How Reflective Practice Is Used to Gain Efficacy and Personal Power - Example

Institution : Leeds Metropolitan University Module: Leadership, Self and Creating the Future Tutor : Catherine Burrell Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2013 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 How reflective practice is used to gain efficacy and personal power 4 Leadership and change theories 9 Reflective practice and problem based learning 11 Benefits of reflective practice 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Lussier, R. N., 2011, Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development, New York: Cengage learning 16 Wee, B. & Hughes, N., 2007, Education in Palliative Care: Building a Culture of Learning, Oxford: Oxford University press 16 Reflective thinking is essential when it comes to improving the quality of an individual’s leadership skills. As an individual, I utilize reflective thinking to gauge my development as a leader as well as to gauge my personal growth. It involves the consideration of one’s own education and learning. Reflective thinking considers achievements that are of a personal nature while questioning what contributed to their success and what did not. It therefore shows which areas need improvement and the ones that are fully developed. Reflective thinking/ practice involves the leader’s orientation to crisis management, problem solving and the state of mind. It is a process that takes both time and dedication. Reflective thinking is an important aspect of a leader. It influences how I carry out my activities as a leader and how I relate with people around me. It is a key strategy in all aspects of my work and a major tool in character evaluation and improvement. As a leader, I find myself in positions where I have to make decisions about myself and others without the benefit of accessing the complete information about an issue. Based on this information, I will have to make both timely and correct decisions. Reflective thinking aims at creating personal growth, professional growth and all towards meaningful change. Throughout the stages of growth since childhood, I have utilized reflective thinking to improve on those areas that I have found to be wanting or are viewed to be uncouth by the society. Besides this its basic role is helping me to understand my weaknesses and strengths. That in turn will support me in identifying underlying values and beliefs. In choosing between available strategic and tactical options, I will have to use reflective thinking to determine the best option. Therefore, with minimal information, I am required to reach a conclusion based on my reflections and intuition as a leader. In making decisions and choices, I have to deliberate slowly and reflectively before making the final decision. How reflective practice is used to gain efficacy and personal power Reflectivity increases an individual’s open mindedness. This boosts the confidence I have in myself and my capabilities as a leader. Using reflective thinking has helped me to trust my intuition as well as my instincts when there is the need to make quick decisions under critical conditions. Cartwright (2011) argues that leaders have to find a way to deal with complex and critical situations or problems even though they have limited information. He argues that as most leaders usually find themselves not able to access information channels, it is important for them to develop reflective thinking (Cartwright, 2011, pg 1). Hughes & Wee (2007) point out that there exist leadership potential and capabilities in each of us. It is the lack of knowledge about such capabilities that differentiates us. There are many different types of leadership. They include situational leadership, distributional leadership, servant leadership and transformational transactional leadership. Thinking reflectively about the different advantages and disadvantages of these systems make me a better person and a better leader (Hughes & Wee, 2007; 309). In my life I have had to display leadership abilities through my interactions and the discharge of assigned responsibilities. In so doing I have had to choose the type of leadership best suited for that particular situation. In cases where I have had to interact with individuals whom I know are more knowledgeable than I am, I have had to use the transformational leadership style. This is because after reflecting about it, I concluded that this style offers one a chance to continuously learn, be innovative and change for the better. It has also been instrumental in helping me overcome resistance to positive change. By employing this style, I cultivate my creativity while using reflective thinking to minimize chances of failure. In some instances, I have had to employ the transactional style of leadership. This happens in most instances when carrying out an exchange or offering reward seems the best possible option for obtaining results. I have had to promise to reward individuals many times if they could carry out certain activities for me. The decision to use this style of leadership is reached at after careful reflective thinking. In addition to transactional and transformational leadership styles, I also employ the servant leadership style. This style allows me to lead while serving instead of observing. After reflecting on the advantages and disadvantages of various ways of leading, I decided to utilize servant leadership when there arose a chance to motivate other people and encourage participation. I have also utilized symbolic leadership when I need to encourage those under me to look up to me and follow my example (Lussier, 2011, pg. 337) Schon (1996) explains that reflective practice is recommended for beginners in any discipline. As an individual only just developing his leadership potential, I could take a leaf out of Schon’s book. He explained that reflective practice can be utilized by newcomers to identify similarities between their personal practices and those that are already successful. It involves considering and analyzing one’s experiences in using the gained knowledge in practice (Schon, 1996, pg, 1). Self-knowledge is an important aspect that a leader should possess. Throughout my life I have had to explore myself as a person and as a leader. I have had to develop an understanding of my weaknesses and strengths. This enabled me to be self-aware of what I can do and what I cannot achieve. It also enables me to push my boundaries hence improve as a leader and as an individual. The CEO of Pepsi company, Indra Nooyi, admits that self-awareness is crucial for a leader. She says that self-awareness helps one to evolve and find solutions to any situations that arise. Reflective thinking goes hand in hand with self-knowledge and awareness. I believe that Brokaw (2012, pp. 1-5) had a valid argument when he pointed out that self-awareness is the most significant capability that can be developed by leaders. He argues that as a leader, one is supposed to receive insight, from lower ranked members, into their personalities. The feedback received is then used by the leader to reflect on what can be done differently. Self-knowledge, says Brokaw, is so important for a leader that he can use family and friends to enlighten him on how he comes across. When carrying out my duties and responsibilities, I encourage those I come into contact with to provide this insightful information which I use to reflectively asses myself. Rothstein and Burke (2010) point out that self-awareness can be achieved by carrying out self-assessment. Basing on this view, I evaluate myself to find out what I could improve on my own and when to ask for assistance. They insist that for one to make a good leader or develop into a better leader, one has to embrace self-assessment and self-awareness. In order to develop initiatives that will benefit those being led, a leader has to understand his personal issues. These include things like strengths, satisfaction and shortcomings (Rothstein and Burke, 2010, pg. 7).Following this advice from Rothstein and Burke (2010) coupled with my knowledge of reflective thinking; I have developed a personal list of these values to know how good I am and how much room for improvement is available. Cameron and Green (2004) explain that people always expect a lot from the leader. They argue that for one to be a progressive leader, he should at least lead the changes in an aspect of work. In order for one to lead, one should be knowledgeable about himself. They argue that self-knowledge in a leader is the core of an intelligent leader. They claim that leaders need to think in new ways to be able to be effective and this can only be achieved by having self-knowledge (2004: 192-194) As a leader I have to be reflective on the things that others perceive about me. I have to reflect on the knowledge about myself so as to weed out the bad habits and enhance those attributes that I have. If my peers and those below me in the pecking order consider me committed to the functionality of my practice, I can look for ways to better my commitment. However, if my commitment is in question, this self-knowledge gives me an opportunity to look for ways to prove my commitment. When my clarity or the clarity of the whole group suffers due to my leadership style and capabilities, I revise the individual goals set after careful reflection. The strategies and goals that have to be met under my guidance are also put under consideration when reflecting on the dos and don’ts. While undertaking reflective thinking, I have developed a way of using MPH mapping to represent different feasible variations to frame the state of my affairs. This involves the use of magnitude filters where information is taken from the world in large quantities and broken down into details. Periodicity filters are utilized where people are used to collect data so that a view of the world is presented. In addition, holistic filters show how people are oriented with the heart representing emotions, values and beliefs while the head represents rationality. The hand is concerned with action and performance and MPH mapping offers a leader the opportunity to comprehend how other people make sense of the world (Cope, 2003) Reflective thinking also helps a leader to identify his personality style. Using personality style profiling, a leader is able to understand his personality type and how it affects his approach to leadership and life. It also enables leaders to accept individuals whose personality is not identical to their own. It helps us as leaders to understand that these individuals are not wrong or inconsiderate but are just different from ourselves. Personality type profiles also help us leaders to adjust our behavior appropriately in order to make the most of the strengths of others. Therefore, as a leader, the use of PSP helps us to enhance our understanding of our bosses, our peers and our subordinates. This helps to promote successful interpersonal relations with others hence growth on a personal level and as a leader. Reflective study has made me understand the importance of personality style theory. I believe that this understanding has helped me develop my emotional intelligence and to obtain the best output from other people. It is of value to me because it has made me easily understood by others as well as making clear other peoples choices to me. It has been influential in developing my ability to influence other people and get their commitment on carrying out their tasks. On my own as a leader I prefer various methods of operations to others. I tend to employ a leadership style whereby I utilize other people’s thoughts and opinions. I also prefer sharing my troubles with workmates so as to find a solution faster. I have discovered that working in a group where everyone is free to offer suggestions is better than working individually. As a leader I state my thoughts and sometimes tend to need affirmation of my activities. In acquisition of knowledge, I prefer dealing with practical ideas instead of dealing in the abstract. I prefer building up my knowledge step by step until I have a complete picture of the problem before solving it. I focus a lot on the current state of affairs without saddling myself with the stress of considering possibilities for the future. I therefore consider myself as a leader who is realistic, literal minded, simple and practical in the discharging of my duties. Leadership and change theories Change is another aspect to be considered by a leader when carrying out reflective thinking. Change is inevitable in any organization. No leader can use the same formula of operation and hope it will be successful all the time. Every situation has its own specific path that will lead to success. Different people react differently to change. While others perceive change with disaffection, other individuals go into shock or denial when it is applied. However others will remain compliant and work to adapt to the coming change. Other responses include resentment as people are not willing to change the status quo and will prefer letting things stay as they were. Change may also cause frustration in some people. It is therefore important for a leader to reflectively think about any change to be introduced before unleashing it on others. Change plays a big part in the anxiety experienced at the workplace. Workers become afraid of whether or not they will be able to flourish in the new environment. Fear of working conditions will probably lead to poor production results. Some may even feel dissatisfied with the new conditions presented by the change. If the change involves personnel, insecurity may set in among the workers which will negatively affect performance. It is therefore the function of a leader to step up and apply reflective thinking to ensure satisfaction is attained by everyone under him. At this level, a leader may opt to use Kotter’s eight steps of change. Harvard Professor Kotter presented a change model consisting of 8 steps that would help in implementing change in an organization. The first step, advocated Kotter, is to generate a sense of agency within the organization. As a leader, it falls under my jurisdiction to make those subordinate to me have the determination and courage to move and achieve greater success. Kotter argued that leaders should not underestimate the challenge of getting people out of their comfort zones. He urges leaders to warn against complacency and false urgency. He says that a leader should do his best to connect with his people’s values and hence appeal to their hearts rather than their heads. This inspires individuals hence guaranteeing the success of the occurring change. Step two of Kotter’s eight steps involves the formation of a group of individuals to headline the change. They will be in charge of developing the vision for the new entity, communicating the vision to the rest of the people, eliminating any obstacles that may arise due to change, managing projects that arise due to the change and anchoring the change into the company’s established culture. The third step involves crafting the new vision for the change by the group set up in the second step. The fourth step involves informing the people of the new vision and making sure that they understand and accept it. Step 5 of the plan is to remove the barriers that are perceived to harm the new venture and enabling people to give their best at work. Step 6 encompasses creating success that is visible and unambiguous as soon as possible while the seventh step involves consolidating what has already been won and not letting up on the work. The eighth and last step proposed by Professor Kotter is the sustaining of the change that has been created. This will make sure that the implemented change sticks within the company’s culture (Kotter International, 2012, pp.1-11). Reflective practice and problem based learning Reflective learning is utilised on a large scale in developing skills utilised in problem based learning. Just like reflective learning is a practical based activity, problem based learning is used in practical activities where feedback is received from subordinates later. Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) argue that learning is successful when the person undergoing the learning process is actively engaged in the process of learning. A leader becomes better at problem solving when engaged through reflective practice in the skill of problem based learning. Learning is considered fruitful only after the individual is on the job. By reflectively thinking about a problem, a leader becomes accustomed to solving problems on his feet (Osterman and Kottkamp, 1993, pg 2) As a leader, I utilize reflective practice to stop and critically think about my decision making while evaluating what made something right or wrong. Lawler and Handley (2012) explain that as humans, we use very little part of our brains’ capacity. In his model, Lawler and Handley enable us to understand how we learn, how we make decisions, how we solve problems and how and why we communicate in the ways that we do. They explain that each of us possess a different profile. They provide a quadrants from A-D in which different people lie. Considering the variables presented by the two writers, I would place myself in quadrant C. They describe the type of person who falls into this quadrant as one who listens and shares ideas with other people while integrating these experiences. They harmonize with whatever challenges come their way and are emotionally involved in their dealings. They further explain that individuals in this quadrant respond best to case discussions that are people oriented, experiential opportunities and group interactions. I felt strongly drawn to this group because in developing my leadership skills, I like to be involved totally in things that interest me, I work fine with other people and am willing to accept new ideas. Benefits of reflective practice The values and benefits of reflective thinking and practice are many and are applicable in various fields of practice. In leadership, reflective thinking is important in that it promotes the development of meta-cognition (Evans, 2009). Meta-cognition helps a leader to develop an action plan, monitor the plan and evaluate the plan. Reflective thinking enhanced by meta-cognition helps the leader to successfully carry out any plan of action that he develops. In developing an action plan, a leader should ask himself reflectively how qualified he is to carry out that particular task, the steps that will be followed and how much time will be devoted to finishing the particular task (Evans, 2009, pg. 1, 2,3;NCREL, 1995, pp. 1-4). Another benefit of reflective practice is the development of epistemic cognition and emotional intelligence. A leader with epistemic cognition has knowledge about important issues and is therefore objective, subjective and rational in decision making. Emotional intelligence on the other hand is associated with good leadership where by utilizing it, a leader develops good participative management, self-awareness, composure, straightforwardness, decisiveness, change management, creating and mending relationships and an ability to put those under him at ease (Moshman, 2013, pp 1; Mayer and Salovey, 1997, pg. 3, 4,5). Another benefit of reflective thinking and practice is the development of judgmental ability and critical thinking. Critical thinking is an art used to analyze and evaluate thinking with an aim of improving decision making. Critical thinking as a result of reflective practice makes a leader capable of providing solutions and one who can effectively communicate with others. This is so that solutions to compound problems can be found. The process of critical thinking developed by reflective practice leads to a disciplined, self-corrective and self-monitored leader (Paul and Elder, 2006, pg 4). Berg et al (2012) in describing the importance of reflective practice on co-leaders and their relationships explained that reflective practice is important in ingraining good characteristics in their relationship. The writers noted that those leaders who employed this practice are more dynamic and have developed a better rapport between them. This helps them to make informed choices when interacting with one another (Berg et al, 2012, pg. 83) Conclusion Reflective practice is defined as the abilities and skills that an individual adopts in taking a critical stance. It involves the leader’s orientation to crisis management, problem solving and the state of mind. Reflective practice is neither a solitary process nor does it involve relaxing and meditating. Reflective practice is challenging, trying and at most times, it is a demanding process. Leaders who adopt reflective thinking go on to enjoy many benefits that are derived from this process. Reflective thinking leads to the development or enhancement of meta-cognition and epistemic cognition. Reflective practice is used to develop and heighten the levels of emotional intelligence in a leader as well as developing the judgmental ability of a leader. With this capability, a leader is able to make informed choices when it comes to decision making. It can therefore be argued that reflective practice, when used effectively, can be used to develop an efficient model of leadership. References Cartwright, T., 2011, Developing your intuition: A guide to reflective practice, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Kimm, J., 2004, Developing yourself as a leader reflecting about yourself as a leader, available at: Lawler, M. & Handley, 1996, The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument in The Creative Trainer: holistic facilitation skills for accelerated learning, New York: McGraw Hill Publishers Schon, D. A., 1996, Educating the reflective practitioner: towards a new design for teaching and learning in the professions, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc Rothestein, M. G. & Burke, R. J., 2010, Self-management and leadership development, Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing Cope, M., 2003, The seven Cs of consulting: the definitive guide to the consulting process, 2nd ed, London: Pearson Education Kotter international, 2012, The 8-step process for leading change, available at NCREL, 1995, Metacognition, available at: Marsha, l. C., 2008, Teaching metacognition, available at: Moshman, D., 2013, Epistemic cognition, available at: Mayer, J. D. & Salovey, P., 1997, What is emotional intelligence? available at: Paul, R. & Elder, L., 2006, Critical thinking: concepts and tools, available at: Berg, R. C., Landreth, G. L. & Fall, K. A., 2012, Group counselling: concepts and procedures, London: Routledge Cameron, E. & Green, M., 2004, Making sense of change management: a complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organization change, London: Kogan Page Publishers Osterman, K. F. & Kottkamp, R. B, 1993, Reflective practice for educators, available at: Evans, D., 2009, Building leadership capital: reflective practice white capital, Melbourne: DeakinPrime Brokaw, L., 2012, Self-awareness: a key to better leadership. MIT sloan management review journal, available at Lussier, R. N., 2011, Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development, New York: Cengage learning Wee, B. & Hughes, N., 2007, Education in Palliative Care: Building a Culture of Learning, Oxford: Oxford University press Read More