The Reflective Leader: Harnessing Self-Awareness for Impact
Summary:
This article posits the case for reflective practice for leaders, especially those who are involved in high-risk and high-responsibility work. Increasingly a requirement of continuing professional development, Role Reflection helps leaders to develop a deeper understanding of their impact and responses and identify areas for improvement. Reflective practice involves, above all, engaging with oneself as part of a "human system" of interconnected thoughts, processes and actions, and by reflecting with a professional and neutral facilitator trained in systemic thinking and interpersonal and psychodynamic awareness, leaders can learn new frames of reference, skills and ways of interpreting situations.
Engaging with Oneself - the Importance of Wading In Deeper
All leaders aspire to be effective and it can be earth shattering when we discover that we are not having quite the impact we hoped and often through no particular wrong-doing, but rather acting without sufficient reflection and awareness of the systemic and psychodynamic influences that are within us and around us. This is an unconscious process, separate to the technical skill and nature of professional work, yet impacting the overall result.
As Socrates famously said, "An unexamined life is not worth living", and John Donne, reminds us that "No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." In short, what happens between us and around is is all connected, everything is "relational".
In a fast changing world, where interpreting the shades of grey and working with dualities is now an expected skill for leaders, engaging with one's own self as an "energetic agent" has never been more important.
It is increasingly recognised that leaders who pay attention to the WAY of working are more successful in role, and almost always they have invested in personal development hone this ability;
Resilience is one of the key facets of sustainable organisations and this requires that people have a process for recovering quickly from perceived failure and adapting their approach;
Blind spots are breeding ground of risks - unconscious bias and unsociable behaviours can only be picked up and worked with through a process which fosters a space of learning and discovery in a non-threatening way;
Crucially the realisation that we are all parts of interdependent human "systems"- families, teams, workplaces, nations, membership groups - makes us also realise that reflecting only on oneself is not enough, we must also become more versant in "systems thinking" and understanding how to optimise approaches to working with human behaviour, notably when such systems are facing profound change or are under stress. Not only does such awareness produce better results, it also paves the way for sharing risk and responsibility, reducing the blame-game and risk of unhealthy scape-goating.
Wading in, therefore, to look more deeply below the surface of the various "rivers" of situations we find ourselves in, helps us to engage firstly with our own process, and secondly with others, interpreting what is happening in a larger frame of reference.
A Safe Space with a Trained Reflection Partner
Crucial to the effectiveness of reflective practice are good boundaries and a safe place in which to conduct the conversations, which works both with the needs of the business and the needs of human psychodynamics. The reflectee wants to feel they are well supported and can bring their work, warts and all, confidentially, to the session and that they will find reframes, restoration and a co-creative relationship to help build more productive strategies and responses.
For more information about how to engage a professionally trained reflection partner for yourself, or train reflection practitioners inside your organisation - please submit the form below to download Xenergie's Role Reflection guide.