Learning Masterful Practice IV: Critical Reflection & Social Interaction

“Through reflection, he (the practitioner) can surface and criticize the tacit understandings that have grown up around the repetitive experiences of a specialized practice, and can make new sense of the situations of uncertainty or uniqueness which he may allow himself to experience”

                                                                                            Donald Schön
 

Learning about ourselves and about our execution in practice requires an internal and external process. It requires both our own critical reflection  (use of reflection) and feedback from and discussion with others on what we do, how it works against some standard or vision of what’s desired, learning from mistakes and re-calibrating our principles and frames to incorporate new learning (use of social interaction).

Reflection is a key to learning. Unexamined action can just be reaction without consciousness and intention and lead to habit and routine without confirming effectiveness or clarifying impact. Reflection that incorporates critical thinking and challenges what we think we know allows us to open learning space. 

Critical reflection engages double-loop learning ((Argyris, C. and Schön, D. (1978). Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Reading, MA.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company)) in which not only actions and outcomes are considered, but also the underlying assumptions, organizing schema and operating values are questioned to explore new alternatives (learning). It involves challenging theories-in-use ((Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books)) to better understand what, how and why; and expand one’s repertoire of and accessibility to knowledge and actions.

One’s openness to useful feedback and critical reflection provides the platform for learning from the observations, feedback and motivation offered by more experienced mentors (which provide added incentive and idealized visions of what’s possible) and colleagues in social networks. Social interaction thus plays an important role in the learning (whether in a paired mentor relationship or small group). The social interaction process helps, (1) as the vehicle for feedback and sharing alternative meaning systems, (2) because discourse and language provide the platform in which we crystallize “what we know” (or now believe we know) and (3) because influence is a social dynamic. The great Donald Schön popularized the idea that learning was inherently active, social and connected to the situation and that knowledge is created through reflection-in-action ((Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books)). Raelin further develops many of these ideas in his discussion of work-based learning ((Raelin, J. A. (2008). Work-Based Learning: Bridging Knowledge and Action in the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, Inc)).
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Social interaction provides dialogue and exchange of language conveys different meanings and deepens understanding. In this way, learning becomes internalized and available for future use.  Through this process, we resolve tension between theory and practice and create a more personalized, workable fit. Over time, this process results in what I like to call “practice theories”.

This concludes, for now, my exploration into learning masterful practice. There is so much more to dig into and try out in making this more commonplace in education and training for professional helping roles in human systems.

[tags]Dave Jamieson, masterful practice, self-awareness, learning, critical reflection, social interaction, practice theories, double-loop learning, work-based learning, Don Schon, Joe Raelin, Chris Argyris, envisia learning[/tags]

David Jamieson

Dr. Jamieson is President of the Jamieson Consulting Group, Inc., an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Science in Organization Development Programs at Pepperdine University and American University/NTL and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Benedictine’s Ph. D. in OD Program. He has over 38 years of experience consulting to organizations on leadership, change, strategy, design and human resource issues. He is a Past National President of the American Society for Training and Development (1984) and Past Chair of the Management Consultation Division and Practice Theme Committee of the Academy of Management. Dave is co-author of Managing Workforce 2000: Gaining the Diversity Advantage (Jossey-Bass, 1991) and co-author of The Facilitator’s Fieldbook, 2nd Edition (AMACOM, 2006). He serves as Editor of Practicing OD, an OD Netwok on-line journal; Editor, Reflections on Experience Section of the Journal of Management Inquiry and on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Organization Change Management and The Organization Development Practitioner. Contact information: david.jamieson@pepperdine.edu; 2355 Westwood Blvd., Ste 420, LA, CA. 90064; (310)-397-8502.