How to Make Reflective Practice Work For You

Reflection is the act of intentionally stepping back and, to the best of our ability, figuring out how things are going and apply our insight to future performance. Some professions, such as education, have used formalised reflective practice for many years. In others, such as medicine it is a more recent addition to professional practice. But the act of reflection does not need to be formal, nor documented. Whatever your role, reflection is a valuable skill.  Here are some ideas and insights I have gained from personal experience and my work as a coach and appraiser.

Why Reflect?

Whilst, by definition, we can never see our blind spots, good quality reflection can provide a broader perspective than the pressured focus we experience much of the time.  This act of stepping back can provide insight into our working lives and prompt ideas for wise action.

Purpose, Scope & Depth

Your purpose in reflecting will be a guiding star to keep you focused as you progress, so its important to consider what it is that you want to get out of reflecting.  Make a brief note of this and keep it to hand.

You can apply the process of reflection to specific activities, e.g. the impact of a recent meeting or presentation; review of specific objectives, or be intentionally wide ranging.  You might think of this as a sort of scan of your world to flag any points that might benefit from some attention.  Both have value, but it is important to be clear on this in advance.  Most people find it helpful to jot down the key areas on which to reflect before they start, so they are to hand when needed.

You might also want to consider the level of depth that would be helpful.  This may depend on the extent and complexity of the content of your reflection and also on the time available and your preferred style.  There are no rights or wrongs – have confidence in choosing what works for you in your circumstances. If time is an issue, consider using a structured framework and setting a timer for each step.

Framework or Freeform?

There are various frameworks that can be useful to provide some structure. The Gibbs Reflective Cycle, developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988, provides a clear stepwise approach.

Steps of the Gibbs Cycle (Adapted from original)

Another approach is simply to write freeform and allow your narrative to naturally guide your reflection.   Obviously this approach requires you to be comfortable composing narrative.  However, some people find a more structured approach gets in the way of their natural thought-stream. There is nothing stopping you using elements of both – just find out what works best for the material you have at hand.  

Creating the Right Environment

To be valuable, reflection requires us to be (sometimes uncomfortably) honest.  This demands a willingness to be vulnerable to the extent rarely experienced in business relationships. The time and place we choose for reflection play an important role in enabling this, working primarily at a subconscious level.

A bit like sleep, finding the right channel for fruitful reflection cannot be forced, but creating the right environment is a big enabler.  If you have worked with a good coach or mentor, you will know what that space feels like.  Even if you have not, over time you will develop a sense of ‘Being in the right place, both emotionally and physically’.

Whilst specifics will differ for each of us, the aim is to find somewhere where we have a sense of space to think, away from the physical or psychic pressures and reminders of work or personal demands.  A pile of ironing may not be a work imperative, but nevertheless it is almost certain to impact your ability to fully step back into a reflective space.

It’s also essential to feel ‘safe’ in an elemental sense, because when we feel judged or threatened we will shape and censor our outputs accordingly, thereby reducing their value.

Generally environments with a sense of warmth, security and belonging tick these boxes. For some, this may be a coffee shop, others a quiet corner at home or a peaceful spot outside.  A combination of walking in the countryside with pauses to capture thoughts can also be helpful, and is my personal favourite.  The key thing is to find something that suits you, and appreciate that this may change with time and context.  Trust your instincts.

Finding the Most Productive Medium

As with the environment, this is about what works for you, bearing in mind that it is usually helpful to capture some outputs.*  Writing and talking are therefore the two main media. The aim is to find a way that best enables you to capture your thought-stream with minimal shaping, editing or censoring.

If writing, do you prefer typing, dictating or jotting down notes by hand?  You might prefer to jot points down in bullet form / on post-its or cards or as a mindmap. 

If you use a structured framework, such as the Gibbs cycle, you find it useful to print a small version in the middle of an A3 piece of paper and make notes around it.   If you do choose to use a framework, complete it with a light touch – it is not about filling all the boxes; it’s about generating insight.  

Others prefer to write longhand.  If this is you, it is helpful get started by just writing freely about anything that is front of mind (in any part of your life) until the words start to flow, and then to gently direct them towards the focus of your reflection. 

If you hit a pause in your train of thought you can refer to your prompts.  When you start writing again, try to feed them back into a train of thought, such as, ‘Thinking of our offsite this week.....’ or ‘some of the things that happened with (performance reviews) were....’. Don’t worry about the grammar, spelling or construction - just let the words flow. 

If you find your pen faltering or pausing, make a note of that if its not obvious from your output - these moments often reflect inner conflict or processing. 

If writing is not for you, consider speaking out loud and record what you say and either listen back or use voice recognition to create a written document.  You can use prompts in a similar way, as if you were being asked questions by another person.

You can find examples of prompt questions to use from online material on reflection, referenced below.  I encourage people to add to these questions to develop a more personalised toolkit as they gain experience in reflection, both from self-reflection and from coaching sessions

Whatever the medium, it's valuable to capture any areas where you may just have a sense of unease. These can be hard to characterise, and often get disregarded, but frequently flag issues which you may be struggling to handle effectively in one way or another.

Evaluation and Sense-making Steps

It is often helpful, although by no means essential, to put some space between generating content (the description of what happened and your thoughts and feelings) and your evaluation and sense-making.  Once again, find yourself a suitable space for this.

When you are ready, pull out your reflection and highlight any bits that stand out - these may be things that you found difficult; that might not have had their intended outputs or times when you might feel stuck or unsure how to resolve something.  It’s also worth pulling out the points at which your output stuttered.

Try to be as open and honest as you can.  You don’t need to respond to every question; it doesn’t need to be neat or perfect.  The aim is to yield new insight.  Be aware of the tendency to self-judge whether you are ‘doing it properly’.  Remember it’s the insight that’s key, not perfect or comprehensive documentation.

Insight into Action

Insight should prompt action (or the whole act of reflection would be waste of time).  Your actions may be things you will do to further manage the current issue, or how you might change your approach if similar circumstances arise in future.  If you find that you are getting stuck with any specific point, an action point may also be to consult someone who can help you about it.  This could be a trusted colleague, mentor, boss or an external coach.

Conclusion

Reflective practice is a versatile tool that can help us improve our performance.  I encourage you to explore further and hope that this article has provided you with some ideas of how to go about doing this. 

*There is a school of thought that our subconscious will naturally pick up key points and act on them; however most people I have encountered also like to have some form of notes or action points.

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