What?
Almost a century ago, Dewy (1993) recognised the importance of reflecting on how our experiences facilitate personal growth and change. More recently, there has been an interest in how critically reflective leaders can improve team outcomes.

Critical reflection is the process of analytically reviewing past experiences to understand them deeply. By reflecting critically, we explore what worked, what didn’t, and why. Critical reflection differs from simple reflection in several ways. Simple reflections are typically informal, descriptive, and even conversational, but critical reflection is structured and analytical. When reflecting critically, you will normally draw on wider literature to support your reflection and address the gaps in your knowledge that reflecting has identified.

Critical reflections will usually follow a model, for example Rolfe’s or Gibb’s models of reflection and you will use the review of the past event for your future development. A simple reflection can be descriptive whereas a critical reflection will focus more on your evaluation of the event. It asks: What did I learn? How will I change.

Castelli (2016) states that reflective leaders are defined as individuals who are consistently aware of their behaviours, situations, and consequences for the purpose of improving their organisations. You may be reading this blog as a student nurse starting out on your critically reflective journey, or you might be at a stage in your career where your leadership reflection has become collective and you are developing a reflexive team. Whether you are just beginning or a well-established on your leadership journey, critical reflection is a key and freely available tool you can use to develop your leadership practice.

Team reflexivity refers to teams deliberately engaging with critical reflection. This kind of conscious and critical reflection supports learning, knowledge sharing, and improvement, enhancing team effectiveness. However, despite its benefits, reflective processes require time and energy and can lead to conflict due to the inherently evaluative nature of discussions.

So what?
Critically reflection helps us grow as leaders, making informed changes for the future. I am sure you can think of a time when a decision was made quickly, and without time to reflect and consider the root cause of the issue or the consequences of the decision leading to a temporary solution and/or collateral damage.

Often, taking the time to reflect and gain additional information through our own knowledge and insights, we can make better decisions. Critical reflection allows us to explore our own values and emotions and how these affect our leadership style and behaviours. Critical reflection can be and should be an uncomfortable process at times. It requires us to be vulnerable and can expose parts of our character to us which we would like to keep hidden. But, done well, critical reflection will not only change how we lead on a comparable situation, but it can also shape us into the future leader we aspire to be.

What now?
Are you ready to critically reflect on your leadership? Four tips for doing this are to use ‘I’ to connect personally with the reflection. Although critical reflection is purposeful it is also personal. Ask why? This will help you to move from simply describing the event to analysing it. Use a reflective model such as Gibbs or Rolfe’s to help you with the process. Highlight what you have learned and practice applying this in your leadership.

Some ways to develop your critical reflection include:

• Keeping a reflective journal – make critical reflection a daily practice.
• Debrief with your team after leadership tasks, projects, and significant events.
• Use a digital tool to help you document and track your reflections.

Critical reflection is a powerful tool for leadership development, helping you turn the insights you already have into actions that can develop your leadership potential and helping you lead with purpose.