In our ever-evolving world, our attention is increasingly being drawn to external objects. Where people are driven by the need to finish this task before heading to the next one. This results in the present moment becoming more fleeting than ever. As we try to keep up with everything, pausing to look at how we are in this exact moment and where we really want to go from here, with intentionality, is very difficult.
In regard to leadership, more leaders are becoming more reactive under this pressure. In times where effective leadership is most needed, reflective leadership comes to the rescue.
What is Reflective Leadership?
According to Harvard Business School, Reflective leadership is a style that involves understanding and being aware of oneself, engaging in regular reflection, and committing to ongoing learning and development leading to more informed decision-making, stronger leadership abilities, and enhanced team effectiveness.
Key Aspects of Reflective Leadership
- Self-awareness:
- The ability to acknowledge and be mindful of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. The more we are aware of these aspects, the more we can be in control of ourselves and consequently move from a reactive state to a responsive one.
- Reflection:
- The ability to reflect on ourselves and realize what decisions are coming from bias or judgment. In addition to being able to reflect on information and situations from several perspectives. Therefore, leading us to make informed and reliable decisions.
- Learning from Experience:
- Our experiences make up a major part of our personality and are a generous learning source. The ability to look back at past failures and successes and extracting lessons from them.
- Adaptability and taking action:
- Utilizing all the knowledge we have and those we gained to adapt our leadership style based on what the situation requires and changing circumstances.
Why Reflective Leadership?
Long story short, as the title suggests, a leader aware of their inner self and is in control of themselves is able to be more aware of situations and how to deal with them.
Short story long, reflective leadership is a sustainably effective leadership style. As it is driven by continuous self-improvement, the performance effectiveness is maintained and even improved with time. Moreover, continuous self-reflection increases emotional intelligence leading to better and stronger team relationships. The improved awareness makes decisions sounder and more informed; it also decreases risks and biases as the leader becomes more objective with their decisions and more mindful of the consequences of said decisions. It also enhances the ability to challenge one’s assumptions, biases, and modes of thinking and hence, generating more creativity and innovation as the leader is taking new steps for their decisions and actions, and new ways of thinking. Last in this blog, but certainly not least, it adds intentionality. A leader now is in lead of themselves and intentional about every step they take. Consequently, increasing performance effectiveness and raises the team’s spirit.
How Can You Be a Reflective Leader?
- Regular Self-Assessments: Take the time from your day to practice daily self-reflection and evaluation. What are your strengths? What can you improve? What decisions did you take today and what was their impact? What influenced these decisions? What influenced your actions? What biases can you identify? What steps will you take next for a better you?
- Seeking Feedback: Find your trusted coworkers, mentors, family, or friends and actively ask for feedback to gain external perspectives that you can learn from.
- Mindfulness Practices: Consider formal mindfulness practices like meditation, or informal ones like mindful eating. Incorporate meditation or mindfulness techniques to clear your mind and further understand your thoughts and emotions.
Conclusion
Reflective leadership is a style that elevates your performance as a leader, and the performance of your team. It supports you in slowing down in this fast-paced world and responding efficiently to your environment rather than being sucked into the currents in life and being reactive. Pause, reflect, assess, respond, learn, improve, and repeat!
Consider the steps above as a step towards a better version of yourself as a leader.
Learn Your Way and Lead Your Way!
Check out our Your Way leadership training on situational leadership, leadership principles, and leadership in action where the last unit goes into how can be a reflective leader!
Reference:
Brown, J., & Slater, M. J. (2023). Improving identity leadership through a novel targeted reflective practice intervention. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 35(4), 625-642.
Han, E. (2023a, September 5). The importance of reflective leadership in business. Business Insights Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/the-importance-of-reflective-leadership-in-business
Reardon, R., Fite, K., Boone, M., & Sullivan, S. (2019). Critically Reflective Leadership: Defining Successful Growth. International Journal of the Whole Child, 4(1), 20-32.
