NEW MANAGER
The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader
TEXTBOOK
REFLECTION
by Markus Amanto
This textbook is part of the online course “New Manager: The Basics and More of Being a Great Leader” by
Markus Amanto.
All rights reserved. © 2016-2020 Markus Amanto - [Link]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
How to Use Reflection for Growth 3
The Well of Reflection: Getting to the Core of Learning 4
The Reflection Spiral: A Four Step Process 6
About the Author 8
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HOW TO USE REFLECTION FOR
GROWTH
When it comes to reflection, I had a poster on the wall. Well I didn’t have it, but the gym where I used to work
out, they had a poster on the wall. There was this picture of a donkey walking around a well. A well where
there was a bucket pulling up water from the well. The donkey had a harness on that was connected to a
wooden beam sticking out from the well.
When the donkey walked around it pulled the
bucket up out of the well. On the picture you
could see a track, like a path well worn down,
around the well where the donkey had been
walking, round and round.
At the bottom of the poster it said: “If you keep
doing things the way you have always done
them, you will get the same results as you have
always gotten.”
Surprisingly many workplaces that I’ve worked
in, or where I have come in as a trainer or con-
sultant, end up like this donkey. They keep doing
things over and over the same way.
They don’t prioritize time for reflection, because
it’s easy to forget in the rush of things and with
deadlines. They miss out on the opportunity to look back at past events and see how they can do things
differently in the future. Which in turn can be a huge time and energy saver.
Scientists have found that as adults, your brain tends to learn by laying a puzzle of sorts in your sleep. You
take the events of the past day, or past week, and lay that puzzle. You relate it to your previous experiences
and that’s how you learn. Sometimes there’s great value in having a separate reflection meeting at the end
of, for example, a project. Maybe a day or a couple of days later, so people have had time to digest the
experiences of it.
Make sure to take charge of time. Don’t become the victim of time. Take charge of time and schedule time
for reflection. It can be an extra five or 10 minutes at the end of each meeting. Or a separate meeting at
the end of the project. Just to reflect on what went well? What didn’t go that well in the project or meeting?
What can you learn from that? And how can we use that in the future to allow you to become better, more 3
productive, more effective? Save time and energy by not making the same mistakes over and over again.
THE WELL OF REFLECTION:
GETTING TO THE CORE OF
LEARNING
When we reflect, it’s a deep and evolving way of looking at
past experiences to draw learnings and applications for the
future so we can grow, become more and do more. There are
some layers on the way down to effective reflection. The Well
of Reflection can help you understand these layers and avoid
getting stuck on the shallower levels, so you can get to those
goodies that are truly hidden in reflection.
REPEAT
The first layer, the most shallow layer, in the Well of Reflection
is if you get stuck right up by the surface. That means that
you repeat. You look back at a past event, a meeting, a project,
whatever it is that you want to look back upon and learn from.
Repeating means that you say, “this is what happened and
then this happened and then someone said that and then…”.
It’s a total repetition of what happened. I have found that
repeating does not lead to many new lessons learned if you
only stay at that level.
REFER
The next level down is when you refer. Repeating was
recounting exactly everything that happened, you repeat everything. Referring on the other hand is like a
sports referral. Think of a game. Think of the people who are the commentators of the game. When they do
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a referral from the game, they pick out some pieces that they want to tell you about. Especially if you listen
to something on the radio. They don’t tell you everything, every little single thing that happens. They pick out
what they think is important, or what they think you might find important, and then they speak about that.
Referring means that you pick up some pieces and share those, the happenings that you find most import-
ant. I have found that this can lead to some lessons learned, because you learn something about what peo-
ple picked up and what they find important. But it’s not where the truly great lessons, the good lessons for
the future are found. They don’t lie in the refer layer either.
REVIEW
The next layer down is something you commonly find when you, for example, want to see a movie or a play.
It’s called review. Instead of just repeating what happened or referring, picking up the pieces, you review
something. You talk about the events and then you add our own opinion about whether they were good or
bad, suitable or not. You add your own opinion in there. I have found that this can lead to some more lessons
learned. This is because you learn more about yourselves perhaps, what you like and don’t like. What others
appreciate and don’t appreciate. But again, it’s not where the most effective learning environment happens.
For that, we need to move one more layer down.
REFLECT
There, at the bottom of the Well of Reflection,
that’s where you find reflection. Reflection, which
is looking back at past events, clarifying what
happened and then also looking at what you
experienced.
Taking the time to use quality questions such as:
• What did we learn from this?
• How can we use that in the future, when and
where?
That’s when you get down to the water, the
life-giving, productive, effective water at the bot-
tom of the well. When you manage to get those four layers down that’s where you create a brighter and better
future for yourself and your team.
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THE REFLECTION SPIRAL: A FOUR
STEP PROCESS
When you wish to use reflection for your help and benefit, there are some simple steps to follow that will help
you get the most out of it. One illustration of effective reflection is to use the Reflection Spiral.
STEP ONE
It starts firstly with step number one,
an event, or experience. Something
that happens. Something that you want
to reflect upon. It could be a project, a
meeting, a game. Whatever it is that you
experienced, you want to take some time
in your team or on your own to reflect on
it.
STEP TWO
The second step then is to establish
what happened during the experience.
This might seem simplistic, but in a team
you can have very different opinions,
views or definitions of what actually hap-
pened. You might have experienced it different ways. Establish a common ground or at least get the different
views out there of what actually happened during the experience.
STEP THREE
Step number three is to ask yourself:
• What did I/we experience?
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• What did we think or feel during what happened?
• What were your inner experiences, in the form of thoughts or feelings, during the event?
Get those out there so you have both established what happened and what the people involved experienced
inside themselves when it happened.
STEP FOUR
In step four you look at your answers in the pre-
vious two steps and see what you can learn from
those. Ask yourselves:
• What can we learn from the event based on
what we say happened and what we felt or
thought related to the event?
• What are the lessons that we could learn
from that?
Take some time to look at lessons learned.
STEP FIVE
In step five you look at your lessons learned and ask yourselves:
• When and how can we apply what we learned?
• When and how can we use what we learned?
Then as you move to step number six you can apply those things in that step.
STEP SIX
In step number six, you have a new event, a new experience. Then you move to step number seven, which is
then looking at that event, seeing what happened. And so on with the next steps. When you get to the step of
looking at lessons learned, include how well you applied what you learned from the previous event.
Include questions such as:
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• Did we use what we learned in the previous experience?
• We said we would apply that in the future; did we do that?
• If yes, did it work as we hoped and if so, how can we make sure we do it again in the future?
• If we didn’t apply it, what stopped us? What can we change in the future so we actually do apply it?
MAKE IT A HABIT
Then you keep spiraling like this. You keep improving, you keep getting better, you keep getting more efficient,
you keep working better together by using these steps. Make it a habit to use the power of reflection and use
the steps in the Reflection Spiral to become and do the best you can.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Markus Amanto is a well renowned author, speaker and trainer from Sweden.
He has worked with improving leaders, teams and organizations in Asia, Europe
and North America for over 25 years.
His books include “The Leadership School - Who’s Really in the Driver’s Seat” and
“The Basics of Group Dynamics” (currently available in Swedish only).
He has held multiple positions as a manager. When he worked as a sales represen-
tative he built a sales team of over 400 people spanning the Nordic countries.
He started his own consulting business in 1998 and has worked as a certified
trainer for UGL-trainings for several years. He is also a certified user of TotalSDI®
(Strength Deployment Inventory). He is also trained in emotional debriefing, psychosynthesis and has also
participated in Anthony Robbins Mastery University.
Clients have included The University of Stockholm, Nasdaq, Kongsberg Automotive, Pitney Bowes, Tetra
Pak, AstraZeneca, KPMG, ALMI and International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR).
Markus is fluent in Swedish, English, Finnish and Spanish. He is also able to communicate well in Danish and
Norwegian. Website: [Link]
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