In this “Be A Better Leader” series of website articles and podcasts, I am talking about a variety of attributes, characteristics, and skills that are essential to effective leadership, and discussing how they are reflected in practice. I have grouped these things into five categories of what a leader ought to be, which is why I am labeling them as the “Be-attitudes of Better Leadership.” These five categories are: “Be Genuine,” “Be Relational,” “Be Trustworthy,” Be Knowledgeable,” and “Be Excellent.” We have already looked at being genuine, being relational, being trustworthy, and being knowledgeable, and today in part 21, I am concluding our discussion of the fifth category, “Be Excellent.” More specifically, I am talking about the importance of being self-reflective.
I had been hired as a new administrator in a school, and after our first big event I gathered my leadership team together and said, “Ok team, let’s debrief.” There was a moment of complete silence, and then I could see strong emotion emerging on the faces of my team. I paused and asked what I was missing, and they began to explain how the previous administrator had used “debriefings” as a tool to rip apart the team members to such an extent that it left behind trauma. So the mention of the word “debrief” had become a trigger for them and prompted a strong response. So do you think I stopped taking time to debrief after events? No, I did not. I just changed the terminology to remove the connection to traumatic experiences. Why? Because it is an important practice to reflect on what has happened in the past in order to grow and improve in the future.
In his book, “Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher,” Stephen Brookfield points out the research-based premise that self-reflection is one of the primary tools for facilitating growth in a teacher. He identified several practices, but this was one of the key ones, explaining how self-reflection is one of the best means of growth. That premise is true for all of us (not just teachers), that self-reflection helps us get better, which therefore makes it an important practice in becoming excellent.
How does this apply to your personal process of being excellent? Very simply, if you are going to be good at what you do and get better at it, self-reflection needs to be a regular practice. At both specific junctures (like after an event or activity or circumstance) and at regular intervals, you need to be in the habit of pausing, reflecting on what has happened and what you have been doing, and intentionally seeking to learn from it so that you can be better. You won’t ever be perfect all the time (at least, not until we, as believers in Jesus, are fully sanctified and perfected in heaven), but we can and should be in the practice of perpetual improvement.
Did you ever get in trouble with your parents and hear them say, “You need to go to your room and think about what you did!”? That’s exactly what you need to be doing in your path to excellence: go to your room and think about what you did. Reflect on what worked well and should be kept the way it is, what was necessary and must be done each time, what was unnecessary and could be removed, what was missed that should have been included, what was good but should be changed to be better, and what was not good and should be eliminated. All of those things come out when you take time to self-reflect.
The bottom line is that self-reflection is an important piece in the process of becoming excellent. For that reason, make it a part of your practice. You probably already do this every year right around January 1, but make it a regular habit at other times as well. Schedule regular times throughout the year, and after major events, that are set aside for the purpose of reflecting in order to grow and improve. Said simply, to be excellent, practice self-reflection.
