The importance of reflective spaces

Over the past year, I have worked with a diverse group of leaders in higher education, the corporate sector, the NHS and NGOs. As we embarked on our coaching journeys, none of us could have anticipated how the year would unfold, and how a public health crisis would challenge and develop leadership skills in myriad ways.

Irrespective of their background, one of the most recurrent themes for executive leaders in these past 12 months has been the lack of space to reflect. Working from home for large swathes of time has blurred the line between the private and the professional, and with that also the space – geographical as well as emotional – that we travel through as we move between these worlds. Few cherish their daily commute to the office, yet the last year has made some of us realise that even the most crowded and hectic journey affords us a moment to adjust between being at home and at work, to reflect on the challenges of the day ahead, or just to think of nothing at all for a short period of time. Many senior leaders choose to use their daily journeys in purposeful ways that replenish energy and provide an opportunity to take a moment just for themselves.

These reflective spaces, be they fleeting moments or a carefully guarded hour in the diary, have all but vanished in the pandemic. We travel directly from the family breakfast table to the home office desk, possibly worrying about walking the dog or giving quick permission to the child’s music teacher to be on a video call with them. (Unsurprisingly, my female clients, especially those with caring responsibilities, are not unfamiliar with these challenges even in ‘normal’ times, as the emotional labour of running the household tends to sit with them, even in the most egalitarian of setups. I have found many female senior leaders better able to adapt to the current situation than their male colleagues, who are struggling with too much “noise”.)

It has taken the seismic shift of work patterns that the pandemic has forced on us (not all of it detrimental, of course) to recognise what we lose when the private and the professional realm start to merge: we lose our ability to take time out and reflect. Much of this reflection used to be incidental (perhaps when heading back from a meeting in a taxi), a welcome but not necessarily planned part of how our day was structured. Now we have to make an effort. We have to block out time in our diary, we have to put boundaries around that time and that space, and we have to find ways not to be distracted – by either the professional, or the mundane. This is a surprisingly tall order. Yet every successful senior executive knows that the ability to reflect, on one’s own or with trusted others, is a key ingredient of successful leadership.

So, as 2021 starts, the challenge (and maybe a resolution) for the coming months continues to be: how to create and protect a space to reflect so that we can continue to grow as leaders. The economic and social emergencies we are likely to encounter as we hopefully move past the health emergency will require such clear-sighted and focused leadership.