Getting Value from Reflective Practice Discussions

Our recent article on reflective practice, "Professional Reflection: Learning through Experience", discussed the value of reflection in our Continuing Professional Development (CPD). It considered a number of professions encouraging reflective practice such as the healthcare/medical, teaching/education, and actuarial and accounting professions, and described some practical frameworks for reflection. 

While collaboration and feedback are inherent in some professions, others may view reflective practice as a solitary activity. There can be value in forming your own opinions first, but at Protagion we believe strongly that working with others is fundamental to our professional development, including reflecting and discussing together. 

Christopher Johns, a professor of nursing, in “Guided reflection: a narrative approach to advancing professional practice”* argued that the act of sharing reflection with a guide, colleague or mentor enables the experience to become learned knowledge at a faster rate than reflecting alone. 

​Read more for our brief thoughts on feedback, followed by more detailed exploration of “reflective practice discussions”, part of some professions’ CPD requirements i.e. their members are required to discuss their professional development with others. We look into who the reflective practice / diffraction discussion could be held with, the general elements of the discussion, and end with specific examples of possible questions to explore between the professional and the discussion partner.

Feedback and Discussion
Gathering feedback from others is important, including to understand how others see us, and their perception of how we acted in a given situation. A variety of perspectives can help us more accurately assess an experience, and also teaches us more about the differences between people and how their assumptions, beliefs and values affect how they see the world. We may, for example, have misinterpreted a situation, and verbal and non-verbal feedback can alert us to this. 

Some professions specifically expect a “reflective practice discussion” (or “diffraction discussion”) as part of their CPD requirements. This discussion with someone else is a conversation in which you verbally reflect on your learning and development needs and professional objectives, the outcomes of your activities performed, and the conclusions drawn. It can help identify gaps and allow for suggestions of other topics or ideas or methods to explore, and invites professionals to imagine other possible practices, roles and relationships. A form of forward-looking reflection too, it allows exploration of future development and learning, including anticipated work and roles. And, more broadly, it offers the opportunity to discuss your career ambitions and goals. 

Who to Discuss With
To maximise the value from a discussion on your professional development, it is key to select a discussion partner wisely. Or, better yet, have multiple discussions for different perspectives. See our article “Assemble your Board of Mentors” for more detail on forming a support squad. You want to select someone you can be as open and candid with as possible, without fear of future sanction, so ideally they need to be independent of your employer and trusted. There is a tradeoff in the independence though – as they won’t see you in action at work, you’ll need to gather feedback from those who do as part of your reflection e.g. your boss, colleagues etc. In some cases, it may help to combine your development discussion with a performance appraisal or one-to-one at work, depending on your relationship with your line manager.

The discussion partner role has been described as a business coach, who is present and mindful as you explain, offering their views on your actions and whether they are helping to meet your objectives. They should ask questions to support you in assessing yourself and your CPD activities in order to determine whether the activities met your development needs. And, they should be able to challenge you too. To do this, they need to understand the general nature of your work, your desired development and the outcomes you intend, and could be a peer or more senior than you. A professional mentor could also perform this role, as depending on their profession and discipline, they could have experience of the practical challenges of your work. However, distance can be helpful in offering different perspectives, so members of other professions could also act as reflective practice discussion partners, including coaches.

Elements of Reflective Practice Discussions
Now, we share some prompts on categories of what could be covered during a reflective practice discussion, from the perspective of the professional performing their CPD, and their discussion partner. The professional performing their CPD could:

• explain their current professional role(s) and desired future roles / career development goals
• describe their plan, including the areas they want to develop and the specific activities they planned to undertake to learn and grow
• comment on the skills and knowledge they gained, and the outcome of their activities compared to their intentions
• explore how their activities have helped in their current role(s), or not
• indicate their next steps and identify new or existing areas for further development
• ask for assistance where they need support

As part of the conversation, the discussion partner could help the professional explore how the activities have helped them develop, identify possible gaps in their learning, suggest further areas of learning or development as well as other methods of achieving their goals, and make recommendations on possible sources of support or training. Using their different lens on the professional world, they could suggest more diverse types of activities or other types of work to become involved in, perhaps over a multi-year timeframe. They can also help guide the conversation to be both retrospective and forward-looking, and draw out positive conclusions where the professional might be stuck. 

While the discussion partner may give guidance to the professional, they are not responsible for verifying what the professional says, following up on actions or ensuring that activities have taken place – the responsibility for professional development remains squarely with the professional themselves. The professional may incorporate the guidance into their plan for future CPD cycles, perhaps updating their goals. 

Examples of Questions to Discuss
We conclude this article on reflective practice discussions with examples of questions you could cover during the conversation (or for you to reflect on individually beforehand to prepare if you prefer). The unordered list covers a range of areas, but isn’t intended to be exhaustive, so please do add additional suggestions in the comments if you’ve found other questions to be helpful in your own discussions too.

• What are your current professional roles? Which areas of practice or specialisms do you work in? What type of work do you do? 
• Which leadership level are you at? Do you manage others, a function, a business?
• Where do you see your career evolving? Are there different areas you’d like to transition into? Would you consider working in a different country?
• What are your career goals? What could you do to make achieving these goals more likely?
• Would you like a promotion? If so, how are you preparing yourself for the step up?
• What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses? 
• How do others describe you?
• How would you assess your technical skills? How would you assess your other skills, including communication, business awareness, professionalism etc?
• How would you rate your performance at work? What objectives were set by your manager? What has gone well? What hasn’t? What have you learned from those? 
• How do you know your skills and knowledge are relevant and up-to-date? How do you maintain your professional competence? 
• What skills did/do you want to develop? What knowledge did/do you want to gain? 
• What types of development activities do you prefer, and why? 
• What can you do now that you couldn’t before? What competencies have you developed?
• What have you learned from the activities you’ve done so far? How does this compare to your expectations upfront? In which ways could the outcome be better? Where an activity didn’t meet your expectations, what other action are you taking? How will you use what you’ve learned in the future?
• Who do you work with (colleagues or clients)? What feedback did you get from them? How do you know whether you are meeting their expectations?
• Are there colleagues or clients you find it difficult to get along with or relate to? How do you feel about this?
• How would you describe your career arc so far? Where have you felt most successful?
• What are the implications of your work and development activities for your career?
• How do you feel about the actions you’ve taken?
• What are the most valuable things for you to concentrate on next, and why? What else could you do to meet your goals?
• Have you made any implicit assumptions about your development? How would your plan adapt if you assumed the opposite?
• What patterns have you identified in the projects or situations you’ve been in, including triggers or recurring elements? Are there common root causes?
• Which professional challenges (or client requests) draw your attention? Which professional challenges tend to escape your notice? Why do you think these both are?
• What situations have presented a challenge to you that you didn’t think would present a challenge? What made them challenging? What would you do differently if you were to approach the same challenge again?
• Are there any themes in how you’ve reacted to situations, and how could you boost your awareness in-the-moment?
• What has surprised you, and why was it surprising to you?
• Where have biases and stereotypes impacted your work?
• What would you see as a fully successful or productive use of your time? How does your actual time spent compare to this ideal? What would you like to give more time and attention to?
• What productivity boosts, hacks or tricks have you used? How have they been helpful, and what can they teach you about yourself or your environment?
• What are you particularly proud of?
• What can you do to increase your enjoyment of work and your profession?
• How have you dealt with situations where you were uncomfortable or unsure?
• What impeded your progress and why?
• What stress do you experience at work, and how could you mitigate it?
• What aspects of your profession might you be downplaying or ignoring due to lack of knowledge or fear of change e.g. technology/digital/automation?
• How could you be more proactive about your professional development?
• What do you see as your most powerful learning moments? What made them so?
• What is the wider impact of your activities on your team and your organisation?
• If your 20-year-old self could see you now, what might they think?
• What have you learned from this reflective practice discussion? How will this discussion impact your plans?

And, for a technique known as ‘Incisive Questions’ (which allow challenge of our underlying assumptions), see “How can leaders ignite the best thinking in others?”.

* PROTAGION is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. The links with * participate in this programme. ​