Whats On Your Mind

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Whats On Your Mind?
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Reflection.The Key to Effective Leadership

• Or.. What Are You Doing On The Balcony?

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The Importance of Reflection

• The best leaders are deeply reflective and base
  their behaviors on a set of operating principles.
  (Schwahn Spady, 1998)
• The leaders transformational perspective arises
  from a deep inner reflection about the self and
  structures that determine organizational systems
  (Quinn, 1996, p. 125)

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Reflection Builds Competence in Expert
Problem-Solving

• If learning is to persist, managers and
  employees must look inward. They need to reflect
  critically on their own behavior, identify ways
  they often inadvertently contribute to the
  organizations problems, and then change how they
  act. (Argyris, 1994, p. 84)

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Reflection Helps Us Shift Paradigms

• In pursuing change, we often have to re-design
  our maps of the territory.

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We re-invent ourselves by changing our
perspective. This process can be chiefly carried
out through the practice of reflection. (Quinn,
1996, p. 66)
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The Benefits of Reflection

• Reflection enhances the probability that our
  actions will be consistent with our core values
• Reflection makes systematic analysis of our
  practice possible we can search for new
  perspectives

• Reflection raises unconscious thoughts to the
  conscious level
• We can compare our espoused theories to our
  theories-in-use
• We can think about how to integrate theory and
  practice

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What Is Reflection?

• REFLECTION
• A cycle of paying deliberate analytical
  attention to ones actions in relation to
  intentions as if from an external observers
  perspective for the purpose of expanding ones
  own options and making decisions about improved
  ways of acting in the future, or in the midst of
  action itself. (Osterman Kottkamp, 1990, p.
  183)

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Two kinds of reflection

• Reflection ON Action
• Critical inquiry
• Awareness that a problem exists for which the
  solution is uncertain
• Examination of perceptions

• Reflection IN Action
• An actor in the drama/ a critic sitting in the
  audience
• Instinct and intuition often relied upon
• Time constraints

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Lets examine both.
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When was the last time you unlocked a quiet place
in your soul and took time to reflect?

• Reflection ON Action.

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Reflection IN Action

• Military officer maintaining overall strategy
  even in the fog of war
• Jesuits contemplation in action
• Hindus, Buddhists Karma Yoga or mindfulness
• Basketball Players ability to see the floor
  while contemplating individual moves
• Heifetz going from the dance floor to the
  balcony

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Reflection The mental activity of stepping back
in the midst of action and asking Whats
really going on here and what does it mean?
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The Challenge.

• to see the whole picture by standing back and
  watching even as we take part in the action being
  observed.

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Achieving that Balcony Perspective
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• Take yourself out of the dance in your mind,
  even if only for a moment and mentally go to the
  balcony.
• Momentarily distance yourself from the fray
• Get a clearer picture through analysis of the
  subtleties that are taking place
• Make an intervention
• Observe its impact in real time
• Return to the action

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It doesnt come naturally!

• The herd instinct is strong
• You get swept up in the action
• Youve got to think on your feet and make quick
  decisions

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Moving from being a participant to an
observer and back again is a skill you can learn.
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Try it in a meeting!

• When you make a comment or intervention, resist
  the impulse to defend or explain what you said.
• Push your chair a few inches away from the
  meeting table after you speak to help you detach
  enough to become an observer.
• Dont jump to familiar conclusions.
• Open yourself up to other possibilities.

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• See who says what watch body language.
• Watch relationships and see how peoples
  attention to one another varies (supporting,
  thwarting, listening).
• Jot down your thoughts as they come to you.
• Take time after the meeting even just 5
  minutes- to do a quick analysis of whats going
  on here? and write it down.

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Leadership is Improv!

• You may have a strategic plan
• You may have an overarching vision
• You may have clear, orienting values
• BUT..
• What you do from moment to moment is not
  scripted. You have to respond to what is
  happening. A plan,in some ways, is no more than
  TODAYS BEST GUESS!

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SUSTAINING YOUR LEADERSHIP REQUIRES THE CAPACITY
TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING AS IT IS HAPPENING.
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And as..

• You are immersed in action and
• You are responding to what is right in front of
  you.
• you are simultaneously making a concerted effort
  mentally to
• GET SOME DISTANCE BETWEEN YOURSELF AND THE ACTION
  

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Then you need to do 2 things

• Try to accurately read and interpret what you
  have observed
• AND
• Share your interpretations with those you lead
  when the time seems right

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Did she say Share Your Reflections?

• Yes!
• Searby Dissertation A Study of the Practice of
  Reflection in Leaders of Stuck and Moving
  Schools
• The most effective principal was not only highly
  reflective, but he publicly shared his
  reflections, values, and beliefs with his
  teachers.

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Double Loop Learning(Argyris, 1994)

• When Ted shared his rationale for decisions he
  had made, he was actually feeding back learning
  to his teachers. When he reflected on his own
  behavior in his personal quiet time, he was
  feeding back to himself about the effects his
  decisions may have had on others. In an
  organization, and in ones own personal life,
  this feedback is invaluable. Searby, 1999

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Id love to be reflecting and sharing my
reflections, but..

• (What are the barriers to achieving this?)

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So What?

• Implications for Professional Practice

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How To Increase Reflective Practice

• Leaders should take time to retreat! Take
  personal audits of beliefs, values, intentions,
  and actions
• Journal thoughts and ideas for future action

• Read professional articles, books on leadership
  and hold up a mirror to your own practice
• Seek out and cultivate a relationship with a
  reflective coach or mentor

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Reflective Coaching

• Someone to help you go to the balcony
• Someone to hold you accountable for the
  commitments you make
• Someone to listen and help you clarify your own
  thinking

• Confirmative someone to reinforce your own
  meaning systems
• Transformative Someone to help you find your
  faulty assumptions and thinking

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Know Thyself

• Personality Inventories (Myers-Briggs)
• Leadership Styles Assessments
• Multiple Intelligences Assessments
• Relationship Styles Assessments (DISC)
• Discover patterns in your life that will lead to
  greater self-awareness

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And Finally,
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Practice Thinking Out Loud

• After reflecting, show others how your private
  act of reflection is linked to your decisions and
  actions

• Show how your core values influence your
  leadership behaviors by verbalizing why you do
  what you do

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Reflection

• Unlocks the Door to Change for you and your
  organization