Reflection is a Skill

Why is Reflection Important 

In today’s stressed, complex global business environment there is little time devoted to reflection.   Business Leaders need to be prepared to develop these crucial skills.  They are part of the Wellness toolkit and crucial for growth.

What is reflection?

 

Reflection and critical reflection are terms borrowed from education.  Simply means  ‘turning experience into learning (and taking appropriate action)’.

A good habit to develop is to consciously create time for refection at the end of the week.  Take your diary now and pencil in a meeting with yourself, then you can  ask  yourself these three questions.

A good reflection process requires three conditions :

(1)     Time
(2)     Thinking
(3)     Action

(1)  Time to Reflect   

We get so immersed in our daily activities we rarely pause for quiet, reflective thought. Actively stopping, turning off all the electronic gadgets, and allotting a specific time  each day or each week for reflection is crucial.  Reflection it’s not always easy to find the time but it would be more purposeful to develop a habit, a regular  time to be alone to reflect on the week’s activities, challenges, and results. Quedtions to reflect on:

•  What did I do well this week?
• Where was my time spent most productive
• What will I do differently next week?

(2)  Critical  Reflection & Thinking Skill  There is effective thinking and non-effective thinking.  Have you observed the number of thoughts that race through your head every minute?  Now we need to slow down those thoughts and become more self-aware.  Mindfulness has become popular in this regard over the last five years offering many various techniques.  But it’s simple.  Stop. Think. Reflect. Do.  For  our purposes we’ll focus on effective thinking skills of  critical reflection.

Why do it mean?
It’s the ability to be an active listener rather than a passive recipient of information. It helps you to become aware of your assumptions about an issue so that you can assess more accurately what you read and  hear.  Critical thinking  is reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.  It’s conducive to good judgement.   Finally critical thinking is a meta cognitive skill, it is thinking about your thinking, while you’re thinking, in order to make your thinking better.  It involves 3 characteristics:  Standards, Authenticity & Reasonableness.

How to set up a Reflective Session?    

Ask yourself good questions that need to be addressed.
For example, What is the purpose behind the problem?  Do I have all the information I need?  What are some alternative ways of solving the problem?  Can the problem be solved?

And,  Answer these questions by reasoning 
What was the purpose behind my actions?  How do I evaluate where I should spend my time?  What is the evidence for this?  Remember it is easy to misunderstand a situation, issue or problem without questioning.

(3)  Action –   Believing the results of our thinking.

Finally making a decision based on reflection means taking into account all the points, though at times this may leave you unsatisfied with a decision.   The difficulty not believing the results of your own reasoning, paradoxically as it may sound, is because it is hard to become aware of what we actually believe and don’t believe.

Why Reflection Skills are Essential to Develop

Reflection and critically reflection is an essential skill developed over time.  It requires time, questions, reflection and action.  While ‘reflection’ skills derive from education they are indispensable for effective leaders.  It’s crucial to take time and reflect each week for efficient and effective decision making in business.

Reflection Skills Development Program    Tailored Skills Development Program over 6 weeks available now

If you would like to learn more about the Art & Science of Reflection contact us