Self-reflection in leadership entails reviewing yourself as a leader (we all influence others) A self-review is critical for your leadership development and often it is not done or done well. It involves analysing your current level of skills, your strengths, weaknesses, behavioural patterns and how you influence others. It is also about questioning your values, goals and ambitions. This process seeks to assure your self-knowledge, alignment, authenticity, learning and skill development. Self-reflection also improves your understanding of others.

Reflection is often done as writing, possibly because this allows us to probe our reflections and develop them more thoughtfully.

Reflection attempts to move beyond simply describing events. It aims to:

be considered, thoughtful, analytical be honest even when this is difficult or uncomfortable

2. be rational and distanced (Although it often deals with feelings and emotions, try to look at them dispassionately)

3. relate experiences to wider contexts, other perspectives and theoretical frameworks.

The kinds of things that people reflect on tend to fall into three broad categories:

specific events e.g., an activity or task in class

2. longer processes e.g., a project, assignment, course or progress over a semester / year

3. critical incidents something which had a significant impact on the writer (positive or negative)