Learning from new situations and challenges
Continuous learning and development should always be a transformative process. It could come from seemingly simple or ‘ordinary’ experiences.
You should expect to change the way you understand yourself and how you interact with others as a result of your learning experiences. This transformation often happens when you have experienced something for the first time. This is where you build on existing skills or attributes or develop new ones.
Do identify something that has happened to you or when you were involved in a learning opportunity. Then pinpoint that new experience or challenge that you faced.
If you felt like you were pushed even slightly out of your comfort zone, or you weren’t sure how to handle a situation, then that experience is likely to be a chance for learning and reflection.
If you were motivated to take action of some kind, then it was definitely a learning opportunity for you.
Once you have identified new experiences or challenges from different learning opportunities, the next step is to reflect on the ways you have approached these new experiences or dealt with any difficulties that you faced.
The point of reflection is to critically analyse what happened as a form of self-improvement. Use it to help you decide how you might do things in the future.
Hopefully, it will be different and better because you have had some form of reflection and development from the learning experience.
In the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey, “We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.”
Here’s the key message – It’s not what you do that matters, it’s what you learn from it!
Therefore, experience alone is not enough.
You need to know what you have actually learned from the situation or experience. To do this, you need to take time to reflect on it. When we do not stop and reflect, we are letting the learning experience pass us by.
The main purpose of self-reflection is to consider your reactions and responses to situations. Consider how you could use them to determine or guide your future actions (and reactions) so as to affect positive outcomes or achieve a set of goals.
Self-reflection is the “capacity to analyse every event/situation in which you have been involved, evaluate how you acted in it, then decide what you have learned about yourself that you can take forward to be more effective in the future (and this may involve having to develop new technical or ‘person’ skills, or new ways of analyzing situations)” (McCulloch & Reid 2015, p. 186).
Use the SEAL method of self-reflection:
S – Situation
What was the new experience or challenge that you faced? What happened to you?
For example, you were in a meeting and one of your colleagues was rude to you. He cuts you off every time you offer an opinion.
The step helps us clarify the situations we are involved in.
E – Effect
What impact did it have on you? How did you feel about it? What were the consequences of this impact?
For example, you feel really disrespected. You withdraw from the meeting. You don’t say anything further even though you have some great ideas to share.
This step helps us determine why the situation had an impact on you, positively or negatively.
A – Action
What action did you take to deal with the new situation? What were the challenges? Why did you do this? What was the outcome?
For example, in order to deal with this situation, the next time it happens you respectfully ask the person if you can finish what you were saying. Although it made for an awkward moment in the meeting at a particular time, they did apologise and let you finish.
This step helps us identify what actions you took to deal with the challenge you faced. It helps you understand why you did those things to achieve the intended outcome.
L – Learning
What did you learn from the experience? How will you apply this learning in the future to other situations? How can you improve yourself in the future?
For example, what you have learned from this situation is being respectfully assertive. Even if it took you out of your comfort zone, you were able to address the inappropriate behaviour that was affecting you. You have gained the confidence to use this technique again in future situations.
This step helps us realise what you learned from your experience.
The SEAL method will allow you to break down the situation and consider why it was challenging for you personally. It helps you understand what you did to handle the challenge. It gives you a framework for understanding what you have learned.
Basically, the point of self-reflection is for personal improvement. It’s to identify the action that you did well so that you can behave in a similar way in the future.
Being effective in the workplace comes largely from developing personal qualities and attributes that guide our attitudes and behaviours at work. These things are not easily learned from a textbook or in classrooms. They are best developed through experiences, out in the real world.
Always remember that learning can come from seemingly simple or ordinary experiences if we choose to stop and learn from it.
Identify the transformation that has taken place
Consider the transformation that has taken place as part of your experiences and self-reflection.
Determine what you are able to do now (or just more effectively perhaps) as a result of your experiences.
This is about self-efficacy. It’s about truly understanding yourself. It’s about the way you approach situations and make decisions.
Identifying your skills and attributes
The next step is to consider the learning from your experiences in terms of specific skills or attributes that you may have developed as a result of your experiences and self-reflection.
It’s about taking what you have learned from your experiences to identify particular skills and attributes that you have developed or enhanced.
This will help you realise your employability and consider the kind of contribution you can make to an organisation.
To get you started on the identification of skills and attributes from your reflections, revisit your employer expectations or your job description.
You could also look at job advertisements for roles that you might like to apply for to get an idea as to what is really expected of you.
While some skills and attributes may be ‘obvious’ to you, others will not be.