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Reflective PracticeInternational and Multidisciplinary Perspectives

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‘What are leaders’ experiences of reflection?’ Whatleaders and leadership developers need to knowfrom the findings of an exploratory research study

Elaine Patterson

To cite this article: Elaine Patterson (2015) ‘What are leaders’ experiences of reflection?’ Whatleaders and leadership developers need to know from the findings of an exploratory researchstudy, Reflective Practice, 16:5, 636-651, DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2015.1064386

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2015.1064386

Published online: 15 Oct 2015.

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‘What are leaders’ experiences of reflection?’ What leaders andleadership developers need to know from the findings of anexploratory research study

Elaine Patterson*

Elaine Patterson Executive Coaching, London, UK

(Received 11 May 2015; accepted 2 June 2015)

This qualitative grounded theory study explored leaders’ experience of reflectionin the workplace. The study found that reflection of the quality described by thesample was ultimately a creative process and a creative act which freed potentialand brought new possibilities into the world for themselves, for others, andacross their businesses. Reflection had supported their own processes of learningto BECOME a leader as well as informing their acts as a leader. Clear returns oninvestment were identified. The implications of the study’s findings for leadersand leadership developers – coaches, mentors and trainers – are explored.

Keywords: leadership; reflection; learning; creativity; coaching

Introduction and research context

Philosophical, social, political, economic, climatic and technological changes arechallenging old paradigms. The acronym ‘VUCA’ is used to describe this newworld, which is now one of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity(Johansen, 2012). These pressures require leaders to both capitalize on the potentialand possibility held in the future whilst also delivering on the day to day.

Schön (1983) – building and developing on the work of others like Dewey(1938), Lewin (1951), and Piaget (1954) – highlighted the value of reflection (andreflective learning practices) to professional learning and development. Schön arguedthat reflective processes could help professionals to move beyond early technicalcompetence to learn how to navigate the humanness, messiness, ambiguity and com-plexity of actual practice with clarity, courage and compassion.

Thirty years on from the publication of Schön’s work (1983), reflection (andreflective practice) still seemed to be primarily located in the technical or clinicalpractice of, for example, the legal, health, educational and therapeutic professionsand much less in the leadership domain (Fook & Gardner, 2007; Johns, 2004).

Literature review

There is a vast literature on the two complex themes of leadership and reflection.This section provides an overview of some of the literature and identifies thetheoretical gap, which the study sought to address.

*Email: elaine@ep-ec.com

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

Reflective Practice, 2015Vol. 16, No. 5, 636–651, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2015.1064386

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There is no universally agreed definition, which captures the complexity of theact, task, job or role of being a leader, or a manager, or the difference between thetwo. However, salient themes emerged. These were the characterization of leadershipas a relationship, which exists in relationship to others (Murdoch and Arnold, 2010;Murdoch, 2013); as being in service of something (Greenleaf, 2002); and of bringingthe new into the world whilst managing the day-to-day (Scharmer, 2007). This shiftsthe work of the leader from ‘manager as technical expert’ to leader as the ‘instrumentof transformation’ unlocking the potential held in people, teams and organizations(Bennis, 1989). Key to unlocking this potential is leaders leading from ‘who theyare’ and ‘who they are becoming’ which determines ‘how they lead’ (both them-selves and others) (Cashman, 2008). This then rebalances leadership development togrowing the person who is the leader from the inside out rather than just pouring innew technical data. In addition, increasingly leadership is portrayed as a journey from‘doing’ management to ‘becoming’ a leader – where others give up their right to pur-sue their own path in service of the collective. This is a deeply personal and profes-sional learning journey of challenge, growth and self-development, which is forged,on the anvil of experience, inquiry and challenge. (Gilligan and Dilts, 2009;Jaworski, 1998). This is a journey into expanding levels and fields of adult con-sciousness and awareness where capacities to engage with multiple perspectives andintegrate complexity are developed (Collins, 2001; Kegan, 1982; Laske, 2005).

The use of reflection and its associated reflective practice became popularized bySchön with the publication of The reflective practitioner: How professionals think inaction (1983). Schön built on earlier writings and research from such key writersand researchers as Dewey (1938), Lewin (1951), Argyris (1974), Piaget (1954) andJung (1958) who were all exploring the inter-relationships between experience,reflection, learning, growth and adult development.

Schön’s key contribution was to promote experiential learning and reflection as aroute to professional learning beyond pure technical expertise (1983, p. 14). Schöndefined ‘reflection’ as helping practitioners learn and make sense of experiencewhen encountering the human murky ‘swamps’ of practice (p. 42).

Mezirow (1991), Senge (1990) and Fook (2006) helped to take Schön’s definitionof reflection to a deeper level of criticality and critical engagement with experience.They defined ‘critical reflection’ as a more critical questioning of experience, whichhas the potential to shift consciousness and mindsets at the heart of a person’s being.The literature does describe different levels of learning, for example, Bloom (Bloom,Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956; Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia, 1964) in histaxonomy of learning, or Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule (1986), where dif-ferent levels of learning which correlate to the different levels of change are realized.The work of – for example – Belenky et al. (1986), Carroll (2010), Kegan (1982),Laske (2005) or Chapman (2010) link levels of learning to the literature on adultdevelopment. Epistemology has also shifted towards an appreciation of how knowl-edge is constructed and focuses meaning created in dialogue with experience and inrelationship (Jarvis, 2006; Moon, 2004; Rogers, 1980).

The leadership literature offered partial insights into what or how leaders mightbe using reflection. For example, West and Milan (2001) talk usefully of the reflect-ing glass but do not mention the ‘how’ of reflective practice. Goffee and Jones(2006) join a list of authors like George and Sims (2007), Collins (2001), Cashman(2008) and Perks (2011) who provide a helpful definition and list of qualities for‘authentic leadership’ – defined as ‘being true to yourself and what you believe’

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(George, 2007, p. 205) but no process for how to actually learn and embody thesequalities. Smith and Shaw (2011) provide a list of attributes for the reflective leaderwith questions for inquiry but no overall process for reflection. Boyatzis (2002) pro-vides a model of self-directed learning, but is goal- rather than process-orientated.Johns (2004) insightfully describes reflective learning as an experience and thenfocuses on repetitive lists of reflective questions applied to nursing rather thanleadership. Scharmer (2007) describes a powerful map for transformational learning,which offers a methodology for reflective conversations but not for deep reflectivepractice. Goleman (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002) – in his earlier texts –offers lists of emotional intelligence but no process for helping the reader embodythese qualities. Wheatley (1999) and O’Neill (2000) highlight the importance ofdeveloping systemic mindedness but no process for the journey. Jaworski (1998)inspiringly describes his own transformational journey but does not offer the readera model for reflective practice. Densten and Gray (2001), Brown (2008) and Smithand Shaw (2011) had empirically observed how critical reflection might supportleadership development, but did not evidence base this or describe how this couldbe made mainstream.

The literature review identified an important theoretical gap which appeared toexist between the espoused theories of reflection and leaders actual experience ofreflection in the workplace. This study attempted to close that gap.

The research question

The research question was therefore to ask the self-selected sample of senior leaders‘What are leaders’ (your) experiences of reflection?’ The purpose of the questionwas to examine their working definitions of reflection; their processes of reflection;and what – if any – benefits their processes had generated for them in their role asleaders, with what this might mean for the development of future leaders.

Methodology

A research strategy was required which would enable leaders to share their ownlived experiences and construct meaning without predetermined constraints orassumptions; and for me – as the insider researcher – to identify emerging patternsfrom the data collected in order to develop new theory. A constructivist qualitativeresearch strategy using grounded theory research methodology was eventuallyselected. This was because Constructivism argues that people construct their ownmeanings through stories of their own experiences and social interaction with theworld. Meaning is therefore constructed rather than discovered through words(Robson, 2011). Grounded Theory is an inductive methodology with systematic butflexible guidelines for collecting, analysing and thinking emergently with the data(Charmaz, 2006).

Data collection

The criteria for the sample was: they were UK-based leaders in executive directorposts or equivalent at the time of the study, saw themselves as leaders and saw them-selves as engaging in some form of reflection. Seven leaders self-selected themselvesto participate in the study. Ethical Consent Forms were signed. The participants were

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aged between 45 and 60 years. Their early backgrounds ranged from supportiveupper middle-class families to starting life in a children’s home. Three participantshad taken first degrees in their 20s whilst working full-time. All seven had postgradu-ate diplomas or degrees. Their work experience included retail, military, schools,marketing, academia, communications and human resources, and who are currentlyworking in a range of UK-based public-sector organizations including government,local authorities and NHS, independent companies and multinational companies.

A semi-structured interview was designed to offer standardization and flexibilitywithin a clear structure. Twelve hours of face-to-face interviews were held, recordedand transcribed. The interview questions were:

(1) Please outline your journey to date (as a leader).(2) What does ‘reflection’ and ‘reflective practice’ mean for you?(3) What is/are your processes for reflection? – why, what , how, when and

where?(4) What helps and what hinders?(5) What do you see as the benefits that your process(es) of reflection brings to

your leadership?(6) How do you feel that your experiences could be best applied to the develop-

ment of others?(7) Is there anything else that you would like to add?

The transcriptions were entered into the Nvivo 10 software analytical package.The text was analysed word by word. Codes or nodes were generated from the rawdata using the process of constant comparison asking ‘is this unit of data the sameto one already created or is it different?’ and taking action as appropriate. Fourteencategories emerged from the raw codes from which one meta-concept eventuallyemerged as shown below in Figure 1. Sixty-one thousand words were transcribed.On average, units of eight words created a new raw code. Of these, 2,248 raw codeswere created from 7,983 references. Seventy-five per cent of these raw codes werecoded in vivo to retain the richness of the data (Figure 1).

Node

Categ

Theoretical Concepts

Node Node

ory

Figure 1. Assembling theory.

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Findings

The findings are presented in the rest of the paper using the structure and ordershown in Figure 2. The presentation of the findings starts with ‘Definitions’ and thenmoves onto ‘Processes for reflection’; to ‘What helps and hinders’; to ‘Benefits ofreflection (and the costs of not reflecting)’ and concludes with learning for thedesign of leadership development.

Definitions

All seven leaders defined the essence of leadership as inspiring the creation of thefuture whilst improving the day-to-day. They all saw their core responsibility asfreeing the potential which is locked in people, teams and their organizations bycreating the conditions in which self and others could do their best thinking, do theirbest work and were able to be their best selves (Figure 3).

All seven defined leadership as a human relationship (not a role) and saw leader-ship as existing as a relationship and in relationship with self, with others and withthe world. This relationship was defined as operating at four levels: leading self;leading others; leading the organization; and leading in the wider system. All sevenhad arrived at a realization at different points in their life and work that ‘who youare as a person’ (their values beliefs, assumptions, feelings and behaviours) shapes‘how you lead’ and how they are experienced by others. All seven agreed that learn-ing to be a leader had been a deeply rewarding, but at times deeply challenging,journey of overlapping personal, professional and collective growth and develop-ment. All seven agreed that learning to reflect had been a major support to them innavigating that learning journey.

Designing Leadership Development

Definitions

Processes for Reflection

(How, Where, What and When)

What Helps What Hinders

Benefits of Reflection

Costs of not reflecting

Figure 2. Presenting the findings.

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All seven acknowledged that the word ‘reflection’ was confusing and lackedclear definition and felt more comfortable defining ‘reflection’ through the lens of itspractical benefits. One leader specifically mentioned the perception of reflection as:‘something wooly’. Another that it could be ‘off putting’. However, all seven chal-lenged the prevailing assumption that reflection was dull or static. As one saidreflection is ‘an alive and fluid process … it is full of movement’. A detailed analy-sis of the coding defined reflection as intentionally creating thinking spaces (11%) toenable a different kind of structured thinking (29%) which has a rigour and a pro-cess which enables leaders to learn from experience (12%) and to develop newunderstanding(s) (48%) to apply in the world (Figure 4).

It is significant that all seven leaders spoke directly from their own experiencewithout direct reference to academic theory or textbooks. This suggested that formaltheory was not directly impacting on practice. The core theme was the intentionalpausing or stepping back to create the space to think.

Leaders individually described this as: ‘taking time out’; ‘finding space’; ‘stop-ping the busyness and standing back’; or ‘having a quiet mind’ in order to think andthen apply in the real world. An important process of retreat, think and return wasestablished which is captured later.

All seven leaders saw their reflection as a structured thinking process of stepswhich used open questions to explore what is being experienced in order to chal-lenge the thinking behind the thinking. As one leader said: ‘this challenges us to

Definitions

Figure 3. Definitions.

Thinking spaces

Learn from experience

Develop new understandings

Thinking spaces

Figure 4. Defining reflection.

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think and feel differently’. It was significant that all seven leaders have learnt tobroaden their thinking from just engaging their purely analytic brain to problem-solve to giving themselves permission to engage their more creative, compassionate,somatic, soulful and integrative brains to the business world to generate new aware-ness and understanding. As one leader said: ‘it is a fluid process of sense making tomake sense making the unconscious conscious’.

The purpose was defined as learning from experience ‘either good or bad and toput it into practice’ but more significantly as developing deeper understandings pre-dominately about self (66%); self in the world (11%); about others (8%); and thewider business context (15%). This shows a focus on self and growing the personwho is the leader to then function as the leader within the business context (Figure 5).

Processes for reflection

All seven leaders reported that reflection was triggered by a physiological responseto an experience(s) which messaged the need to pause (Figure 6). As one leadersaid: ‘my body’s barometer tells me’. Eighteen per cent of the triggers arose fromnoticing something that was different or surprising (Figure 7). As one said:

Self

Self in the world

Others

Wider business context

Figure 5. The focus of reflection.

Processes for Reflection (Triggers? How? Where?

What? and When?)

Figure 6. Processes for reflection.

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‘I then sit up and my antenna start twitching’. Twenty-nine per cent arose fromfacing something new or unknown, and 53% arose from becoming aware that some-thing was either not right or not working. Individual leaders expressed this as:‘unease’; ‘discomfort’; ‘my peace is disrupted’; or ‘an irritation with the noise in myhead’.

How?

All seven used flexible open questioning frameworks, which they had adapted andmade their own from a number of different sources. All aim to access (in differentdegrees) the range of different cognitive, emotional, somatic and spiritual intelli-gences to explore experience. It also emerged that for all, the extent and depth oftheir application of their questioning was contextual and was a function of therelative nature and importance of the issue being explored.

Four reported that they consciously used yoga, meditation or sport to supporttheir health and wellbeing. They reported that this helped them to be more open – orless resistant – to what was emerging from their more focused reflective processes.One described this as putting themselves closer in touch with ‘the universal energiesto help me make sense of experience’.

All seven used a conversational process with self and also with others to explorethe answers to their questioning frameworks. Although difficult to precisely quan-tify, a sliding scale emerged. This showed that 50% of this thinking was done inconversation with self; 31% in one-to-ones with coaches, mentors or trusted friends;and 19% within leadership groups. Seventy-four per cent of the reflection wasreflection on action (what had happened); 24% was reflection for action (preparingfor similar incidents which might occur in the future); and 2% was reflection inaction (what was happening).

All seven favoured reflective journaling to support the capturing and processingof thoughts and ideas. Leaders talked of the treat of: ‘using my beautiful fountainpen and special paper’; and ‘writing in my beautiful blue book’.

Different or new

New or unknown

Not working / right

Figure 7. Triggers for reflection.

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When?

All seven distinguished between working mindfully – as one said ‘grabbing quietsmoments in the lift, sitting in the car or on the commute home’ to creating separatethinking space for deeper reflection on issues which were more complex or emergentwithout ready answers. They all differentiated between the quick review on a meeting– as one said ‘to take the learning – good or bad – and move on’ to longer term strat-egy or direction setting. All said that this time needed to be prioritized and diarizedto happen in proportion to the issue. Three said that it felt like a ‘guilty luxury’.

Three reported that timeliness and proximity to the incident was a factor, notic-ing that busyness meant that sometimes they had moved on before they had anopportunity to reflect and meant that the learning was lost. When asked to define‘reflective practice’ all seven leaders described it in the abstract as either ‘a habit’ or‘a discipline’ but did not feel that this applied to themselves. However, the data didindicate that they had all developed a consistent practice which had evolved andwas continuing to evolve over time and which worked for them.

Where?

Leaders reported that 75% of their reflection took place away from the office typi-cally in their home study or on their kitchen table and less typically whilst enjoyingnature or on the commute.

One leader remarked that: ‘reflection can take place anywhere and does notnecessarily need a lot of planning or structure’. Two reasons emerged for this: firstly,the overwhelming busyness of work at work generally left no space or time for quietreflection; and secondly, because work issues nearly always spilled into reflectionabout the person who is the leader. As one leader said: ‘work is a part of who I amand not all of who I am’ and ‘reflection helps me to manage my life and my workwithin it’.

What helps and what hinders reflection?

What helped most (37%) was where the leader themselves had made an autonomousdecision to invest in reflection themselves (Figure 8). This was followed by 23% wherereflection had been made part of the organizational culture. Other factors like having aframework, language and tools for reflection (11%); the support and inspiration from

What Helps? What Hinders?

Figure 8. What helps and what hinders?

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others with different perspectives or reading (13%); or the discipline to diarize time forreflection (16%) helped but were subsidiary (Figure 9). This is shown below.

Where the decision had been to invest in themselves, 42% of the codes in thissubcategory referred to finding their best selves; 25% was a proper selfishness tobetter resource themselves – as one leader said ‘I owe it to myself’ and 17% wasexplained as ‘the pure joy of learning something new’. As four leaders separatelycommented: ‘I love finding the aha moment – it is a bit like a dopamine hit’; ‘I loveto find the links between things’; ‘reflection is foundational and fundamental to meliving deliberately’; and ‘I really value having the personal space to think and carryme forward into the next phase’. Nevertheless, leaders also reported that this choicewas also tinged with having to give themselves permission to reflect. One leadersaid: ‘I have to give myself permission – and there is something very wrong if weare unable to stop and pause’.

Poor role modelling, where the top leadership neither invested in the process norbelieved in the benefits of reflection, accounted for 40% of the nodes in the ‘Whathinders’ category. As one leader said: ‘it is very difficult if the top leadership doesnot model reflection in values or behavior and do not want to create learning indi-viduals, teams or organizations’ or where reflection ‘could be used for punishmentrather than learning’. This was compounded by the perception that reflection was‘woolly and fluffy’ which made it – as one leader said – ‘people do not initially seethe point of reflection which makes it a hard sell’. One leader also felt there was arisk that reflection might lead to breaches in confidentiality. One observed that ‘sofashave been strategically placed but nobody used them for fear of not being seen asbusy enough’. It was also acknowledged that reflection was hard to do in the face ofinsidious busyness, lack of diary planning or without frameworks or training.

The benefits of reflection

All seven leaders reported a wide range of multi-dimensional benefits, whichfocused on their own growth as a human being – the person who is the leader. Tworeported that reflection had helped them: ‘to develop as a human being’ or ‘to growall of who I am’. As one leader said: ‘to be effective in the workplace you need torecognize that you are a human being with a full human life’ (Figure 10).

Six sub-categories emerged: Thinking Differently (25%); Creating Differently(20%); Being Different (16%); Relating Differently (15%); Acting Differently

Figure 9. What helps?

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(15%); and Feeling Differently (9%) and are shown below: (A complete list of all ofthe sub-benefits is the subject of a further paper) (Figure 11).

The highest scoring sub-benefits were ‘Working with Emergence’ and‘Achieving a Greater Connection with Others’. For ‘Working with Emergence’ twoleaders separately reflected: ‘I now work in an emergent FUTURE domain whichhas its presence now’ or ‘I have become more exploratory, more freeform…’. For‘Achieving a Greater Connection with Others’ which as one leaders said: ‘I am ableto step into another person’s shoes much easier, see what is going on for the otherperson and hear at all levels’.

The impact of not reflecting had not been an interview question, but emergedfrom analysis of the transcripts. The impact of not reflecting shows up as absences,losses or costs; and is in stark contrast to the positive gains, which the leaders attrib-uted to reflection. These are shown in Figure 12. One leader said that the risk of notreflecting was that ‘toxic organizations would be created’.

Designing leadership development

Clues for leadership design are given in the leaders’ own stories. All have come toreflection via a variety of different routes. Whilst three leaders had been experiment-ing with reflection over many years, all seven leaders adopted or consolidated their

Benefits of Reflection

Costs of not Reflecting

Figure 10. Benefits of reflection.

Thinking Differently

Creating Differently

Being Different

Relating Differently

Acting Differently

Feeling Differently

Figure 11. High level benefits.

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processes as a direct result of participating in leadership or coach training courseswhich required them to engage with reflective learning processes, and in particular,journal writing. However, continuation after the course appears to have been a per-sonal choice and private decision. As three leaders reported having learnt: ‘a valuein reflection which I had not appreciated’; ‘the value of having personal thinkingspace’ or ‘a framework for thinking which is new’. What also emerged was howreflection had become an intrinsic part of who they were and their way of being inthe world. Two leaders reported: ‘Reflection has become a very natural and obviousthing to do’ and ‘My process of sense making and making sense is applied all thetime now’ (Figure 13).

All seven leaders acknowledged the shortcomings of development initiatives,which did not enable participants to learn how to reflect. Their advice was therefore:customize messages for context (29%); acknowledge the power of hearing personalstories of leaders who had benefited from reflection (28%); look for role models andstitch reflection into core business processes (26%). Opportunities to learn fromdemonstrations and experimentation to – as one leaders said – ‘guide someone

Figure 12. Costs of not reflecting.

Designing Leadership Development

Figure 13. Presenting the findings.

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through the process to remove the threat and mystique’ was important (17%). Astwo leaders observed: ‘Lots of people feel that they will get value from reflectionbut do not know what it is or how to do it’ or ‘Being encouraged to reflect does notmean anything until you understand the what and why…’.

Conclusions from the study

The conclusions from the study are summarized in Figure 14.The meta conclusion was that ultimately, and fundamentally, reflection could be

seen as an act of creation; as a process for bringing forth something new into theworld – be it an idea, a connection, a feeling, an act, a relationship, a service, aproduct or a solution – instead of repeating past patterns.

Leaders Experiences of Reflection in the Real World: reflection as an act of creation….

Definitions

Leadership is 'learning to create the future'

Reflection is 'a different kind of structured thinking which enables

leaders to develop new understandings to apply to the world'

Processes for Reflection (Triggers, How, Where, and When)

Triggers?: Something is new, unknown, feared surprises or is not working

How?: Questioning frameworks. Mainly with self. Journalling favoured

When?: Mainly diarised

Where?: Away from 'work'

What Helps

Making a personal decision to commit to

reflection.

Other factors, e.g. organisational cultures, tools, and inspiration / support from others

important but subsidiary

What Hinders

Poor role modelling from the top. Other factors like

insidious busyness, misuse to allocate blame, or

breaches of confidentiality important but subsidiary

Benefits of Reflection

Thinking Differently Creating DifferentlyRelating Differently Acting Differently Feeling Differently

Being Different

Costs of Not Reflecting

Loss of understanding Loss of creativity

Loss of relationship Loss of energy

Loss of productivity

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Use role modeling; personal stories; demonstrations

and experimentation. Customize for context.

Figure 14. Summary of findings.

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Implications of the study’s findings

The implications for the study are outlined below.

For leaders

Firstly, this research means that leaders have a core role in leading a new quality ofthinking which supports the personal development of both themselves and their peo-ple, and the strategic development of their organizations which creates the futurewhilst delivering the day-to-day.

This requires leaders to challenge traditional business and academic norms,which have tended to overvalue the logical and rational thinking to other intelli-gences and wisdom. This takes leaders into redefining themselves in a new role of‘hosting’ (Szpakowski, 2010) who are responsible for creating the architecture andwho ‘host’ the spaces for this new quality of thinking where people, ideas, energiesand resources can connect to release potential and possibility. Secondly, the emer-gence of a new class of benefits – i.e. Relating Differently and Creating Differently– brings a new relevance to how reflection and reflective practices can practicallycontribute to informing, shaping and responding to today’s operational and strategicchallenges. Thirdly, there appears to be huge untapped potential to exploit reflectionin support of stress reduction and employee wellbeing agendas. Fourthly, a newbusiness case needs to be developed for reflection.

For the leadership community

The reluctance of the sample to brand themselves as ‘reflective practitioners’ sug-gests a wider disconnection between ‘leadership’ and ‘reflection’. This is concern-ing, as this link risks overlooking how their own thoughtful and compassionateleadership emerged as a result of their own reflective practices. This may be linkedto a perception of leadership as a ‘job’ rather than a ‘profession’. A new descriptorsuch as ‘leader practitioner’ who in essence is a ‘reflective practitioner’ sponsoring anew quality of thinking both for themselves and for others needs to emerge.

For leadership developers, coaches and coach supervisors

The findings invite leadership developers to review their programmes within a big-ger picture of leadership and adult development. This would locate learning to be aleader as fundamentally a lifelong journey into expanding consciousness. Thisswitches the emphasis away from a more traditional focus on just collecting tools ormethodologies to developing the person who is the leader from the inside out.

Critique

The study necessarily focused on a specific genre of leader. The scope of the studymeant it was not possible to identify and separate out other contributing factors(like, for example, the impact of personal life events such as divorce, illness, caringresponsibilities or bereavements).

Leaders may have over-attributed the contribution of reflection and reflectivepractice to work. The very act of studying a topic changes it.

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Further areas of study are therefore recommended as follows:

(1) Extending the research to a wider sample; and a separate study to explorethe experiences of leaders who chose not to intentionally reflect;

(2) Testing the relationship between personality profiles, learning preferencesand the evolution of reflection;

(3) Further investigating the role of alternative therapies, meditation, art andmusic in supporting reflective practices;

(4) Evaluating impact where recommendations from the study have beenimplemented.

Summary

Experienced as a creative, structured and whole-hearted intelligent thinking process,reflection of the quality defined by the sample can support the transformation of selfto transform the world of work. As one leader said: ‘the more I do reflection themore I see its value … and the more I want of it’.

Notes on contributorElaine Patterson has vast leadership experiences working as director and chair deliveringtransformational change in large, complex and highly political organizations. Elaine is alsoan accredited master coach, an accredited coach supervisor and a published writer. This paperis based on Elaine’s MA research findings which were carried out under the ProfessionalDevelopment Unit at Middlesex University. Elaine’s vision is to bring the energizing, cre-ative, humanizing and transformative powers of reflection and reflective practices to leadersand people professionals everywhere to transform work.

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