Ben Morton argues that experience alone doesn't improve you. Only reflection on what worked and what didn't creates real learning. Without pausing to think, people and teams repeat the same mistakes, so leaders need to schedule reflection time like any other priority.
But here's the challenge. Experience doesn't make us better, but reflected experience absolutely does. And if we don't stop to think about what's just happened, maybe what worked, what didn't work, or maybe what we'd do differently next time, we end up repeating the same patterns and making the same mistakes. Both as individuals, as leaders, and within our teams, departments, and businesses. So you see, reflection and taking time to pause isn't a luxury. It's a leadership skill. So how do we make it happen? Well, there are two simple shifts that I found to help. First, protect the time. Block it out in your diary, just as you would with anything else that matters.
