coaching are coaching approaches. Therapy has a separate clinical purpose and professional scope. Clients who need mental health treatment should be referred to an appropriately qualified professional.
How Is Cognitive Coaching Different From Mentoring?
In the Costa-Garmston model, coaching focuses on helping the client examine and develop their own thinking. Mentoring commonly includes guidance based on the mentor's experience. Within this model, providing expertise is closer to the consulting support function.