What is Productive Reflection?
Productive Reflection is the process of understanding an experience, drawing lessons from it and creating a plan of action. Productive reflection is “something that leads to, rather than concludes, action."
It has been identified as a learning technique, which is key to the improvement of production. To be able to effectively put productive reflection into practice it is important to acknowledge the huge learning potential that work brings and the need to integrate learning activities into day-to-day workplace activities. While reflection is often part of, informal, experiential learning, it is also necessary to put formal processes into place in order to effectively implement productive reflection.
Productive reflection provides the opportunity for bringing out the creativity in employees, improving production and also promoting a new sense of engagement in employees.
As Broud, Cressey & Docherty state that if done correctly, productive reflection “brings changes in work practice to enhance productivity together with changes to enhance personal engagement and meaning in work.”
In most cases, organizations are already implementing productive reflection processes in the way of performance management and performance appraisal processes, whereby employees reflect on their performance over the previous year or particular timeframe and make goals and plans for action to improve performance and productivity in the future.
It has been identified as a learning technique, which is key to the improvement of production. To be able to effectively put productive reflection into practice it is important to acknowledge the huge learning potential that work brings and the need to integrate learning activities into day-to-day workplace activities. While reflection is often part of, informal, experiential learning, it is also necessary to put formal processes into place in order to effectively implement productive reflection.
Productive reflection provides the opportunity for bringing out the creativity in employees, improving production and also promoting a new sense of engagement in employees.
As Broud, Cressey & Docherty state that if done correctly, productive reflection “brings changes in work practice to enhance productivity together with changes to enhance personal engagement and meaning in work.”
In most cases, organizations are already implementing productive reflection processes in the way of performance management and performance appraisal processes, whereby employees reflect on their performance over the previous year or particular timeframe and make goals and plans for action to improve performance and productivity in the future.
Key Characteristics of Productive Reflection
- Productive reflection is “something that leads to, rather than concludes, action."
- Reflection can be both at an individual level and an organisational level. For productive reflection to be effective it is important to incorporate both.
- Productive reflection must be specifically contextualised to the workplace and the work activities that you are doing to make it meaningful.
- Productive reflection impacts on multiple stakeholders and acts to connect those involved rather than isolate them. Each person involved needs to consider the perspectives of others for progress to occur.
- It has a focus on being generative rather than instrumental, in the way that it cannot occur, or be controlled, in order to lead to pre-determined outcomes.
- It is developmental by nature in the way that it builds agency among employees, better preparing them to handle challenges, as well as addressing organisational problems.
- Productive reflection is open, unpredictable and changes over time. The outcome cannot be predicted nor pre-determined.
So where has this technique come from? |
For more information on the history of this learning technique please click the link to the right.
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