Utilising Gibbs Reflective Cycle

This assignment aims to give a concise, easy to read reflective log. Within this assignment, I will firstly touch base on teamwork - what makes a successful team, impact of ‘status and power’ in a team and any barrier that may hinder the effectiveness of the team. I will also speak on the importance of interprofessional and collaborative practice in healthcare, the need for effective communication in any team and what could happen if there was a breakdown, then to finalise I will utilise Gibbs’ reflective cycle in my reflection.
Reflection is an active, purposeful act intended to challenge students. It is a process by which students learn from their experiences while attaining a better understanding and knowledge of their practice (Burns,
Teamworking is when two or more people interact interpedently with a common focus whilst working towards a SMART (specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based) goal (Sargeant, 2008). Effective teamwork needs competence, excellent communication and or good social skills. There are various skills that come together to form a successful team, some these are; trust – being able to trust other team members to do the work given to them, coaching- all members able to coach each other in a non-condescending way, respect - no discrimination; everyone is given an equal opportunity to share their thoughts, all views taken into consideration, everyone has an input (work should not fall on one person) finally, flexibility – all members should be able to attend any scheduled meetings/discussions. There also needs to be continuous communication and frequent reflection on both the groups and process (Burns,
Kolb (1984) (see figure 1.1) which was centred on internal cognitive processes. The experimental cycle proposes a system of adult learners to learn through their experiences as well as through discovery. In this respect, there is evidently a substantial difference between Kolb’s model and others as it combines understanding individual learning styles which he called ‘Learning Styles Inventory’ (LSI), and the explanation of the cycle of experiential learning which applies to all the learners.
Whilst, Kolb’s learning cycle made a positive impact and was widely influential, there were individuals who did not approve with his idea. Critics such as Mark Tennet and Peter Jarvis both disagreed with Kolb’s statement that “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (citied in Kolb’s Experiential Learning book (1984), p.41).
Jarvis (1987) argued that Kolb’s cycle focused more on the individuals’ mind rather than an opportunity to reflect and learn. Likewise, Tennet (1997) stated that, Kolb’s learning style had no capacity and was not applicable to all situations (Smith,