<Thinking about Reflection
You wake up at six o'clock on a Monday morning. The alarm startles you out of a peaceful slumber, but somehow you manage to wipe the sleep from your eyes as you head for the shower. You turn the knobs and when the water surges from the showerhead, you carefully step into the tub. As you begin your normal shower routine, your mind turns to the week's work. You think about your ten A.M. meeting, and you consider different strategies for handling your customer's concerns. You discard several possibilities as unworkable, and finally settle on your approach. You turn off the shower, hop out, grab your favorite towel, and get ready for the day. And whether you realize it or not, you've been engaged in a process of reflection.
Now close your eyes and try to imagine the scene described in the paragraph above. Can you see it? My guess is that the mental picture comes to you quickly, because this is a familiar experience for most of us. Indeed, this kind of spontaneous reflection is a very natural human activity and a critical part of the learning process. All of us need space and time to process new ideas, to think more deeply about the things we're doing or learning. Here's another familiar example: try to remember the last time you read a book or article about a particularly serious or difficult subject. Did you find yourself stopping for a moment, almost instinctively, to put the book or magazine down so you could ponder what you were reading? Once again, you've experienced the power of reflection.
In today's decidedly action-oriented culture, however, our natural need and capacity to reflect is not nearly as valued as our ability to get things done. After all, most organizations are facing increased competition and an increasingly complex future. The winners, some argue, will be the people and organizations that get there first: To the opportunity, to market, to the next big thing. In this environment, the pace of our work speeds up dramatically and makes reflection seem like a luxury. After all, who has time to sit and think when there is work to be done!
What this action orientation fails to appreciate is that when we do not reflect before acting, the actions we take frequently lack the purpose and direction necessary to achieve our most desired results. When we make decisions and pursue actions reflexively and without carefully thinking about them, we run a much higher risk of failure. For some people, reflection is an indulgence. Perhaps the real indulgence, though, is our willingness to pursue any course of action available to us simply because it's there, without reflecting on its potential problems or consequences.
Even more important than recognizing the necessity of reflection in our day-to-day work is understanding the role that reflection plays in our ongoing learning. Learning involves making meaning around our experiences and reflection is the chief way in which we make meaning. During reflection, we take our experiences and pull them apart, examining them ever more closely to ascertain what they can tell us about our world and our place in it. We look for new connections to what we've learned before and, quite possibly, try to generate new and creative ideas and directions for various aspects of our lives. More than anything else, however, we seek to understand what our new experiences mean to us as people, to the unique psychology that defines the essence of who we are. All learning is a process of self-discovery, after all, and reflection is a primary navigational tool for that continuing journey.
The images of reflection offered above (the shower and reading the book) portray it as purely an unplanned and solitary endeavor. This must not be the case. Instead, we must strive to make reflection an "online" activity, one in which we can engage in the moment, either on our own or in concert with colleagues, family, and friends. The capacity to reflect in this way is a matter of awareness, the ability to stay in touch with both the content and processes of our own thinking even as we are involved in other things going on around us. We might describe it as taking up the position of an observer who, from an external vantage point, shares in our thinking yet helps us sort through it in a purposeful and positive fashion.
The best catalysts for reflection, in my view, are powerful and compelling questions. Such questions demand that we "take a step back" and examine our thinking. They invite us to look at the underlying values and beliefs that are shaping our thinking in an effort to confirm the validity of those values and beliefs. For example, if I recommend a particular initiative for my organization, I might ask myself the question, "What is it about this initiative that leads me to believe it is an appropriate one?" As I reflect on this inquiry, I may come to realize that the underlying reason I advocate for it is the belief that it will result in significant revenue. When evidence to contrary is offered, my reflective process leaves me more likely to accept such evidence and reconsider my initial recommendation. What's more, my reflections will likely influence my thinking about future initiatives, encouraging me to examine them more carefully.
So, as you wait for your ten A.M. meeting to begin, your mind takes you back a few hours to the thinking you did in the shower. You ask yourself, "How can I engage in that kind of deep thinking and reflection all of the time, and not just in the shower or on the ride to work?" You begin to reflect on that question, when your customer arrives and the meeting begins. But you make a note to come back to it later. Will you? We hope you will. Let us know what you think by e-mailing your thoughts to us at learning@sla.org. We can't wait to hear from you!
What's Hot in the SLDC?
No, We Don't Mean James Bond…
On June 28, the SLDC will present the first session in the 2000 Virtual Seminar Series (formerly Real-Time Desktop Courses). The session, titled "I Know What You Did Last Quarter: The Growing Value of Competitive Intelligence," features Mary G. "Dottie" Moon, SLA Board Member and manager, competitive intelligence for United Technologies. In this seminar, you'll learn how competitive intelligence (CI) can help you contribute to strategic decision-making by keeping your organization one step ahead of its competitors! You won't want to miss this exciting learning opportunity! Seminar site tuition is $145 for SLA members, $195 for non-members; invite as many people as you want to participate for one low tuition! For more information, please call us at 1-202-939-3679. To register, call KRM Information Services at 1-800-775-7654 (international callers, please dial 1-715-833-5426) and use seminar code SLA5601-0. Please have your SLA member number handy to access the discounted tuition. For more information on these and other SLDC learning experiences, please visit our web site at www.sla-learning.org. For more information, contact Jeff De Cagna (jeff@sla.org).
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