What are the benefits of reflective practice for project leaders?

1 What is reflective practice?

Reflective practice is based on the idea that learning is not only a result of doing, but also of thinking about what you did, why you did it, and how you can do it better. Reflective practice involves asking yourself questions that challenge your assumptions, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and explore your feelings and motivations. By doing this, you can gain deeper insights into your project work, and use them to improve your decision making, problem solving, communication, and collaboration.

3 How to apply reflective practice to your project leadership?

To apply reflective practice to your project leadership, you need to follow a cycle of four steps: plan, act, reflect, and apply. Before starting a project or task, set clear and realistic objectives and identify the resources, methods, and criteria you will use to achieve them. Once the plan is in motion, observe the results and outcomes while recording any issues or incidents that occur. After finishing the project or task, review your observations, data, feedback, and issues. Ask yourself questions to evaluate your performance and outcomes such as what went well and why, what went wrong and why, what did you learn, how did you feel, what surprised you, and what could have been done differently. Based on your reflection, identify the actions and changes needed to improve your project work and leadership. Then implement these actions in the next project or task while monitoring their effects.

4 What tools and techniques can you use to support your reflection?

Reflective practice is a powerful tool for project leaders, as it enables them to learn from their experience and apply their learning to improve their performance and outcomes. To apply reflective practice, one should follow a cycle of plan, act, reflect, and apply, and make use of tools such as journals, models, feedback, mentoring, and coaching. Writing a journal is a simple way to record thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Models provide a structure and guidance for reflection. Feedback can be sought from project team members or stakeholders to assess performance and outcomes. Mentoring is a relationship where an experienced person supports the less experienced in learning and development. Coaching facilitates reflection, learning, and action to help achieve personal and professional goals. With reflective practice, project leaders can enhance their skills, increase confidence, and develop their leadership style.