Methods of using feedback from others and own reflective practice to increase self-awareness

For this assessment criterion, you will be required to critically evaluate the benefits of self-reflection to increase your own self-awareness.

Reflective practice is a useful tool for analysing our own attitudes and behaviours and can help us to identify areas of our work that are performed well and those that could be improved, as part of a continuous cycle of self-improvement. However, it is also beneficial to consider the perspectives of others as they may have insights into our performance and behaviours that we are unable to see ourselves.

360-degree feedback is a method for obtaining the perspectives of everyone that we come into contact with as part of our work. This can include colleagues, service users, service users’ families and other professionals and agencies. You may also gather feedback from management performance reviews and the appraisal process. By reflecting on all the information collected through feedback, you will have a much larger pool of resources from which to evaluate your performance.

As we discussed in the previous section, a healthy diet and exercise programme can help to manage work-related stress. As a manager, you will be a role model to your team members and you may wish to reflect on whether your actions and behaviours promote a healthy lifestyle.

Reflecting on how you manage your time can help you to put strategies in place for more efficient time management. For example, do you use written or computerised systems to maintain and prioritise your task list and calendar? How often do you review and reprioritise them? Maybe you wish to learn about different systems for managing your workload and commit to researching different methods? You should reflect on whether or not you schedule regular work breaks to ensure that you have downtime to maintain a good work-life balance and wellbeing.

Coaching and mentoring can support the personal and professional growth and development of yourself and others. You may reflect on the viability of initiating a coaching/mentoring programme within your organisation or identify potential coaches/mentors for yourself and reach out to them.

Alternative and complementary therapies, such as meditation, yoga and reflexology as well as other support mechanisms, such as counselling provided by mental health charities may help you to become more self-aware and contribute to your wellbeing.

You may also reflect on your ability to say ‘no’ to work demands. Are you able to be assertive and decline tasks that you are given, explaining the reasons that you are unable to accept or do you say ‘yes’ to everything because you do not want to let anyone down? Effective managers are those that are able to quickly assess the viability of a task and the resources that will be required to achieve it so that an informed decision can be made about whether it should be accepted. They are also not afraid to decline tasks and are able to justify their refusal.