Self Reflection
Critical Self Reflection
I mentioned in my previous blog that the last 3 months had made me reflect and reconsider many things. Many people I have spoken to also commented on what a reflective time lockdown was. Whether you are a CEO, leader of a work team, a coach or teacher, having some form of process to reflect is an important part of learning and getting better. Yet many are not sure how to go about this important process.
One of the approaches I have used in working with students, coaches and more recently leaders in business and organisations has been the concept of Critical (as in ‘important’) Reflection.
The guiding concepts I use were developed by Stephen Brookfield in the field of Education, which have a very good translation to coaching and personal development. Brookfield described 4 lenses – the Lens of Self-Reflection, the Lens of Reflection via Peers and Colleagues, the Lens of our Direct Reports/Students/Athletes, and the Lens from Theory, Best Practice and our Professional World. Using a variety of approaches such as a personal coaching journal, video feedback, observation and feedback, 360’s, coaching peer dialogue, reading and researching - all provide a rich depth of information about our ‘coaching practice’. Maybe you could reflect on the different sources that you have received the gift of feedback from and what this means for your growth as a leader?
Brookfield is also a strong advocate of putting ourselves back into the experience of being a learner – just so we stay connected with what it might be like for the learners we work with when we task them to do something new or challenging – you could say staying connected with the concept of Empathy. His states that to be effective we need to understand how our teaching/coaching is being perceived by the learners…and he practices what he ‘preaches’….
So to get your started down this line – here is a link to a paper written by Brookfield, about him learning to swim as an adult, and the insights it gave him to what it is to be a learner and what it meant for the way he might then teach his students. It is at times both a humorous and touching account of what it is to learn, and each time I read it, it brings me back to what it is I do in my own coaching/teaching/learning approach with other
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi...
So have a read and by way of creating a dialogue, post any reflective comments that the article created for you.