A synonym for reflection? Get the most from this skill
What Kind Of Question Can Only Be Asked Upon Reflection?
Reflection is a way to boost learning and self-development. You can apply this practice to your work and personal life. There is no right way to reflect; many approaches are available. Similarly, there are no rigid rules about what questions to ask. But, most people find a structured approach helps maximise benefits.
In this article:
Reflection lyrics
There's a song called 'Reflection' by Chistina Aguilera (stay with me on this). The lyric 'Why is my reflection someone I don't know' raises the age-old issue of murky self-awareness.
Understanding life experiences psychologically supports self-knowledge and success within important life domains.
But, too often, we repel from challenging moments, thereby losing opportunities for meaningful progress.
This is where reflection can help. Reflection is a process of pausing and looking back on experiences to learn and develop. This practice is uncomplicated, readily accessible, and helps answer questions like:
Why did I react that way in that situation?
Why is there a gap between my intentions and actions?
What is the reason for having a strong emotional reaction to that event?
Over the years, I've used reflection with increasing frequency. I see benefits across a range of situations. Think of reflection as a flexible, foundational skill to help you squeeze the maximum value from life events.
There is no one universally-agreed definition of reflective practice. But, here is one useful perspective:
… the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning
- D. Schon
In other words, reflection is thinking back to learn for the future. Individual synonyms for reflection don’t capture the entirety of this process, but some relevant terms include pondering, deliberation, reviewing, contemplation, hypothesising, and synthesising.
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What, so what, now what?
There are lots of options when it comes to reflection approaches. Bottom line- choose a method that makes sense for you.
One example comes from John Driscoll (1), who presents an approach based on three questions:
What? Describe a target event or action. 'Target' refers to anything of interest or relevance to performance and/or wellbeing.
So what? Here you consider why the action or event was noteworthy or important.
Now what? Applying the answer in stage 2 (So What?) to future actions.
Sounds simple right? The tricky bit is extracting high-quality, insightful information to maximise learning.
Here's an example:
What? Focused on speaking less and listening more in the weekly team meeting
So What? It felt uncomfortable at first because I think I try to say something clever to 'prove' my value to others. After a while, I relaxed and found I absorbed more information than usual. I tended to ask questions rather than make a point when I spoke.
Now What? There is some value in focusing on listening. I will write the word 'listen' in my diary as a reminder to keep doing this in future meetings.
Gibbs reflective cycle
Graham Gibbs (2) offered up an approach to reflection with more bells and whistles. His six-stage process is essentially a more detailed version of Driscoll with guidance on the information to gather and process (see diagram).
Reflective
I have developed a reflection method over recent years that works well with many people. I take a four-stage approach that draws mainly from Kolb's model (3).
Here are the four steps I use:
Do
Observe
Key message
Next steps
I describe these stages below, along with providing an illustrative example.
Do
Select a change you want to make in your personal or professional life. This can be adding something, taking something away, or altering an existing behaviour.
This change must take you slightly out of your comfort zone. This requirement is to maximise the chances for new learning.
Examples include increased delegation of tasks, varying the order of your daily routine, taking more breaks during the day, using a new approach to note-taking in a meeting.
Observe
Make a list of everything you observed or noticed while making this change.
Consider 'internal' (e.g., emotions, thoughts, physical reactions) and 'external' observations (e.g., behaviour in others)
Consider any surprises, unexpected outcomes, and to what extent events occurred consistent with predictions.
Key Message
Now ask, 'Based on the above observations, what is the most important take-home message from this experiment?'. A couple of variations on this questions are; 'What do you most want to remember about this experience 12 months from now?' and 'Why do you think the change you made (Do stage) led to these observations (Observe stage)?
Next Steps
What is the logical thing to do next based on the Key Message stage? This may be simply continuing with the change you made, or doing something new. The action you choose can become the Do stage of the next reflective exercise. In this way, the reflection tool can be repeated through a series of cycles.
Example of Do/Observe/Key Message/Next Steps
Do: Increase delegation of tasks by 10%, selecting from a list of 'low risk' jobs.
Observe: Initially anxious to do this, but got easier as the week went on. Felt less stressed and was able to focus on a critical project. One team member said she felt more valued in being given a new task to complete.
Key Message: I found myself worrying less about all the things that could go wrong with the team. By doing too many tasks myself, I actually reduced everyone's well-being by making myself more stressed and leaving team members feeling under-valued
Next Steps: Permanently re-assign tasks on the 'low risk' job list-
monitor my stress levels and feedback from team. This will require discussing with key team members at one-to-one meetings next week.
Do (round 2): Permanently re-assign tasks on the 'low risk' job list; Monitor my stress levels and feedback from the team; Have a discussion with key team members at one-to-one meetings next week.
Reflective learning
Our experiences provide vital life lessons. Structured reflection helps us extract maximum learning and development from the events of our working and personal lives. I've seen many clients benefit by enhancing their reflective capabilities. Give the above method a try. I'm sure you can benefit too.
Self-reflection quotes
Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. Lawrence Bossidy
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences... Margaret J. Wheatley
Self-reflection is a much kinder teacher than regret is. Andrena Sawyer
Further reading
Jennifer Moon’s handbook on professional reflective practice.
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References
(1) Driscoll, J. (1994). Reflective practice for practise. Senior Nurse, 14(1), 47-50.
(2) Gibbs G (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.
(3) Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.