Building reflection into your workplace
A recent session with a client revealed the extraordinary potential impact that a culture of reflection could have on an organisation and the people within it.
The client began the session wanting to find ways to build the process of reflection into their own life more, both at home and at work, in order to give them more time and space to make more use of the rational, deliberative part of their mind, rather than being led by the quick, instinctive and emotive side. They felt this would ultimately enable them to make better decisions, through having the time to work through ideas and consider the consequences of different actions.
When the client considered how they could take a more reflective approach in their work, they quickly realised that their ability to do this was restricted by external factors – not just the culture and processes of their own organisation, but also the overarching expectations and assumptions of our society as a whole about work.
As we explored this topic, my client felt there was a pressure in the modern workplace towards action and ever-increasing intensity and productivity – summarised by one tech giant’s philosophy of ‘move fast and break things’. In such an environment, the idea of taking time to pause and reflect can seem at best like a luxury that an organisation can’t afford and at worst a waste of time due to laziness.
So, to help people live more reflective lives we need to make more reflective organisations. But what is reflection and why is it worth sacrificing speed in favour of it?
What is reflection?
Reflection isn’t simply about taking time to think, although this is clearly an important feature of it. For my client it also meant deeply listening and paying attention, rather than simply behaving like a computer processing something. They felt it was slower, deeper and more meditative than normal thinking and there is a sense of curiosity within it.
There is a deeply personal side to reflection, and it may mean different things to different people, and this is a fascinating and motivating thing to explore with teams when thinking about it. Reflection doesn’t just have to be about an individual retreating into themselves though – it can also be a highly social activity within groups such as organisations, where individuals have time to share their experiences, hear those of other people and appreciate different perspectives on the world or specific issues. This is of course a valuable function within organisations, where misunderstandings and limited viewpoints can lead to costly mistakes, inefficiencies and delays.
Some key components therefore include:
- Investing time
- Slowing down rather than acting instantly
- Being curious
- Paying attention to our feelings and those of others
- Considering different options
The benefits of reflection
We have already mentioned some of the benefits of reflection, but here is a (non-exhaustive) list of some of them:
- Working practices that make better use of human thinking – giving people more time for thinking and to access human capabilities, including creativity, empathy and decision making.
- Increased innovation
- More consideration of alternative options
- Reduction of mistakes and poor decisions – potentially a large financial benefit
- Increased quality communication between people and understanding of other people’s perspectives
- Deeper learning – from taking the time to review projects and processes properly, and to put this learning into action
- Working practices that promote human flourishing – by bringing in more opportunities to reflect, we make workplaces less frenetic and pressurised and more human-friendly.
Ultimately then, adopting a more reflective approach as an organisation isn’t about sacrificing anything in terms of productivity or profitability. It is actually about making organisations – and the people within them – more effective, by making them more effective at harnessing the power of human thinking.
Conditions for reflection
The next point we looked at in the session was what type of environment is needed in an organisation for reflection to take place. Factors include:
- Time – reflection time to be built into processes and departments at all levels – from individual meetings to phases in project development processes.
- Permission – giving teams and individuals permission to engage in a reflective approach, without worrying that they are doing things wrong or that they will be penalised or frowned upon for taking this approach.
- Encouragement – moving beyond just giving people permission to reflect, and instead to to actively encourage it, as part of their own effectiveness and well-being, as well as the organisation’s values.
If we are to create conditions in which reflection can take place, we therefore need to establish a workplace culture in which reflection is encouraged rather than criticized. In order for this to happen, organisations need to appreciate the value of reflection – at every level.
What does a reflective organisation look like?
There are countless ways in which organisations can be made more reflective but here are just a few ideas and practical examples to illustrate:
- Encourage a ‘pause and reflect’ process in decision making – when an individual has a decision to make, encourage them to pause and take a short time to reflect rather than making the decision instantly, in order to activate the rational side of their brain, not just the automatic, intuitive side.
- Promote daily reflection routines – encourage each member of staff to have 10 minutes in their day for quiet reflection on their work.
- Build time into projects – build extra stages into project development processes to enable teams to gather and reflect on where the project is at.
- Make reviews essential – ensure that enough time is given at the end of projects or processes to reflect upon how they went and what can be learned – both in terms of results and other factors, such as how teams worked together.
- Establish peaceful physical spaces in the workplace where people can have time to reflect without distraction from others, or from digital devices.
These points will differ for each organisation, but they can be identified by going through their own process of reflection.
How to build a reflective organisation
As a footnote to this piece, I wanted to mention what happened when my client took the idea of reflection back to his organisation following our coaching session. When he explained the ideas above to members of his board and his team, they were thrilled by the idea of building a more reflective organisation. He said it was one of those rare ideas that just struck a chord with people and that they found intuitively compelling. They could instantly see and feel the benefits for them as an individual, but also for the organisation and its effectiveness and culture.
For this reason, at The Life Guide, we are now providing coaching, consultancy and workshops to help you build a more reflective organisation. We can run workshops with your teams to help them explore the benefits of reflection, what a more reflective workplace might look like for you, and how to work together to build a reflective organisation.
If you’d like to find out more about how to build a more reflective organisation, do get in touch.
