Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain. Anon, more recently attributed to Vivien Greene (1904 – 2003)
The metaphorical rain has been rather heavy this year. The plans we all started this year with had been torn up by the end of March. We made new plans and they ended up in the recycling bin too. Scenarios multiplied but certainty was elusive. We learnt to do new things and worked out how to do familiar jobs in very different ways. The lines between work and personal lives became blurred as homes became offices and schools.
In April Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft) said of the speed of change.
We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.
Since then the pace has not slowed and our accelerated development has not been confined to digital technologies. With Christmas nearly here, the promise of a break for many but by no means all and 2021 less than three weeks away we thought it might be a good idea to share some ideas about taking stock and identifying what we have learnt over the past year.
There are many frameworks designed to help us learn from our experiences. Here are two that we have found useful personally or in our work with others.
Driscoll’s What Model
This simple model builds on Borton’s three what questions.
- You start with ‘What’. Describe the current situation or experience.
- ‘So What’ asks us to reflect on what we have learnt by living through this experience.
- ‘Now What’ invites us to think what we want to do with what we have learnt.
Four F’s
Another simple model that is one of Dawn’s favourites was created by Dr. Roger Greenaway. It is one of those models that can be used quickly to give you an overview, or you can really go into some depth as you reflect. The four F’s are:
- Facts: a dispassionate view of what has happened
- Feelings: your emotional responses to the situation
- Findings: the specific learning you have identified
- Future: assessing how you can take your learning forward
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle
This is a more complex model but Susan finds it really helpful because it helps her focus on her emotions, something she struggles with, and stops her jumping to conclusions too quickly.
- Describe the situation or experience
- Record how you felt.
- Evaluate the experience – was it helpful, productive, threatening etc.
- Analyse the experience – try and understand what led you to evaluate the experience as you have done.
- Conclude – how do you view your actions? What might you have done differently? What have you learnt?
- Action plan – how do you want to apply your learning in the future?
These and other models are useful: they offer a starting point, a structure to follow and encourage you to think about an experience from a range of perspectives. But they also have downsides.
- Reflection is a continuous process
- The models suggest that you must start ‘at the beginning’ and proceed in a given order.
- They won’t work well in every situation.
If you are interested in learning more there are lots of free online resources from schools and universities that can provide more detail and signposts.
However you decide to take stock we would offer a few thoughts
- Set aside some designated times for reflection, you will rarely get all of the key insights out of one session.
- Consider taking a walk: as neuroscientist Shane O’Mara argues in his recent book (2020) there are good reasons why we think better when we are walking.
- For many people writing out their thoughts by hand rather than typing them into a computer is more helpful.
- Using images can be helpful. Susan has a large collection of museum postcards and finds sorting through them to find images that speak to her feelings and thoughts can help her explore them more easily and deeply.
- Get creative. Paint, draw, collage or make colourful pages for your journal (Holthman & Rogers, 2018)
- Why not make an artefact or two? The purpose is not to produce an excellent work of art but to make something that helps you to reflect better. We both find making art books very productive and powerful for our learning.
However you choose to reflect on the past year and start to think about the future, we hope that you find it fruitful.
We wish all of our readers a joyous festive season and may the coming year bring us all peace.
Susan & Dawn
References
Borton, T. (1970) Reach, Touch and Teach. London: Hutchinson.
Driscoll, J. (ed.) (2007) Practicing Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach for Healthcare Professionals. Edinburgh: Elsevier.
Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechic.
Holtham, Clive and Rogers, Catherine, (2018) Supporting Leadership through reflective journaling.
O’Mara, Shane. (2020). In Praise of Walking: The New Science of How We walk and Why it’s Good for us. London: The Bodley Head.