A Reflective Practice Framework

Facilitating a Reflective Practice Group

Facilitating reflective practice groups is a skill. Not only do you need to ensure that all members of the group are engaged, but you also have to self-regulate your own responses to allow the group to take the journey, as opposed to being led by you as a guide. The following model represents an outline for the facilitation of a reflective practice group.

Resources

Facilitators should consider the following resources essential:

* A suitable room for group discussion, which is quiet and easily accessible.
* Pens, paper and white board
* 60 - 90 minutes designated time for facilitation

Opening the session & ground rules 

At the beginning of the session, tell members how the group will run and explain the ground rules for engagement and your role as facilitator.

Ground rules or agreement

“I” Statements: Our tendency to use second person statements can impact participation in reflective practice. Not only can it be an example of projecting one’s personal context onto someone else, but it also limits the power of the speaker using their own ‘voice’.

Talk to the group: There can be a tendency for members of the group to talk to the facilitator and not to other members of the group, even seeking the facilitator’s approval or concurrence. This can make groups members feel uncomfortable if they perceive their comments/perspective will be judged as “right” or “wrong” based on the degree to which they align with those of the facilitator(s).  

Emphasise the degree of confidentiality they can expect: If the conversation has any chance at all of addressing personal or professional issues, it is essential to address this at the outset. Be explicit about what (if anything) can and what cannot be shared outside the group. In reflective practice, the expectation is that (aside from comments about potential harm to self or others) what is said in the group, stays in the group.

Emphasise the value of everyone participating in the small group and that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers: Small group discussion affords learners the opportunity to express themselves verbally and perhaps most significantly, offers learners the opportunity to benefit from the perspectives of others. As such, it is important that each member contribute the discussion – as much for the benefit of others as for any other reason. Important note: Some participants will contribute a small amount to the conversation in a verbal form, but their non-verbal communication can demonstrate engagement and is completely appropriate.

Explain your role: Remind participants that you are not here to ‘solve their problems’ or offer ‘solutions’, the group may arrive at solutions, however your role is to facilitate the reflective discussion.

Talk less: In the first few minutes, you are likely to do quite a bit of talking as you set the ground rules. This can demonstrate a pattern of the facilitator talking a lot and the group talking very little. It is essential that you explicitly state that once you finish setting the stage, members of the group will spend most of the time doing the talking.

Discussion management strategies

Desired outcomes: At the beginning of the session, ask each participant what they want to get out of it. This will help you to identify how you can best help them (individually and as a group) to reach their goal, and also gives you the opportunity to emphasise the added value that small group discussion offers. Namely, the opportunity to express themselves and to benefit from the perspectives of others. 

Decide on a topic: Agree as a group on a topic for the reflective practice session. Remember too broad a focus can make it difficult to give the topic the attention it needs and might be hard to give direction to the reflection. 

Managing conversation domination: When a member or a small group of members dominate the conversation, others might contribute less than they otherwise would. In addition, those dominating the conversation lost the opportunity to hear others’ perspectives. This behaviour can stem from people having strong feelings about the topic, but it can also stem from an anxiety about the topic and a desire to not have to confront an internal sense of ambiguity about how to handle a situation. Explain that the value of small group is in offering the opportunity to listen to others’ perspectives. When this alone does not suffice, some example question that may be helpful include:

Derailing the dialogue: You will likely encounter learners whose comments may appear tangential or even unrelated. Before assuming their comments are unrelated to the discussion, pause, see where they are going, and give them the benefit of the doubt.

If the comments repetitively derail the conversation, you may need to be more directive to keep the conversation on track.

Insensitivity: In most situations, insensitive comments are not intentional, but that does not necessarily make them any less painful. There are times when you will feel the need to step in, but I encourage you to give the group the space to address the insensitivity – in most cases, others will challenge the insensitive comment, and peers redirecting the offender can be far more helpful in affecting long term behaviours and establishing social norms than the facilitator stepping in. If this does not happen, call out both the individual to explain their comment and the group, emphasising the responsibilities we each have as a member of our community. 

Closing the session 

Summarise what the group has discovered: As the facilitator, helping the group to see where they have come during the course of their discussion can be very helpful. This frames the experience and help group members make and cement connections between concepts discussed. Thereafter asking them how they might approach similar challenges in the future, and writing those down, can be very valuable for each member of the group. 

Offer your own narrative: Sharing personal experiences related to the topic in question, describing the challenges you faced and how you dealt with them can help learners make connections between concepts discussed and real-life scenarios. This is particularly valuable when your learners are relatively inexperienced in the area being discussed. Offering this towards the end of the session is important so as not to suggest that your response is the ‘right’ one. 

Reiterate confidentiality: This reinforces group expectations and supports the safety of the learning environment. 

Provide a way to communicate with you after the session: If you are comfortable doing this, you will find that many of your learners reach out to ask follow-on questions after the session. It can be helpful to provide a safe and manageable space to do this. 

Facilitating the session beginning to end 

The most important role of the facilitator is to help keep the discussion going. In order to do this, here are a few points to keep in mind: 

*Remember your goal, but remain open – What do you want members to leave the meeting with? A skill? Knowledge?  
* Stay focused on your goal - If you notice the meeting is going in another direction, try to bring it back. However, don’t be so strict that you ignore valuable learning moments.
* A good reflective practice meeting is one that helps people think and grow. 

Maintaining consistency: regular reflection 

The support embedding reflective practice into daily practice make sure to schedule regular reflective practice sessions. If you can decide on a regular day and time to facilitate your sessions. Book the sessions well in advance so people can schedule them into their diaries. Even if attendance is low it is still important that you continue the session as planned, this way your encourage the creation of a safe, reliable ‘container’ for reflection.