Unlocking the Power of Reflection: Guide to Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
Have you ever wondered what it is like to reflect on your learning and attitude toward your learning? Well, reflecting practice is very important for nursing practitioners but the rest of the students can also take advantage of it. Because reflective practice is like looking in a mirror, but instead of looking at your face, you see your thoughts, actions, and experiences in this type of practice. And when we are discussing reflecting practice Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is one of the most popular tools we can think of.
In this blog, we are going to discuss briefly Gibbs's Reflective Cycle. This tool is useful for your growth and understanding and also helps you learn from what you've done. This is the best way to explore self-learning from your experience. Through required analysis actions, various thought processes and outcomes, you will easily gain insights. Let's dive in and explore how this cycle can transform your approach to learning and growth.
History and Origins of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
In the late 80's Graham Gibbs realised that reflection can be a powerful tool for improvement in one's life. Hence in the year 1988, Graham Gibbs created a model named “Gibbs's Reflective Cycle” and this model was designed as a way to structure the reflective process from experiences. To help other people he planned to work on this model and finally introduced this model in his book “Learning by Doing”. With this great thought of his, he has helped numerous people grow in their lives not only personally but also professionally.
According to Graham people who use this model can easily analyse their experiences and actions. Also, they can understand the outcome better and apply this knowledge in future situations to avoid past experiences. Graham's aim was to create this model to address the need for a systematic approach to reflection. Especially in educational and professional settings where learning from experiences is crucial. Simply by following this structured approach, people can enhance their learning and professional development.
The Six Important Stages of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
Just as you have read above how efficiently this model works. So you also know there are 6 stages that have been used to understand your actions and emotions better in your profession. Let us comprehend why we use these stages in further context.
1st Stage: Description
The first stage of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is “Description”. In this stage, you describe everything that has happened to you during the experience. This includes details such as
- What happened?
- When did it happen?
- Who was there?
- What did they do?
Example: “I was working on a group project…… and then your situation continues”
2nd Stage: Feelings
The next stage is feeling where you reflect on your emotions or your feelings during and after the experience. Your feelings can be both positive and negative it doesn't matter how you feel.
- How were you feeling during and after your experience?
- What did you think at the time?
- What impact did your emotions, beliefs and values have?
- What do you think other people were feeling?
- What did you think about the incident afterwards?
Example: “I was feeling very irritated when the project wasn't progressing as I expected.”
3rd Stage: Evaluation
We will now discuss the third stage of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle which is “Evaluation”. In this stage, you have to evaluate the experience by thinking about what was good or bad about it. Here are some impactful questions that can guide your thinking and spark meaningful discussions.
- What was your good and bad experience?
- What went well? What didn't?
- Were your contributions positive or negative?
- If you are writing about a difficult incident, did you feel that the situation was resolved afterwards?
Example: “The project succeeded in the end, but our communication could have been better.”
4th Stage: Analysis
The fourth stage of Gibbs' Reflective Model is “Analysis”. For a brief investigation, you have to break down the experience to understand why things happened the way they did. There are some questions you can use to do your analysis.
- How can the theory explain what happened?
- How does my experience compare to the literature?
- What research can help me make sense of this?
- Could I have responded differently?
- What might have helped or improved things in a better way?
Example: “Miscommunication occurred because of a lack of role clarity.”
5th Stage: Conclusion
The second last stage of this model is “Conclusion” where you have to identify any lessons that you have learned from your experiences and what improvement you need. Here is a list of questions you can use to conclude.
- What could have been done differently?
- What have you learnt? Generally, and specifically
- What can I now do better?
- Could/should you have done anything differently
Example: “We could have clarified roles at the beginning to avoid confusion.”
6th Stage: Action Plan
The last stage of Gibbs' Reflective Model is the “Action Plan”. This stage is very important and you have to do things very properly. Here you need to work on an action plan that will help you in future and will help to improve and avoid similar issues.
- What would you do differently in the future?
- How /where can I use my new knowledge and experience?
- How will I adapt my actions or improve my skills?
Example: “Next time, I'll set up clearer communication channels from the start.”
So these are the 6 important stages from Gibbs' Reflective Cycle. All of them are very crucial and useful for learners as they help us grow in our lives.
Benefits of Using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
So, in the above paragraphs, we have learned what Gibbs' Reflective Model is and where it came from. Now after understanding almost every bit about this model let us understand what type of advantages a person can get by using this model.
- You can understand your actions, thoughts, and feelings in a better way.
- By analysing various situations you can also enhance your problem-solving skills.
- If you are regularly reflecting on yourself then there are higher chances of learning more and growing stronger for the future.
- When you get successful outcomes from regular practices your confidence eventually increases. As a result, you take on new challenges without any fears.
- When you finally come to understand the root cause of your problems then you become more and more responsible for your self-growth.
- You also learn to tackle various situations from different approaches.
The benefit does not end here, infinite advantages are there of using Gibbs' reflective cycle. It is just that one should know how, where and when to use this cycle to achieve success in life.
Applications of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle In Various Professions
You would have a clear idea of what Gibbs' Reflective Model is and what it is utilised for. Now we will comprehend how we can use this model to enhance future implementation in education, healthcare and other professional development.
Education And Healthcare Department: Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is useful in both educational and healthcare departments. Students can easily reflect on their learning experiences and improve their academic performance. The same with educators as they can enhance their teaching techniques. On the other hand nursing and healthcare staff can reflect on patient care and improve outcomes with patient care.
In Professional Development: Gibbs' Reflective cycle is not limited to nursing professionals but it is also useful in other professions. Employees can use this model to enhance their job performance and to improve their skills. Reflecting on work experiences helps them understand their strengths and weaknesses. Also, it helps them in leading to better performance and career growth.
Business Management: Business managers and other seniors can use this model to reflect on decision-making processes. Gibbs' reflective model is very helpful for them also as they can learn skills and learn from their experiences. Also, this model helps the team leaders identify areas for progress and develop better strategies for managing teams and tasks.
We all know that both personal and professional development is important in one's life. Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is the best way to get a deeper insight into your personal and professional improvement.
Tips for Using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle Effectively
Anyone who is curious about Gibbs' reflective model and wants to know the secret tips to use it, then we have prepared some useful points for you. To use Gibbs' reflective model correctly you must follow tips rightfully.
- Always be honest with yourself and your reflections while using this model. We all make mistakes so don't shy.
- Make sure you are writing down everything you are experiencing so that you can analyse those events and do better in future.
- You shall also share and discuss your reflections with others who were involved in the experience. It will help you understand others' perspectives in a better way.
- Make better plans for the future and revisit them regularly, so that you should know whether they are working properly or not.
- Don't give up and continuously work on your reflections for better growth in both your professional and personal life.
Conclusion
So that was it on Gibbs' Reflective Cycle and so far we have learned many important things about this model from this blog. Undoubtedly this model of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is more useful for nursing practitioners but the rest of us can also take advantage of it. Not only for our professional but also for our personal growth this model offers a lot. This model encourages people to learn from their experiences, create plans for improvement, and learn about their emotions. You can learn all these things by applying the six important stages of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle.
Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusion, and Action Plan are the following important stages that will help you grow. So now it's your turn to use Gibbs' Reflective Cycle for your own good and embrace the power of reflection. See yourself for the changes and growth after using this model. Make reflection a regular practice in your daily lives and you'll be better equipped to navigate challenges, celebrate successes, and continuously strive for improvement.
Enjoy reflecting!
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