Understanding Yourself and Increasing Your Professional Value through Self-Reflection

By Crystal Holyn Holdefer

Have you ever put together a large jigsaw puzzle with a lot of pieces? At least one puzzle piece is always difficult to place. It isn’t a corner puzzle piece, but one of the middle puzzle pieces that looks too similar to the other puzzle pieces to stand out.

Employers see technical and professional communicators as that confusing middle puzzle piece because they don’t know where we fit in their companies. We need a way to make our placement clear to our employers, and one of the ways we can do this is by showing them what our professional value (or worth) is to the company; however we don’t always know exactly what our professional value is or how to explain that professional value to other people. In this article, I focus on using self-reflection as a tool to help you understand yourself and as a tool to increase your professional value.

Self-Reflection

If you have ever tried to understand yourself better by stepping back from an experience and deeply considering why you were feeling a certain way or why you did something, then you were using self-reflection. Self-reflection in its simplest form is asking yourself thought-provoking questions so that you can develop a deeper level of understanding about yourself. We may engage in self-reflection when we are unsure about something, when we feel like we could have done something differently, or when we want to remind ourselves what we are doing well or what we have accomplished.

What Type of Self-Reflection Should You Use?

While self-reflection has been used by managers through group sessions (Rigg & Trehan) and by nursing students through structured questions (O’Callaghan) and written assignments (Honey, Waterworth, Baker, & Lenzie-Smith), self-reflection has also been used by pharmacy students through journals (Bouldin, Holmes, & Fortenberry). Alicia S. Bouldin, Erin R. Holmes, and Michael L. Fortenberry—two female research assistant professors and a male telecommunications analyst—had the students in their communication course use self-reflective journals (which included feedback) because they recognized that it had “potential in developing skills in communication, critical thinking, self-learning, self- and social awareness, empathy, and sensitivity to cultural differences” (p. 2). We, as technical communicators, should use self-reflective journals in work practice, but without feedback. Without feedback, self-reflective journals become more isolated for technical and professional communicators, but this isolation is more appropriate for our work practice because it allows us to use self-reflective journals in our own time and it keeps our writing private.

Using Self-Reflective Journals in Work Practice

To create a self-reflective journal, you usually choose a notebook to write your self-reflections in. However, if you prefer typing, you can also create a self-reflective journal by typing out your self-reflections in electronic documents. Once you’ve chosen whether to use a paper notebook or an electronic document, you can then choose any of three situations to reflect on. These three situations are:

• Positive Work Situations (Situations where you reflect on a positive experience that you’ve had at work, such a task you did well. These reflections help you create more positive experiences.)
• Negative Work Situations (Situations where you reflect on a negative experience that you’ve had at work, such as a mistake that you feel you made or a time when you wish you’d done things differently. These reflections help you create strategies to do better.)
• Work-Related Tasks (Situations where you reflect on a task that you performed recently at work—such as typing up a report, meeting with a client, or giving a presentation—in order to find out how and why you’re better at doing the task. These reflections help you feel more positive about yourself.)

While all three of these types of self-reflection involve asking and answering certain kinds of questions, the questions vary for each type. To explain how to reflect for each type of situation in more detail, I will use the next three sections to talk about each one in turn.

Self-Reflection on a Positive Work Situation

Start the journaling process by thinking about one situation at work where you really succeeded. Next, figure out what factors (or reasons) led to your success by asking and answering questions about the situation. These questions can be found in Table 1.

Table 1. Self-Reflective Questions for a Positive Work Situation

After you’ve found out what factors contributed to your success, analyze why you think these factors were present. For instance, if you found out that being more prepared contributed to your success, you would then think about what factor caused you to be more prepared. This thinking may then lead you to discover that you were more prepared because you came into work with a game plan on what needed to be done that day.

Once you’ve taken some time to understand why these factors were present, you then apply what you’ve learned to figure what your next active step will be. When you are trying to figure out what your next active step will be, focus on how you can repeat your success. Using the example from before, you may figure out that coming up with a game plan was the key factor to your success, and so your next active step could be to make this type of preparation into a habit.

Self-Reflection on a Negative Work Situation

Start by thinking about one situation at work where you made a mistake. Next figure out what factors led to your mistake by asking and answering questions about the situation. These questions can be found in Table 2.

Table 2. Self-Reflective Questions for a Negative Work Situation

After you’ve found out what factors contributed to your mistake, analyze why you think these factors were present. For instance, if your mistake was misunderstanding written directions because those directions were new to you, you would then ask yourself if this problem had ever occurred before. Mistakes will happen on the job no matter how much you prepare yourself for them, but self-reflecting on a negative work situation helps you recognize when you are making the same mistakes and when you need to make a change so that you won’t be seen by others as incompetent.

Using the example from before, one of the changes that you may make is to try rereading the directions more carefully or to try asking the person that knows (and probably wrote the directions) to clarify when you’re having trouble understanding.

Self-Reflection on a Work-Related Task

Start by thinking about one recent task that you did and then focus on your professional learning (how you’ve changed or improved) by asking and answering questions. These self-reflective questions are in Table 3.

Table 3. Self-Reflective Questions for Professional Learning

While the other types of self-reflection were focused on figuring out what your next action step would be, professional learning self-reflection can make you feel better about yourself while also making you more open to others. You may remember a positive comment from your employee and feel more confident in your skills, or you may decide to listen to some constructive advice from a coworker. Not everything that coworkers advise us on may be based on good intentions, but sometimes listening to advice from people who are more experienced can be a benefit.

For example, I’ve always had difficulty leaving work when it’s time to go home, and in the last week my coworker commented that staying late too many times would take away from my own time. I followed his advice and decided to try to leave when work was over, and I’ve actually had more time to get other things done. Listening to the advice of others gives us something to work on and may lead to us doing our work better than before.

Why Self-Reflection Is Effective

If self-reflective journals sounds like additional “busy work” to you (Bouldin, Holmes, & Fortenberry, p. 1), then consider this suggestion from Lynn W. Zimmerman. Zimmerman, an associate professor of education, suggests that the aim of self-reflective practice is “transformation” (p. 46). Through self-reflection we can change how we see ourselves and how other people see us.

Changing How We See Ourselves

The article, “Reflection and Learning: Characteristics, Obstacles, and Implications” published in Educational Philosophy and Theory, an education philosophy, theory, and research journal, presents that the “primary process by which humans experience emancipation [(freedom from inhibition and convention)] is self-reflection” (Denton, p. 848). This emancipation is caused by:

• Your improved self-confidence
• Your stronger sense of control
• Your increased passion for your work

Your self-confidence increases because you discover what your accomplishments are, what your skills are, and how your skills and knowledge have improved. You feel a stronger sense of control because you create “coping strategies” (Honey, Waterworth, Baker, & Lenzie-Smith, p. 452), or ways to handle difficult situations. You feel more passion for your work because you change from being a passive worker to being a self- motivated worker that sets goals.

Changing How Others See Us

The article, “Using the Power of Student Reflection to Enhance Professional Development” published in The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, a peer-reviewed, open-access, and allied health and education journal, paraphrases that in “the profession workplace… employers value skills and qualities” (Zimmerman, Hanson, Stube, Jedlicka, & LaVonne, p. 1). Our employers want us to succeed in their company, but they also want us to be valuable employees. Self-reflection increases our professional value because it helps us:

• Explain what we do, what we’ve accomplished, and how we contribute to the company’s growth
• Make fewer mistakes or show that we are putting in the work to improve
• Learn skills in problem-solving, analyzing, and critical thinking so that we are valuable assets for company projects

The positive change in how you see yourself, a gained sense of control, and recognition by others can also make you feel more comfortable in your workplace, which can encourage you to take on more difficult tasks in order to learn from them.

Conclusion

Self-reflection in work practice is not without its limitations. At first, you may struggle using self-reflection because it requires a deeper level of thinking and because you may not have any previous experience with self-reflection. With this struggle in mind, I included the guided questions so that you can begin to understand what types of questions lead to deeper understanding and action. Getting used to self-reflective journaling may take some time, but the more you use this approach, the easier it will eventually become. Changing how our employers see us through the use of self-reflective journals may be just the tool for our employers to finally understand where we fit into their company puzzle.

References

Bouldin, A. S., E. R. Holmes, & M. L. Fortenberry. “Blogging” about course concepts: Using technology for reflective journals in a communications class. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 70.4 (2006): 1–8. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1636988/pdf/ajpe84.pdf.

Denton, D. Reflection and learning: Characteristics, obstacles, and implications. Educational Philosophy and Theory 43.8 (2011): 838–852. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00600.x/pdf.

Honey, M., S. Waterworth, H. Baker, & K. Lenzie-Smith. Reflection in the disability education of undergraduate nurses: An effective learning tool? Journal of Nursing Education 45.11 (2006): 449–453. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203962575/fulltextPDF?accountid=10639.

O’Callaghan, N. The use of expert practice to explore reflection. Nursing Standard 19.39 (2005): 41–47. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219834547/fulltextPDF?accountid=10639.

Rigg, C., & K. Trehan. Critical reflection in the workplace: Is it just too difficult? Journal of European Industrial Training 32.5 (2008): 374–384. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090590810877094.

Zimmerman, L. W. Reflective teaching practice: Engaging in praxis. Journal of Theory Construction & Testing 13.2 (2009): 46–50. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/docview/89201938/fulltextPDF?accountid=10639.

Zimmerman, S. S., D. J. Hanson, J. E. Stube, J. S. Jedlicka, & F. LaVonne. Using the power of student reflection to enhance professional development. Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice 5.2 (2007): 1–7. Retrieved from http://ijahsp.nova.edu/articles/vol5num2/zimmerman_manuscript.pdf.

Crystal Holyn Holdefer is a graduate of East Carolina University (with an MA in technical and professional communication) and is a writing consultant at ECU’s University Writing Center (UWC). She recently wrote an article, “Using Communication Qualities in Your Tutoring Sessions: How to Become a Better Speaker and Listener,” which was published in the UWC’s tutor manual. This paper has been read by new writing consultants and has helped them become better writing consultants during their sessions. You can email Crystal at holdeferc08@students.ecu.edu or at holdefer18@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @CrystalHoldefer.