How To Stand Out From The Crowd?

A week or so ago I was down in Devon on a week’s writing retreat when I decided to do an impromptu interview with Sharon Jennings.

Sharon is a lecturer in Social Work at Goldsmith University and our conversation covered some excellent ground around the value and benefits of reflective practice across a range of professions not just coaching or therapy.

We found we had a lot in common although working in different professions (me in coaching and supervision and Sharon in social work and health care) there was such an overlap between the benefits engaging in reflective practice offered our work and our practice. This was also extended to the benefits managers and leaders would gain from across industries and professions.

We talked about:

• Why reflective practice makes a difference to our productivity and standards in our professions?
• Tips on how to engage with making the best use of a reflective learning journal
• How to use a reflective learning journal to track progress and development
• How to harness the information contained in your reflective notes
• why looking back on what you’ve written is important

I’m a real advocate of reflective practice and I think this quote from Kim Stafford from her book, The Pen and the Bell, really captures in one the value that embedding a reflective practice brings to our work as coaches, supervisors and writers and just about every profession there is, ” a violin played everyday will keep the vibrations of the music in it’s body, even while lying still and silent. If it is not played everyday, the vibrations dissipate and the wood grows lifeless.”

If you can get past the bed in the background which I forget to fade out and the bad hair day I was having I think there is some really useful stuff here.

Let me know your thoughts.