Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes
I like to say that there are only two things you need to be a leader: followers and a willingness to lead. However, being a leader and being an effective leader, are two very different things. Being an effective leader takes more than followers and a willingness to lead. It takes energy and commitment. It also takes thought, feeling, observation, and contemplation. In short, being an effective leader requires reflection.
With the frenetic pace that we operate today, being always connected to the office via cell phone, email and text messaging, it’s extremely easy to get caught up in the minute details of the day-to-day work.
Just moving from issue to issue putting out fires all day it’s hard to separate those things that urgently need our attention from those important things that require our attention. We tend to spend so much of our time focusing on the how we need to do what we do that we don’t take the time to stop and think about the why.
Reflection Leadership encourages leaders to take a step back, to begin to reflect and spend more time looking at the why we do what we do every day. By encouraging leaders to take the time to pay closer attention to what is most important, Reflection Leadership can provide us with the tools we need to become more effective leaders.
It’s hard for some of us to find the time for a break from working and take a vacation in order to recharge, let alone take a break to reflect on what is going on around us. But to me taking the time for reflection is critical. As leaders, once we are able to stop and take time to reflect we can begin to see those important things that require our attention.
The Components of Reflection Leadership
To me, Reflection Leadership is broken down into five main parts that take into account all of the aspects needed to effectively lead in today’s complex organizations:
Self Reflection allows the leader to be able to better understand who they are as a person and as a leader.
Follower Reflection allows the leader to better understand those that are following and why they are following.
Vision Reflection allows the leader to clarify what needs to be done and how the organization is going to accomplish what it needs to.
Systems Reflection allows the leader to be sure that systems are in place to support what the leader is trying to accomplish and to understand the interdependencies within these systems.
Environment Reflection allows the leader to understand what is going on outside of the organization and how it relates to the organization.
Most of leadership theory addresses issues that fall into one or more of these five parts so Reflection Leadership becomes the overarching principle to being able to focus on the important things. Reflection Leadership is not a program where we mark off the check boxes as we complete the steps. It is actually an ongoing process that we need to incorporate as part of our everyday lives. When we take the time to stop and reflect we can get a better understanding of what is going on around us and how we can make things better.
Leader’s Reflection: Reflection Leadership encourages leaders to take a step back, to begin to reflect and spend more time looking at the why we do what we do every day. By encouraging leaders to take the time to pay closer attention to what is most important, Reflection Leadership can provide us with the tools we need to become more effective leaders.
