The missing ingredient in many leaders’ development
How getting up on the "balcony" to reflect can enhance your performance
Words by Aenslee Tanner
In our volatile, fast-paced world today, many leaders have never felt busier. Days filled with back-to-back meetings, regular interruptions, and no shortage of fires that need putting out mean that for many, time to step back and think has become a luxury.
But at what cost?
Harvard University professor and leadership expert Ronald Heifetz explains that especially in complex, fast-changing contexts, leaders risk becoming an ineffective “prisoner of the system” if they do not deliberately prioritise reflection time. “Business leaders have to be able to view patterns as if they were on a balcony,” he says. “It does them no good to be swept up in the field of action.” [1]
It’s a mistake to assume that busily accumulating experience is enough to improve leadership performance or for learning and development to occur. Rather, burnout, short tempers and poor decision making are more likely.
John Dewey famously said, “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” Research from Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and Bradley Staats backs this up. “Our findings show that individuals who are given time to articulate and codify their experience with a task improve their performance significantly more than those who are given the same amount of time to accumulate additional experience with the task.” [2] In fact, the people in their study who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting on lessons learned performed 23 percent better after 10 days than those who did not reflect. Plus, the benefits of their reflection proved to endure over time.
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership has also found that reflection is a primary condition for vertical development to occur. Taking a step back from the “doing” to integrate and make sense of new perspectives and experiences from a more elevated stage of development enables a larger, more advanced worldview to emerge and stabilise over time. [3]
Here are three tips to help you take advantage of the benefits of reflection.
Schedule time
Block out regular time in your calendar or create a routine that works for your schedule. Whether it’s 10 minutes at the end of the day, a few minutes after each meeting, or a larger block of time at the start or end of the week, commit to and honour your reflection time.
Curate a list of questions
Many find it easier and more efficient to reflect when they already have questions prepared. So to set yourself up, draft a list of questions designed to help you reflect on things such as what you’re learning and how you’re “being”, the patterns of assumptions and choices you’re making, and how you may be contributing to any conflicts or results you’re experiencing.
Engage a conversation partner
To stimulate and refine reflective thought, consider partnering with a qualified coach or trusted colleague skilled in asking powerful questions and listening deeply. This can be especially important if you struggle to reflect on your own.
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