Ring-fence reflection

How would you describe your workplace? Calm and orderly, with time to think and stay focused? Busy and chaotic, with constant interruptions and reactive demands?  A bit of both? Even more importantly, which do you prefer? 

I see a new book has just been published, Quiet; the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain, that questions whether working in a constant hubbub is conducive to thinking and creativity. Cain describes herself as a person who likes to think before speaking, who prefers listening to talking, reading to socialising, and cosy chats to working in groups or teams. In a recent article in The New York Times she wrote, “Most of us now work in teams and in offices without walls. But there is a problem: research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.”

This caught my eye because for many years I have argued that gregarious busy-ness pushes time for reflection (an essential part of the learning process) clean out of most workplaces. I once conducted a survey that asked people when and with whom they did their reflecting. The answers made it clear that most people did their reflecting in the bath (the favourite place) or when travelling (commuting was the next favourite) or when out walking. Typically, it was a solitary pursuit and, when other people were involved, they tended to be partners and trusted friends, not work colleagues (not, I suppose, all that surprising, given that the bath was the favourite place!).

I have my best ideas on my early morning walks when no one else is around (at least, I don’t think they are – it’s dark at this time of year). Even when I have worked on collaborative ventures, I have always been at my most productive in the spaces between meetings when I have had a chance to ponder and “sleep on it”. And this is despite being an extrovert who very much enjoys interacting with people and finds cheerful banter positively uplifting.

So, with most of us in noisy open plan offices (Cain says that 70 per cent of Americans work without “a room of their own”), or trapped in endless meetings, or responding to hundreds of emails, how do you carve out time for thinking and reflecting? Where do you have your best ideas? In a brainstorm designed to force ideas like rhubarb, or when you are relaxing? What do you do to recharge your batteries and escape, albeit temporarily, frenetic busy-ness?

Assuming you have discovered that reflection is beneficial (not everyone has), what can you do to provide yourself with some ring-fenced reflection time? I recommend, first, making time for reflection a diary date, with a designated slot of time each day/week. Second, make it a purposeful activity by structuring the way you go about it and producing some written notes rather than just thinking. The act of writing crystallises your thinking and produces something tangible. Third, finding a colleague (or colleagues, if you want to experiment with a reflecting group) you can use as a sounding board for your reflections and vice versa. This person will, preferably, have a different learning style to your own. So, if you are an activist, pair off with a reflector, if you are a theorist, find a pragmatist and so on.

I’m tempted to add a fourth by suggesting that you campaign to get reflecting accepted as a legitimate work activity. But, sadly, I realise that may be a stretch too far.