I was recently asked by a colleague to share 'my best leadership story' with her nursing students as part of their undergraduate curriculum. Even though I regularly facilitate and teach in a variety of leadership development programs, it had been a while since I had taken the time to reflect on my own leadership journey.
Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I thought I'd practice my reflection skills given the importance placed on reflection (of learning) with the new national registration and accreditation requirements; in particular the requirements around a portfolio (or evidence of learning).
Reflection helps to identify the knowledge and motivations that guide us in every day actions and activities related to our work. A portfolio can be seen as a means of demonstrating or accounting for your personal and professional development by connecting similar practice incidents or actions to reveal how learning has occurred over time, in this way, patterns of nursing practice and knowledge gaps can be brought to light, enabling the reflector to identify areas of practice that could be further developed.
The attraction of reflective practice has many facets. It lies partly in the freedom it offers individual practitioners to be creative, to theorise and to conceptualise. It also allows an understanding of the situation or context that you might not otherwise recognise. Best of all, it is a fabulous conduit for learning; learning from past experience to improve for the future.
For those who are not yet familiar with the skills of reflection, there are a number of useful models that can get nurses and midwives started. One of my favourites, probably because of its ease of use, is Borton's Development Framework for Reflection (Jasper 2003). A relatively simple model, Borton's model is suitable for novice reflectors/practitioners but can be used at different levels, it is based on the need for practitioners to operate in the real world of practice; to be able to identify, make sense of and respond to real life situations. It asks the person to reflect using three basic questions: What? eg. What happened; what was I doing; what were others doing? So What? So what more do I need to know in order to understand the situation; so what could i have done that was different? Now What? Now what do I need to do to make things better; now what will I do; Now what might be the consequences of this action?
Another favourite and just as easy to use is Gibbs' Reflective Cycle (Jasper 2003). This very popular cyclic model entails a six-step process and is one of the few that take emotions into account. It starts with a Description of what happened; followed by an exploration of Feelings experienced at the time; an Evaluation of what was good and bad about the experience; an Analysis to make sense of the situation; a Conclusion that draws out what could have been done or perhaps should not be done; and finally an Action Plan that encourages planning a course of action should this event occur again with a new understanding of the situation.
Gibbs' model is usually shown as a diagram and for this reason alone it is easy to visualise for those that prefer pictures to words.
Nurses and midwives interested in exploring these concepts further will find a wealth of information on these and other well known models for reflection via a search of the Internet (Johns, Boud & Goodman offer more complex models). Many nurses and midwives have been engaging in reflection on and in practice over many years. If you are in this group, I encourage you to share your knowledge in this area--your colleagues new to reflection need you!
For those not so experienced, I challenge you to have a go! Give yourself about 20 minutes to reflect on something that happened during your day at work. It doesn't have to be a complex critical incident, just something you'd like to make meaning of. Interaction with patients and other staff are a good place to start. Use one of the models above, so that you have some structure to work with and you'll be surprised to see what meaning you can make out of a situation or experience.
Be sure you focus on what you've learnt in order to grow from the experience. When you've finished, proudly add your new learning (through reflection) to your registration portfolio! It's that easy.
So, back to my own reflection on 'my best leadership story' that started me on this discussion in the first place. That my friends, I will share with you in next month's ANJ!
REFERENCE
Jasper M (2003), Beginning Reflective Practice--Foundations in Nursing and Health Care, Nelson Thornes, Cheltenham.
BY CORAL LEVETT
ANF FEDERAL PRESIDENT
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