How to Unleash the Power of Reflection
Statue of the Thinker by Rodin
When was the last time you took time to pause and reflect about your work or professional goals or a possible career change? Yes - I mean a structured session where you carve out time to turn off all of the day-to-day noise and look inward. You might ask – why should I? Good question and here is the reason. Reflection is a powerful tool to help boost professional growth and performance in the workplace through problem solving, learning from past experiences, and generating new solutions. In fact, reflection is a critical component of success in the workplace, especially for leaders. It can also provide clarity when you are in the process of making a career change.
Why reflect (its value)
One of the most important reasons to pause and reflect is to learn from experience. John Dewey, a scholar of the progressive education movement believed in learning by doing. His quote sums up the “why” of reflection. We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience. In a nutshell, the process provides a framework for reflecting on an accomplishment, conversation, or experience. One format is Driscoll's Model of Reflection. In the model, there are three questions to answer, and reflect on: What? So What? Now What? Answers to the questions help us achieve deeper meaning.
My introduction to the Driscoll model was during a faculty professional development seminar at the University of Vermont. We were learning how to teach critical thinking to students who were completing service-learning projects. Originally designed for healthcare professionals, it is now widely used in many academic and other professional settings. Multiple reflection models exist; however, I like the simplicity of Driscoll’s model. It is easy to understand and apply in life and the workplace. The model shaped my work with graduate students as they sought to deepen their experiential learning activities in assorted professional settings. Frequent written reflection during their internship rotations helped them develop important critical thinking skills, build their confidence and enhance their learning.
What Are the Barriers to Reflection?
Ask people why they don’t reflect, and the answers may include that it takes too much time or that the ROI isn’t obvious. In a Harvard Business Review article (2017), Jennifer Porter summarizes why (and how) leaders need to make reflection a priority and build a workplace culture that embraces it. Among other barriers, she notes that not understanding the process is another reason for not reflecting.
How to reflect
To begin, you need to choose a model to guide your reflections. If Driscoll’s model isn’t a good fit for you, check out these other models.
Using Driscoll’s WHAT approach, these are the questions.
What? Describe the situation or what happened. (the experience)
So What? Why is this important? Why does it matter so much? What did you learn from the situation? (lessons learned)
Now What? What action will you take moving forward? How will the experience and lessons learned inform your behavior and/or actions in the future? Sometimes after reflecting, no change will result, however you need to reflect to reach that conclusion. (application)
A simple example to illustrate the model might look like this. What. You pitch a new concept to your advisory board. There is little excitement, and you leave feeling deflated. So What. After reflecting, you realize that your delivery was lackluster, there was no hook and you lost them before providing details about your idea. Now What. With firm resolve, you decide to get some coaching from a colleague, friend or a professional before another similar presentation opportunity arises.
Tips on how to jump start your reflection practice
Schedule time. Write it into your day planner (at the end of each day?), then take a few minutes to jot down your “aha” moments. Or some people like to write a quick reflection immediately after completing a task. The writing doesn’t have to be extensive and can be captured in bullets. The simpler the better. What are you capturing? Notable events, accomplishments, challenges or conversations you had that day.
Commit to it. Be consistent with the timing of your reflection for it to become a habit.
Write your reflections in a journal. Keep the journal in a convenient place. This makes it easier to collect them in one place.
Reflect on your reflections! What are you learning about yourself? How are these moments of introspection and analysis boosting your performance? Are they bringing you closer to developing a career change strategy?
Conclusion
There are many ways to incorporate reflection into your life, whether it is at an individual level or part of a team culture in the workplace. Leadership needs to create the space for employees, especially managers, to practice reflection. It will strengthen problem-solving skills, support learning from previous experiences (including mistakes), and promote creative thinking in the future. At the individual level, a practice of regular reflection will contribute to your professional growth by deepening your understanding of the “what’ in your work and how to apply the lessons learned in similar situations moving forward.
Where does reflection fit into your life? What is the culture of refection in your organization? As an individual, how have you used reflection to advance your career? Drop a comment and share your experience with reflection. Still uncertain about how to begin a practice of reflection? Contact Amy to get started.