Stage 2 · For working practitioners
Introduction to Adult Development Theory
The intellectual foundation underneath Immunity to Change™ — and what it means for how you practice.
Register for April 2026About this program
The theory that explains why Immunity to Change™ works — and what it asks of practitioners.
This two-part workshop explores the foundations of Robert Kegan's constructive-developmental theory — the research behind Immunity to Change™ and one of the most significant bodies of work on how adults grow. Most practitioners who use ITC encounter this theory in the background. This program brings it to the foreground.
Participants develop a clearer understanding of how clients make sense of the challenges that lead them to seek coaching, and sharper strategies for identifying and working with the deep limiting assumptions that hold people back. The program demonstrates the psychological research foundation underlying ITC — and what it means for how you practice.
Delivered online over four sessions (2 hours each), across two weeks. Open to coaches at any stage of ITC practice — no prerequisite required.
Format
Two-part workshop (4 sessions × 2 hours) — online via Zoom
Next session
April 7, 9, 15 & 16, 2026 · 10:00 AM–12:00 PM Eastern
Tuition
$1,650
Prerequisite
None required — open to coaches at any stage of ITC practice
Faculty
What is adult development?
Adults don't stop developing. The mind keeps growing — in complexity, in capacity, in how it makes sense of the world.
Robert Kegan's four decades of research at Harvard changed how we understand human growth — and what becomes possible when practitioners can see it.
The research
Constructive developmental theory (CDT) holds that adults continue to develop throughout their lives — not just accumulating knowledge and experience, but growing in the underlying structure of how they make sense of the world. CDT identifies three recognizable stages: the Socialized Mind, the Self-Authoring Mind, and the Self-Transforming Mind. Each is a qualitatively different way of being in the world.
What it means for leaders
Each stage makes certain things possible — and other things truly impossible. A leader who can't yet self-author isn't failing through lack of motivation or intelligence. They are doing something real and demanding from a structure that hasn't yet developed that capacity. Seeing this distinction changes how you respond. It means the difference between treating limitation as a character flaw and recognizing it as a developmental condition.
What it means for practitioners
Your own developmental stage shapes what you can notice, what you can hold, and what your presence makes possible in the room. A coach working at the edge of their own self-authorship will see certain things in their clients that a more developed practitioner might miss — and vice versa. ADT is as much a practice of self-understanding as it is a framework for understanding others.
What you'll learn
A practitioner's grounding in how adults grow.
The orders of consciousness
Kegan's framework of adult developmental stages — the Socialized Mind, the Self-Authoring Mind, and the Self-Transforming Mind — and what each stage makes possible, and impossible, for the people operating from it.
How to recognize developmental stage in practice
The observable markers of different stages — in how people talk about their work, their relationships, their challenges. How to develop a practitioner's ear for where someone is developmentally.
What development actually requires
Development is not the same as learning new information or acquiring new skills. It requires a shift in the underlying structure of how someone makes sense of the world — and that shift has specific conditions.
The relationship between ITC and ADT
Why Immunity to Change™ works at a developmental level — how the map process creates the conditions for adaptive change, and what the practitioner's knowledge of developmental stage makes possible that it otherwise couldn't.
What development demands of practitioners
A coach or facilitator's own developmental stage shapes what they can see and work with in their clients. Understanding ADT is as much about understanding your own practice as it is about understanding the people you work with.
Applying a developmental lens to organizations
How adult development theory shows up at the organizational level — from the Deliberately Developmental Organization framework to how developmental profiles of leader populations connect to strategy execution.
Who it's for
Practitioners who want to see more clearly — in their clients, and in themselves.
This program is most valuable for practitioners who are already using ITC with clients and sense there's a deeper layer to understand. It's also excellent preparation for the Coach Certification Program, where ADT is part of the curriculum.
- —ITC practitioners who want the intellectual foundation underneath the method
- —Coaches and facilitators who work with leaders at significant growth edges
- —OD practitioners designing programs that aim for transformational rather than technical change
- —Anyone who has read Kegan's work and wants a practitioner's grounding in it
- —Practitioners considering the Coach Certification Program who want to deepen the theory first
Where it leads
From understanding development to assessing it — or to certification.
SOI Training
Learn to assess developmental stage directly
The Subject-Object Interview is the structured diagnostic tool for assessing where an individual is developmentally. SOI training is the natural next step for practitioners who want to move from understanding ADT conceptually to applying it diagnostically.
Coach Certification Program
Pursue full certification
The CCP includes deep engagement with adult development theory as part of its curriculum. This program is strong preparation — and a signal of seriousness — for practitioners considering the certification path.
Next session: April 7–16, 2026
Sessions April 7, 9, 15 & 16 · 10:00 AM–12:00 PM Eastern. $1,650 tuition. Open enrollment — register directly through the Minds at Work registration portal.
Register now →