Reflecting on practice… ever poured muesli?

Ever poured muesli into a bowl and realised the good stuff has settled and now lies the bottom of the container?

Did you ever see a kid with his/her arm in a cereal box searching for the toy that has inevitably found its way to the bottom of the packet? (this might have been a while ago as they don’t put the toys in there any more)

It has been said that our thinking can sometimes get a bit ‘settled’ too. We can come to work and go home again at the end of a long day without thinking a lot about why we do what we do or even how it happens. Values and assumptions  left unexamined or rarely visited can become hidden and not as helpful in our decision making. A great occupation unsupported by clear values and strength based assumptions can become more like ‘work’ and probably more stressful.

So I would like to ask you to think about ‘what do you do to ‘shake up the box’?’ How do you reflect upon practice?

Here are some questions you could think about.

• Do I examine significant incidents with my supervisor?
• Do I bring significant incidents up at Peer or Group supervision?
• Do my team meetings allow time for questioning ‘why I did that?’ or ‘how my assumptions affected my meeting with that family or individual?’
• Did I think I could predict what would happen?
• Were my assumptions strength based?
• Can  I share my thinking about what is important to practice with my team?
• Is ‘debriefing’ mostly about what happened or does it include why something happened?

Cheers (and enjoy your breakfast tomorrow morning)

Andrew Shirres

Practice Development Coach,  St Luke’s Innovative Resources

Other articles by Andrew

Celebrating grey areas, building ethical decision making