REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Task 1. REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

It is important to reflect on your practice to see if you can identify areas where you can improve your practice. There are many different models of reflective practice. Below are a couple I have researched –
Kolb’s Learning cycle – David A. Kolb believes that reflective practice is an important part of effective learning and development. Kolb feels that without reflection we would continue to repeat our mistakes. Kolb’s Learning cycle is as follows -

Gibb’s Experiential Learning cycle (1988) – Professor Graham Gibbs has broken down the reflective process into stages. Gibb’s Learning cycle is as follows –

John’s Structured Reflection (1994) – Chris John’s model to is a process of guided reflection. The model can be adapted to a wide range of work settings, although it was originally developed in a nursing context. John’s model has 5 key areas. They are as follows – 1. Description of the experience
2. Reflection
3. Influencing factors
4. Evaluation
5. Learning

I feel that is important to reflect on your practice to identify areas of strength and see what works well. You can then continue to work this way as it is good to be effective in your work. Reflection also gives you the opportunity to identify areas that did not work too well and gives you the opportunity to reflect on your mistakes – you can then see what you would do differently to make the situation/task more effective or work better.
My own practice has been improved on reflection of best practice as I have made decisions in the past that have been controversial to the staff team but I have enforced them because it has been beneficial to the service users, home or business. For example – when I first became a manager I noticed that the rota could be improved as there were parts of the day where there were too many staff in. The sleep in shift used to start at 1pm and finish at 11pm, the morning shift finished at 4pm – this meant that between the hours of 1pm and 4pm there were as many as 6 staff on shift. There are only 8 service users that live at elm tree. I felt that this was not an effective use of staff time and it would be more beneficial for the sleep in shift to start at 3pm. This would of course mean that staff would have to work more days to accommodate the change, some staff were not happy with the outcome but I knew the service users would benefit from the change as the staff time could be utilized more effectively. On reflection, this was a positive implementation and has been best practice.
I have also reflected on failures and mistakes that I have made and have thought about how it has improved my practice. One example I can think of is employing a member of staff who came across really well in her interview. She also was successful in completing her probationary period. Once she has completed her probationary period she became really unreliable. She would consistently be late, her absence levels would be high – she would ask for carers leave on a frequent basis etc. I felt that this member of staff had become increasing difficult to manage and felt that I had made a mistake employing her. However, this staff member has since left employment.

Another mistake/failure I felt that I have was making the transition from Support Worker to Deputy Manager and Deputy Manager to Manager. I found it really difficult to transfer from a support worker on the floor to a more senior role, I had only been in the role for 3 months when I got the Deputy Manager’s post but I had already built friendships and relationships with people. It was difficult to ‘manage’ these people. I was a Deputy Manager for nearly 6 years before becoming the manager, this transition was a bit easier but I found myself doing more senior tasks such as conducting Disciplinary hearings. I found this part of the role difficult and a challenge. I have been a manager since 2008 and I have overcome these difficulties, experience has helped with this along with my friends moving on to another place of employment. On reflection, I feel that I have developed into an experienced manager and can manage these situations more effectively as I now have the confidence and ability to set aside my emotions and complete the job in hand.