“Learn from reflection but never look into a pool if you don’t want to end up being a flower”
Ger’s Learning notes #25
Reflection and Self-Awareness
Do you know what the narcissus flower has to do with reflection? In Greek mythology, a guy named Narcissus was known for his beauty. One day, he saw his own reflection in a pool and fell deeply in love with it. When he found out his love would never be reciprocated, he lost his will to live any longer. In the end, his body changed into a narcissus flower. So reflection can not only be a ‘risky business’ but also a strong mechanism for learning as we know from John Dewey.
As learning designers, we can support professionals to learn via reflection and to create better self-awareness. But we have to do it the right way and to give you some input for that, reflection and self-awareness are the main topics of this edition of the learning notes.
My personal tip: learn from reflection but never look into a pool if you don’t want to end up being a flower.
(1) Nuts and Bolts: Reflective Practice
by Jane Bozarth
What’s it about?
Jane Bozarth explains why reflective practice is so important for learning and gives some concrete suggestions on how to do it.
Why read it?
- Jane Bozarth is one of the most knowledgeable persons in the L&D community and a master at explaining all kind of topics very clearly – like in this post.
- The power of reflective practice is clearly explained in the context of professional work.
- You want tips: you’ll find 10 on how to reflect in this post – good stuff if you want to support others in applying the reflective practice.
Where to find it?
(2) Increase Your Self-Awareness with One Simple Fix
by Tasha Eurich
What’s it about?
Tasha Eurich conducted 3 years of research to find that 95% of people think they are self-aware but only 10% to 15% actually are. And she explains how to change this.
Why read it?
- Check for yourself if you are amongst the minority of people who are really self-aware or, as Tasha calls them, ‘self-awareness unicorns’.
- You’ll get a clear insight on how introspection often has a negative influence on self-awareness when we stick with ‘Why?’
- Learn how ‘What’ questions can help you reach better self-awareness.
Where to find it?
(3) Rolfe’s Framework for Reflective Practice
by Gary Rolfe
What’s it about?
It is the most simple and brilliant structure for reflection: What? So what? Now what?
Why read it?
- It is my all-time favorite structure for reflection: so simple, so easy to apply.
- It is a one-pager with some clear examples from a nursing context (but very easy to translate to many other situations).
Where to find it?
(4) Millenials and Gen X: The Change Agents That Will Shape the Future Workplace
What’s it about?
These three, young L&D professionals share their thoughts about and experiences with the panel session they did at the recent ATD European Summit.
Why read it?
- Tap into the views of our new generation L&D colleagues to understand their views and values.
- Get to know how to work together with this new generation, what they appreciate about ‘older’ generations and how to work together effectively.
- Use it to reflect: what can you do in your situation to improve teamwork with different generations at work?
Where to find it?
Ger Driesen
Loves to connect people, ideas and inspiration in the global learning community.
On the wish-list to learn: Forging (yes, as forging steel)
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