Designing A Leadership Self-Reflection Practice: Seven Points to Keep in Mind

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At its most basic level, self-reflection entails taking the time to slow down and think about yourself and your experiences in order to improve your self-awareness, learning, and progress. Self-reflection in leadership entails setting aside time to consider yourself as a leader, and it is essential for your leadership development. It entails thinking on your current skill level, strengths, shortcomings, behavioral patterns, and how you try to influence others. It’s also about discovering and clarifying your beliefs, goals, and aspirations. All of this helps you to become more self-aware, aligned, authentic, learn, and grow. Self-reflection also helps you enhance your leadership abilities and practice, such as emotional intelligence, and it helps you understand others better.

So, how can you make this important growth activity a priority and establish a regular reflection practice? Here are seven pointers to get you going.

According to Professor Peter Miller, “Reflective learning is a well-founded theory based on an individual’s ability to reflect on their own words and actions, as well as to engage in a learning process as a result of that reflection. This is something you can do every day at work while you’re working.”

1. Make a (re)commitment to lifelong learning.

You might already consider yourself to have a growth mindset or to be a lifelong learner. Make it clear, and incorporate self-reflection into your existing repertory.

According to Professor Peter Miller, “Reflective learning is a well-founded theory based on an individual’s ability to reflect on their own words and actions, as well as to engage in a learning process as a result of that reflection. This is something you can do every day at work while you’re working.”

2. Make it a goal to reflect on a regular basis.

Make a note in your notebook to set aside 10 or 30 minutes per day (or week) for reflection. You should try to write every day if possible. Making time each week, on the other hand, is a terrific start. Make an effort to select a time and location that is free of distractions.

3. Begin with a single prompt or theme and see where you can take it.

Start by thinking about a meeting you organized, a challenging conversation you had, or your week in review. You might wish to focus your self-reflection on a single topic, such as your objectives and ambitions, values, or emotional intelligence.

• A gathering: What went particularly well? What would you change if you could do it all over again? What did you discover?

• A look back at the week: What went particularly nicely this week? What did you discover? What would you do differently if you had the chance, and why?

• Highlights include: This week, what was your best leadership moment? Is there any way you could do more of this next week?

• Your management style: Which type of leader do you aspire to be? What do you believe your team thinks of you as a leader? How does this compare to your own self-perception? What would you like to be known for?

• Values: What would it look like if you led with your most significant value? How do your values align with those of your company?

4. Allow yourself to tell stories about your experiences.

Concentrate on writing down everything of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Make your writing as descriptive as possible. When writing about your sentiments, for example, include the thoughts that came with them as well as how those emotions felt in your body. “My heart was racing when I confronted my boss and told him that I did not appreciate him going straight to my team, asking for help, and bypassing me,” or “I felt completely disengaged and my mind was wondering why when my colleague monopolized the discussion again, and no one challenged this — including me,” for example. This will help you become more aware of yourself and your emotions and ideas. Reflect on your experiences — the good, the bad, and the ugly — using the prompts.

Don’t worry about self-censorship or spelling or punctuation — no one will be checking! This is solely for your personal improvement. This is a fantastic method for learning, processing, and development to add to your healthy leadership toolkit.

5. Be truthful.

It’s critical to be realistic and own your flaws. This also entails examining our negativity bias and searching for the good, which may be camouflaged as a teaching opportunity.

• Set a goal for yourself to recognize what went well, a strength you used, or something you learnt.

• Concentrate on finding a solution. Take what you’ve learned from any “failures” and use it to better.

• Think on your role (How am I contributing to this tense relationship with X?) as well as the consequences of your (in)action (What are the consequences of what I did or didn’t do?).

6. Change things up a bit.

There are a variety of approaches you can take to tailor your own reflection practice to your interests and style. Experiment with different methods until you find one that works for you.

• Change the time of day. Try starting your reflection at the beginning of the week if you generally do so at the end. Alternatively, make it a morning practice to write down three qualities that make you an excellent leader.

• Share your thoughts with others. While introspection is generally associated with being alone with your thoughts, it can also be beneficial to speak things over with others. Make contact with a trusted coworker, mentor, or coach.

• Experiment with different journal formats. You can use a simple pen and paper, but you can also use reflection applications, dictate your ideas into a recorder, or record a video of your thoughts and feelings.

• In addition to the aforementioned prompts, look up reflective questions on the internet or keep a running list of ideas for your next session.

7. Consider self-reflection to be a form of self-care.

Slowing down and reflecting on your experiences is essential for increasing self-awareness and making room for intention and choice. All of our experiences teach us something, and taking the time to reflect on them is a form of self-care. Reflective practice helps you strengthen your leadership skills while also allowing you to have a better understanding of yourself and others. So, make an investment in yourself!

Make it a goal to reflect every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. You and your team have earned it!

8. bonus tip

We all have weaknesses we do not know about. I believe that it is the best solution to identify these shortcomings and fix them before anyone else can. Because our small mistake can kill the character that we have worked so hard to build for so many years. For that I recommend this book. Click here to read or listen.

read more https://promindhelth.blogspot.com/

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