Reflecting on the Process – A Global Case Study in Virtual Teaming

Reflection has been on my mind this week. Where have we been? Where are we going? What have we learned along the way? I’ve always known that reflection was an important practice; however, I learned the power of reflection while writing my graduate school thesis. Our research books recommended writing weekly memos about our progress. I found that reflecting on my work, even in 2-3 sentences, opened up my mind to hidden thoughts and unspoken biases. I was shocked.

Today I am focusing on a reflection practice within the workplace. This is the fifth post in a series about virtual teaming. If you are just joining the series, I encourage you to read the first post in this series to understand the context and contributors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a collaboration between the Pepperdine MSOD program and the University of Pretoria Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) was built to complete a cross-cultural, virtual consulting engagement. Other posts in this series have discussed building change fluency, designing for virtual spaces, and rapidly creating trust within teams.

What is reflection? Ah, glad you asked. I use the definition from my thesis work – “writing is thinking on paper” (Creswell, 2013). So, what are you supposed to think about in reflection? Well, that depends on your purpose. For this post, I am providing information about reflection for personal insights and professional learnings. Reflection is looking back and looking inward. Below is a “how to” for creating your reflection practice as an individual and team.

1.       Schedule your reflection time. If you are like me, then nothing happens unless it’s in your calendar. My brain doesn’t have the capacity to keep up with my life. Therefore, if I schedule 15 minutes in my calendar each Monday morning to reflect, then it happens. No questions asked. For our virtual intensive, we scheduled intentional times to reflect individually and together. Reflecting and writing something, even if it’s a sentence, is better than nothing.

2.       Use a variety of tools. Writing isn’t the only way to reflect on an experience. Surveys can numerically measure people’s engagement and perspectives on a project (think: a Likert scale). Small group discussions can provide space for deeper dialogue on specific topics (think: breakout rooms). You can even tap into your creative side and draw images that represent the experience (think: coloring pencils or Jamboard). No one tool rules them all.

3.       Be curious. A key behavior of dominant culture is either/or thinking. This behavior can manifest as “my way is the best way to complete this project.” Let’s be real – all of our inner voices have said this at some point. An important element of reflection is being open to new possibilities from our teammates. In a Harvard Business Review article, author Jennifer Porter offers this advice, “Reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning.”  

4.       Keep a record. Cocktail napkins are my favorite creative writing space. For some reason, I can brain dump a million ideas on one during a flight or while waiting for friends. I typically take a picture of my napkin notes for future reference. My colleague Dr. Patton McDowell uses voice memos so he can safely think and drive at the same time. Another friend keeps a notebook beside their bed to write down ideas before going to sleep. Keeping a record allows us to go back to reflections time and time again for new insights.

5.       Ask different kinds of questions. Different people need different things. If you are used to self-reflection, then asking yourself about your learnings this week may be enough. However, diverse thought structures can offer new ways of thinking about a situation. Our student steering committee team measured reflections about virtual engagement before, during, and after our virtual intensive. If you need ideas, here are some starters:

a.       A journalist’s eye: Who? What? When? When? How? Why?

b.       Design thinking methods: The Five Whys or Liberating Structures

c.       Timed reflections: before, during, and after a meeting or project

d.       Appreciative inquiry: think of your best experience in this area (Ex. Virtual teaming)

e.       Ladder of Inference: What data do we have? What personal and cultural meanings do we use with the data? What assumptions are we bringing into this project?

f.        Curious observer: What did I observe in my interactions this week? What gave our team energy today? What would I do again next week?

g.       The Feelings Wheel: What surprised you? What made you angry? What gave you joy?

6.       Reflect with other people. Self-reflection is a powerful practice, and group reflection brings a new level of self-awareness. One person is not able to see everything, so a team debrief is valuable. We had 6 different project teams in our virtual consulting engagements, and our faculty divided the reflections into four parts (offered below). The result was a much richer personal reflection and group learning.

a.       Five groups with a representative from each client project team met to explore the diversity of project types, methods, and learnings.

b.       Each client project team met to develop a point-of-view (POV) and summary conclusion on the contributions and constraints to effective virtual consulting.

c.       Each student learning group (a self-selected group) met to discuss the strategic, organizational, interpersonal, and individual contributions to project effectiveness.

d.       The steering committee (faculty and students) met to examine our own team dynamics within these same topics.  

7.       Practice continually. You may have already gathered that reflection doesn’t have to be a one-time experience. The richer the reflection, the deeper the well of insight. You can keep going back to that well of reflection and draw new insights as time goes on. This blog series is an example of that. A year later, it’s been fun to go back and see what our student steering committee team did together. Honestly, I needed a year to pass before I could return to our well of learning. I was burned out after our virtual intensive.

As I think about these insights on reflection, I am reminded of the incredible diversity of our student steering committee. In fact, when I asked what words would describe our team relationship, not a single one came back with the same response. This is our collective reflection on our experience together. “Possibilities. Experience. Agility. Learning. Emerging. Engaged. Purposeful. Curious people who cared. Collaboration. Commitment. Partnership. Compassion. High Performing. Badassery.” May badassery follow you into every virtual experience.

Maxwell, J. (2013). Qualitative Research Design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Pages 19-20.