Reflective Leadership

Leaders are, by nature, busy people.  Most leaders I know are driven individuals and are not content to be idle for any substantial amount of time.  In this world of smart phones, tablet and laptops, it is commonplace to multi-task at all times and have many irons in the fire at once.  In a recent Franklin Covey workshop I attended the presenter shared that technology innovations intended to increase our efficiency actually add about ten hours on to our work week.  Think about it.  Aren’t most of us always “connected”?

Leadership coaching has been my area of study and passion the past few years.  In studying the skill set associated with any sort of coaching, reflection is always an important component. It is imperative that leaders take the time to think about our actions, our responses, our though processes, what worked, what could be improved, and what we may do differently next time.  Reflection is part of the “study” in the plan-do-study-act cycle of continuous improvement.  Without it, we are in a cycle of continuous flat-lining.