The Action-Observation-Reflection Model
The action-observation-reflection (A-O-R) model shows that leadership development is enhanced when the experience involves three different processes:
-Action
-Observation
-Reflection
The Key Role of Perception in the Spiral of Experience:
-Experience is not just a matter of what events happen to you; it also depends on how you perceive those events.
-Perception affects all three phases of the action-observation-reflection model.
-People actively shape and construct their experiences.
Perception and Observation:
Observation and perception both deal with attending to events around us.
Perceptual sets can influence any of our senses:
-They are the tendency or bias to perceive one thing and not another.
-Feelings, needs, prior experiences, and expectations can all trigger a perceptual set.
Perception and Reflection:
-Reflection deals with how we interpret our observations.
-Perception is inherently an interpretive, or a meaning-making, activity.
Attributions:
are the explanations we develop for the behaviors or actions we attend to.
Fundamental attribution error:
is the tendency to overestimate the dispositional causes of behavior and underestimate the environmental causes when others fail.
A self-serving bias:
is the tendency to make external attributions for one's own failures, yet make internal attributions for one's successes.
The actor/observer difference:
refers to the fact that people who are observing an action are much more likely than the actor to make the fundamental attribution error.
Reflection involves higher functions like:
evaluation and judgment, not just perception and attribution
Perception and Action:
Research shows that perceptions and biases affect supervisors' actions towards poorly performing subordinates.
The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when:
our expectations/predictions play a causal role in bringing about the events we predict.
Studies show that having expectations about others:
can subtly influence our actions, and these actions can, in turn, affect the way others behave.
Reflection and Leadership Development:
Reflection offers leaders insights about framing problems differently, viewing situations from multiple perspectives, and understanding subordinates better.
Leaders tend to ignore reflection due to:
a lack of time or a lack of awareness of its value.
Intentional reflection may prompt leaders to:
see potential benefits in experience not initially considered relevant.
Single-loop learners:
seek relatively little feedback that may significantly confront their fundamental ideas or actions.
-Individuals learn only about subjects within the "comfort zone" of their belief systems
Double-loop learning involves:
being willing to confront one's own views and inviting others to do the same.
-Mastering double-loop learning can be thought of as learning how to learn.
-Learning is enhanced with after event reviews (AERs)
Programs for first-level supervisors use:
lectures, case studies, and role-playing exercises to improve supervisory skills:
-Training
-Monitoring,
-Giving feedback
-Completing performance reviews
Mid-level manager programs use individualized feedback, case studies, presentations, role playing, simulations, and in-basket exercises to improve the following:
-Interpersonal skills
-Oral and written communication skills
-Time management skills
-Planning
-Goal setting
Leadership programs for senior executives and CEOs focus on:
strategic planning, public relations, and interpersonal skills.
Action learning involves the use of:
actual work issues and challenges as the developmental activity itself.
The philosophy of action learning is:
that the best learning involves learning by doing
Development planning is:
a process that helps leaders to accelerate the development of their own leadership skills.
To make enduring behavioral changes, leaders must provide positive answers to five questions:
-Do leaders know which of their behaviors need to change?
-Is the leader motivated to change these behaviors?
-Do leaders have plans in place for changing targeted behaviors?
-Do leaders have opportunities to practice new skills?
-Are leaders held account
Development planning is more than a plan it is really:
a process.
Coaching is the:
process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to develop and become more successful.
Informal coaching:
takes place whenever a leader helps followers to change their behaviors.
According to Peterson and Hicks, the best informal coaching generally consists of five steps:
1.Forging a partnership
2.Inspiring commitment
3.Growing skills
4.Promoting persistence
5.Shaping the environment
The 5-step informal coaching process can be used to:
Diagnose why behavioral change is not occurring and what can be done about it.
Formal coaching programs are designed for:
the specific needs and goals of individual executives and managers in leadership positions.
Coaching may be more effective at changing behavior than:
more traditional learning and training approaches.
Mentor:
an experienced person willing to take you under his/her wing
Mentoring:
is a personal relationship in which a more experienced mentor (usually someone 2-4 levels higher in an organization) acts as a guide, role model, and sponsor of a less experienced prot�g�.
Informal mentoring may be more effective than:
formal mentoring due to longer-term relationships and stronger emotional bonds
Formal mentoring is often used to:
accelerate the development of female or minority prot�g�s.
One way to add value to your leadership courses and experiences is by applying:
the action-observation-reflection model