Reflection
Recently I've took advantage of Jumpshift's 30 minute Friday reflection sessions. These are facilitated sessions, lead by Don McVeigh that I zoom into and usually talk to people I've never met, having worked through a series of questions that Don has posed focusing firstly on me and where I'm at and then on my team and the people I influence. I'm not a stranger to the power and purpose of reflection and am pretty clear on the best style and way for me to get the most of reflection. What's been new for me with these sessions is two fold. Firstly, the facilitation. Having a guide to lead me through, focuses the time and the structure, asking different and new questions that tap into different parts of my brain and thinking patterns. Secondly they've focused my commitment. These are booked session, yes they are free but I have to book and that means, slotting the time into the calendar. It fits with my general working week as they occur at the end of the day on a Friday. How many times have I set aside some calendar time to do something specific but it gets chewed away, or completely disappears. For some reason the structure of these sessions holds me to account and I turn up and tune in.
Having benefited from this myself over a couple of weeks, of course I tested it out with a team I've been working with. Taking a short period of time, getting them together and working through a set of questions and then sharing some of our insights and thoughts having worked them through. I'll need to check back in as to the benefit and what tweaks this team will want. My reflection on my test session was that I needed a bit more reminding and grounding to confidently talk about the benefit of reflection. How well can I answer the question - why should I take the time, I've got work to get on with?
Stay motivated
Leadership is great and tough, staying motivated while managing the tensions, pressures and performance of your team can lead to exhaustion. This article from HBR describes this challenge and a study that found taking a few minutes in the morning to reflective intentionally and positively about your leadership attributes and contributions made a difference to the energy and engagement during the day ahead.
Keep learning and do better
One study is often mentioned in a number of articles on reflection and summed up clearly in Caroline Webb's book How to Have a Good Day (a book I am destined to never finish but keep dipping into). The findings point to the fact that we don't get better at something simply by having more practice. We improve when we step away and allow our brains to process the learning. The testing in practice of this principle found that in 15 minutes a day there was a 23% improvement in performance. So for a small amount of time, there was a big boost in output.
Impact
In another article from HBR 'How to regain the lost art of reflection' different well known leaders practices are described. Not only how they prioritise the time and role model the practice, it also describes the impact this focus had on their companies. And while in the main I'm writing about self reflection, the need to stop and reflect as a team, as an organisation is imperative to remain relevant and figure out why and what you're about. I would say that a stop check now with all that is occuring in the world should be on your priority list as this article would argue for - it's a strategic imperative.
How to...
The reading I've done offer a number of suggestions to turn the concept of reflection into something practical. The consistent theme from all I've read is that you have to find what matches your style, way of learning and how you get the best insights from yourself. This mean you need some level of self awareness and self knowledge to start with. Or, you learn as you go. Try these questions for an initial insight into your reflective style. Try one method, if that doesn't quite do it for you, don't decide reflection isn't for you - try another method. Most of what I've learnt suggest having a series of questions or prompts as a guide. What I've enjoyed and gained from the Jumpshift sessions is that the questions are different every time, so they keep me on my toes and I don't fall into the trap of thinking I know the answers or finding it repetitive or boring.
This article from Forbes begins with why reflection is important and then explores and describes some of the ways you could approach it. It might be that taking a walk with your thoughts does it, or sitting quietly on your own, or you might like to use questions. It can have a methodical and structured design and approach or a more free flowing and creative one. One size does not fit all and who's to decide that you can't mix it up and use a combination. For a structured methodical approach take a look at Gibbs reflective cycle.
Another example from How to have a good day was using to use 'DATE' as a series of prompts.
D - Discovered - a lesson learned or something you'd do differently
A - Achieved - work done, challenge faced, a small step
T - Thankful for - gratitude and acknowledging the positive in the day
E - Experienced - maybe something new, or an emotion to explore
The other articles I've linked to here have other suggestions for questions and styles to consider. What did I try this week? I chose a series of questions - starting with - what made you laugh and then flowing from one question to another digging into when have you felt growth during the week. We then shared some of our answers and listened and learnt from each other.
