Reflection is a critical or foundational process within leadership for all degrees and career trajectories. For instance, when teaching at any level of education, we are put at the front of the classroom to lead the class through learning with a student-centered curriculum. However, the importance of leadership roles does not negate the challenge for leaders in adapting to change. Thus, reflection qua change is essential to fostering a powerful transformative technique and leadership style, which contributes to the growth of the team by evaluating what works and what doesn’t work for the workforce. Such reflection enables the leader to welcome the individual, along with their differences and uniqueness. Reflection influences the growth of the team, and contemplation unearths transformative ideas. Leadership is open to ideas and creates a safe space to share those ideas. Moments of reflection shift the direction of things and of people, leading to new possibilities. Such reflective exercises allow people to tell the truth when they give or receive feedback. Leadership means being a resource and coach, but also encouraging employees to have a voice. Effective leadership must reflect on strengths and weaknesses, values and behaviors, and how we influence others.
Let us talk more about reflection and what that means. We need reflection in order to transform our negative habits into profitable means. As a teacher, we must reflect on our past experiences with managing the classroom or pedagogy and making the classroom more efficient. This process requires one to hold off from looking forward and instead think backward so as to develop plans and ideas for the future. By reflecting on the past and what you have learned and experienced, you can apply that learning in the future to enable change. "Leaders who model what they teach have a ripple effect on the entire culture," says Davis. Leaders affect their group through their modeling techniques. A future profitable team looks to its leader as a model for change. Reflecting as a team and personally is a proven way to continually improve performance. Because reflection is about the opportunity to learn, grow, and advance, good leadership requires flexibility, resilience, and adaptiveness by being robust and provocative in order to reach positive transformation. By enlisting the dreams of others in conjunction with our own, we ask our team how to shape those dreams, believe in them, and stay dedicated to our goals. Leaders empower the enlisted. A good leader utilizes charisma, intelligence, and empathetic guidance to enable cohorts to contribute 200% to the vision and mission.
I encourage leaders to follow the tripartite model of reflection for leadership developed by Terry Borten. He calls this model “What, so what, now what?” First, ask yourself what happened in a particular situation. Be as objective as possible without judgment at this time. Then, ask, “so what?” Analyze the experience more deeply and consider how these ideas connect to core concepts. And finally, now what? This stage is about applying what you have learned. How have you grown and changed because of this experience? How did this experience influence the way you process information or take action? When teaching, for example, one should ask, “why does the classroom not follow your lead or directive?” Was it harsh intonation or the wrong approach to discipline? How can the answers to those questions make the future more successful? Frequent and timely reflection and providing informal feedback are what make good leaders stand out. Don’t wait for an annual report. Start now in interrogating your values, goals, and ambitions. New models of leadership all demand critical reflection, imagination, and an openness to the unknown, the unexpected, and the unexplored.
