Reflective Practice is a process of self-analysis where you reflect on your thoughts, feelings and actions to understand, evaluate and interpret events and experiences in which you are involved so that you participate in a continuous learning process.
It is based on the view that experience alone is not certain to lead to learning and that intentional reflection on your experience is essential for effective learning; it is a way of using insights from your past to assess where you are now so as to improve your present and your future.
Reflective Practice is the process of creating a habit, structure, or routine around examining your experience. A reflection practice can vary in how often, how much, and why reflection gets done. You may well find it quite instinctive and natural. You can use Reflective Practice for your own self-development and professional performance, and to help others develop. It enables clearer thinking and lessens the risk of emotional bias.
As a coach or mentor, you should start keeping a reflective learning journal, as it will aid in capturing feelings, observations and potential learning areas. This could also help capture common themes, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and values.
Self-reflection and evaluation is the desire to continually learn and develop as a coach or mentor, not only does this improve your skills, but it also is a key indicator that you are growing within your role. ‘As coaches and mentors, we need to maintain healthy levels of self-awareness to be effective’(Starr, 2016).
Importance of reflective learning for own professional Practice
If we are unaware of our potential to create barriers, e.g., trying to fix people we are at risk of moving into the drama triangle with our clients, and then our success will be impacted. A regular review, self-evaluation, and feedback from our peers and supervisors help inform us of our strengths, weaknesses and skills that can be developed further.
Reflective Practice is now used in many professions and services to support effective self-development, particularly when coaching or mentoring. It can also be a shared activity where learning takes place as you share your views and thoughts with others in your coaching or mentoring Practice.
Reflection means to be engaged in a deliberate mental process of thinking about, or contemplating, things that have happened, what was experienced, and what was learnt from your own and others’ perspectives. It means looking beneath the surface to find the truth about something, to draw conclusions for building new knowledge.
There are several ways to help coaches reflect and gain feedback. These include more formal profiling exercises as mentioned in my latest book Effective Coaching i.e. DISC, Myer-Briggs, or the Gibbs reflective cycle by Graham Gibbs, a sociologist and psychologist who conducted a study called ‘Learn by Doing.’ It is about encouraging people to think systematically, about experiences they had during a specific situation, event or activity.
— Until next time, x
Eileen Hutchinson