What is Reflective Learning?

Reflective learning is, in its simplest form, thinking about or reflecting on your experiences. Then exploring what worked, what didn’t, why and what you can do differently next time.

This goes beyond any normal human ‘thinking’ as it takes conscious effort to think about events and develop insights into them.

Reflective learning is a game changer for embedding learning and it’s why we include it as a core element of our Lead! programme for people leaders.

Some of our clients choose to take it one step further, encouraging participants to write a reflective essay on their progress. They capture their key learning and actions during each module, have a range of recommended resources to explore after the module, then try something out and reflect on how it landed. After the programme ends, they craft their essays focussing on:

  1. What did you do?
  2. What were you thinking or feeling about it?
  3. What were the results?
  4. What went well or less well?
  5. What did you learn from that?
  6. What else could you have done?
  7. What will you do next time?

Not only is this a brilliant way to embed the learning, participants get a great sense of accomplishment from reading back a summary of their progress. It gives clarity for their managers to see exactly what they’ve learnt and demonstrates the value-add clearly to the business.

‘It is not sufficient to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting on this experience it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost.’ Gibbs, 1988.

Reflective learning as a Skill

Reflecting helps us to bridge the gap between theory and practice.  To take what we’ve learnt and apply it to our experiences in a more structured way.

If you’re feeling ‘too busy’ to reflect, now is a great time to start! It doesn’t need to form part of a formal learning process, you can weave it into everyday. So how do you develop a reflective habit?

Starting small is better than not starting at all. How about just 2 minutes of reflective learning during the day between meetings? Or on a commute? Or on a dog-walk? I’ve recently heard the phrase ‘silent walking’ and had no idea it was a ‘thing’ to not listen to music / podcasts – I never have. These spaces are where I do my best reflective learning and get my best breakthrough ideas.

If you’re reading this as an L&D professional, or someone who develops others in their role, consider how you can build reflective learning into your own life and then how to encourage it with people you work with.

Neil Thompson, in his book People Skills, suggests that there are six steps:

  1. Read - around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop
  2. Ask - others about the way they do things and why
  3. Watch - what is going on around you
  4. Feel - pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones
  5. Talk - share your views and experiences with others in your organisation
  6. Think - learn to value time spent thinking about your work

In other words, it’s not just the thinking that’s important. It’s also about observation, collaboration, and exploration.

Some people like to capture this in a learning journal, others prefer to just go through the process. You do you!

Is it best for introverts? I do my best thinking out loud!

Reflective learning can be a shared activity. There’s plenty of evidence from social psychologists and neuroscientists sharing the value of social and collaborative learning.

You could use reflective learning:

In our Lead Programme, we include Group coaching as the final module.

This is a valuable opportunity for the cohort to get back together to share Wins, Walls and Widom. The beauty of this approach, is that they’ll also get to put their coaching skills into practise.

Another approach for shared reflection could come through presentations and discussions with programme sponsors, which some of our clients to choose to add to the programme.

We’re always overwhelmed by what we hear from our participants. Some choose to tell a story about their progress through the programme, others focus on one key idea and the difference it made for them/their team, or perhaps around the frameworks that they put into practise and what they’ve learnt from them.

Whatever approach you decide to take, the evidence is there to demonstrate the power of reflective practise, whether individually or socially:

  • Reflective learning enables students to question their actions, values, and assumptions, and it has been found to promote in-depth learning and the retention of experience.
  • Reflective assessments have been linked to improved student achievement and is considered an effective way to help students learn and retain knowledge.
  • Social connections are vital to human survival and social learning increases the release of feel-good neurotransmitters oxytocin and dopamine. Which in turn lead to greater satisfaction, higher memory retention and increased business impact.
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