Personal and Professional Development

The ability to self-reflect is an essential aspect of professionalism. As a support worker, regular self-reflection helps you assess your actions, learn from experiences, identify areas where you can grow and set development goals. Throughout this programme, we’ll explore various aspects of self-reflection and you will have opportunities to practice and develop this skill.

Self-Reflection-how, what and why

In order to expand your range of skills you will need to develop a high level of self-awareness. Self-awareness begins with self-reflection. You must be willing to take a candid look at yourself to identify what makes you tick. Self-reflection is about questioning in a positive way what you do and why you do it, and deciding if there is a better or more efficient way of doing it in the future.

Answering these questions honestly will help you analyse your perspective and decide whether or not you should do things differently in the future. It can be difficult to remain objective about your own behaviour. However, it is imperative that you do not lie to yourself, as you will only create a false view of your behaviour, character and abilities. This could make it challenging for the people you work with to trust you and your ability to be open-minded and receptive to the views of others.

Examining and exploring yourself by self-reflection will lead you to being more self-aware. If you understand how you think and learn, your talents and abilities, the way you make decisions and how you behave, you will have a better understanding of how people perceive you and your point of view. To put it simply, to understand other people, you need first to understand yourself.

Key questions

Before you can start reflecting, you will need to identify the questions you want to reflect on. The questions you use for self-reflection will depend on the situation. In a work setting, you will ask yourself different questions than you would if you are reflecting on personal relationships. Examples of work-related self-reflection questions may include:

• What am I enjoying about my job?
• What would I change if I could? Can I facilitate these changes?
• How can I improve my workplace performance or increase my skillset?
• Am I providing good service to all of my clients?
• Do I relate well to other staff members?
• Does my lack of cultural understanding negatively impact clients?
• Are there processes or practices that I am unhappy with?

Tips for self-reflection

Regardless of your choice of approach to self-reflection, here are some simple tips to help you get the most out of the exercise.

Get into the right state and environment

For self-reflection to be effective, you need to put yourself in the right mental state. You want to give the process your full attention, so minimise any distractions. It may be helpful to choose a quiet place where you will not be interrupted. Choose a time of day when you are relaxed and alert.

Ask the right questions

It’s best to ask yourself ‘how’ questions rather than ‘why’ questions. ‘Why’ questions only tell you why things are as they are. ‘How’ questions will help you to identify things you want to change and improve. 

Ask: 'How can I have a better relationship with my boss?' Rather than: 'Why do I have a lousy relationship with my boss?'

Be 100% truthful

If you lie to yourself or avoid something unpleasant, nothing will change. Being truthful to yourself might be challenging, but remember, you are only talking to yourself.

Use a self-reflection model

A model can be useful for starting your self-reflection process and keeping you on track. Various self-reflection models are discussed later.

Don’t lose sight of the key questions

Asking yourself a question will probably lead to another question, and another, and so on. It can be easy to drift off track and end up getting nowhere. Keep the focus on your key questions.

Concentrate on self

If you have had an upsetting interaction with another person, your reflection may focus on the other person’s behaviour rather than your own. Emotion may block your ability to understand how you acted and reacted to the situation. Try to focus on your behaviour and reactions and what you could do differently next time.

Using a reflective journal

Some people find it useful to write their responses in a reflective journal. By writing it down, they not only have a record of their thoughts that they can refer to later, but they can also see how their thoughts and responses change over time. A reflective journal may also help you to focus on a particular difficulty you might have, such as having a difficult conversation at work or responding to negative feedback. 

If you make a decision, act on it

Self-reflection is all about changing things. If you come up with an idea to improve something, make sure you put it into action; otherwise, what is the point of thinking about it?

Developing self-awareness

Self-awareness is practised through the focus of your attention on your thoughts, behavioural patterns and emotions. At times, we might think that we are being self-aware, but instead, we might be focusing more on others and the situation instead of ourselves. Self-awareness takes a great deal of personal integrity and honesty – it can sometimes be difficult to recognise a behaviour you possess as being bad or unproductive to your team.

Once you understand why you think and behave in certain ways, you can use positive reflection to look at ways of changing the negatives and developing your skills in the way you work or learn.

It is likely that you already practise self-reflection, perhaps without even realising it. For example, you may have had an argument with someone at work. On your way home, you find yourself thinking about the argument and wondering if you handled it well.

• Was there a way it could have been avoided?
• Did your emotions get the better of you?
• Were you assertive or aggressive?
• Was the dispute resolved, or do you still feel angry with the other person?

What you are doing is evaluating how you handled the situation and looking at ways you might change your behaviour to avoid such situations in the future. In short, you are self-reflecting.

Confidence

Confidence is a key component of self-awareness and is a skill that requires lifelong journeying. Confidence can be defined as the way in which we view ourselves and our ability to achieve our required goals.

There are many internal and external factors that contribute to our confidence. These factors, such as family and friends, education, and community relations, affect our confidence and sense of true self.

Boundaries of self-reflection

Another important part of self-reflection in the workplace is to be aware of and operate within any legal or organisational boundaries that may exist.

Legislative boundaries

In the workplace, the self-reflection process may involve other people contributing to feedback. This feedback will be in the form of their thoughts, opinions and reactions to the actions, with the attitudes and performance of the person at the centre of the process. Remember that you must respect the privacy and confidentiality of anyone who provides input into a self-reflection process. This means acting in line with the Privacy Act 2020 and not discussing a person’s feedback with anyone else. You must use any feedback only for the purpose for which it was provided.

Organisational boundaries

Your workplace will have its own policies and procedures. These may include rules that also affect the self-reflective process. For example, support workers have a responsibility to always maintain a professional boundary between themselves and the tangata they support, their whānau and others in the team. In these situations, it may not be appropriate to ask a person you support to provide documented feedback for the self-reflection process. You will need to check your workplace policies and procedures to be sure about the rules on this. If the self-reflection process identifies something that could be seen as crossing any boundaries, discuss this with your supervisor/manager.

Some potential boundaries you could face in your organisation related to employee self-reflection include:

• time restraints
• lack of a supportive environment
• certain managerial styles
• rewards systems based on bonuses/promotions
• lack of resources
• lack of training
• power dynamics
• lack of honesty

In our busy lives, we often get caught up in our routines and sometimes forget to consider how we are behaving and the effect we may be having on others. Taking the time to build self-reflection into our day can have multiple benefits. Self-reflection can help you learn from your mistakes, expand your perspectives and support others with whom you interact. 

Self-reflection as a support worker

The use of self-reflection can benefit the health and wellbeing organisation that you are working for, along with the people you support. Benefits may include:

• increasing staff self-awareness and the ability to manage thoughts, emotions, responses and behaviour
• assisting in recognising strengths and weaknesses; enabling people to understand their own skills, knowledge and behaviours so that they can meet the demands of their role
• encouraging staff to explore theory and the use of practical experiences from the workplace
• providing a framework, through documenting reflection, for meaningful discussion about performance, personal development requirements and ongoing career options
• helping staff to learn from personal experiences, value strengths, develop insight and judgement, and different, more effective ways of participating in the future
• providing an opportunity to track personal and professional goals
• helping staff empathise with peers and the people being supported.

Models of Self-Reflection

There are many models that you could use to assist with your self-reflection process. While the structure and format of these models may vary, they share many features. All have the same purpose – to act as a guide to assist you to become self-aware.

We will look at three models:

• Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1988)
• Johns Model for Reflection (2000)
• Framework for reflection model (2001) by Rolfe et al.

Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Gibbs’ model acknowledges personal feelings about a given situation and the influence they may have on how you begin to reflect. The model breaks down the reflection process so that you can explore your experience. Gibbs’ model provides a clear link between what you learn from an experience and the changes you make to your future practice. The model has six steps, as described below.

Description	What happened? Simply describe the situation or experience without making any judgements or drawing any conclusions.
Feelings	What were your reactions and feelings? At this point, you are not trying to analyse your experience. You are simply recording the facts about how you felt and reacted.
Evaluation	What was good or bad about the experience? In your evaluation, be clear about the experience and the positive and negative aspects. Make value judgements.
Analysis	What sense can you make of the situation? What was really going on? Were there similar or different perspectives that should be taken into consideration?
Conclusions	Make general conclusions about the situation based on the analyses you have undertaken. Make specific conclusions about the situation. What can be concluded about your own unique personal situation or way of working?
Personal action plans	It is time to move reflection into future action. What will you do differently in this type of situation the next time? What steps are you going to take on the basis of what you have learned?

Johns Model for Reflection

The Johns Model was developed for nursing practitioners but is applicable to any field. The model is based on five steps that enable you to break down your experience and reflect on the process and outcomes. This model encourages guided reflection, i.e., sharing the reflections with a mentor or peer to gain a greater understanding of an experience.

Description	Write a description of the experience. What are the key issues within this description to which I need to pay attention?
Reflection	What was I trying to achieve? Why did I act as I did? What are the consequences of my actions for myself and for the people I work with? How did I feel about this experience when it was happening? How did the people I work with feel about it? How do I know how the people I work with feel or felt about it?
Influencing factors	What internal factors influenced my decision-making and actions? What external factors influenced my decision-making and actions? What sources of knowledge did or should have influenced my decision-making and actions?
Could I deal with it better?	Could I have dealt better with the person? Could I have dealt better with the situation? What other choices did I have? What would be the consequences of these other choices?
Learning	How can I make sense of this experience in light of my past experience and future practice? How do I feel about this experience now? Have I taken effective action to support myself and others as a result of this experience? How has this experience changed my ways of thinking or my practice?

Framework for reflection by Rolfe et al.

The framework for reflection by Rolfe et al. is a simple three-stage model that is based on three questions:

What?	Describe the situation, the achievements, consequences, responses, feelings and problems. What is the problem/difficulty/reason for being stuck? What is the reason for the way I feel? What was my role in the situation?
So what?	Discuss what has been learned about self, relationships, models, attitudes, cultures, actions, thoughts, understanding and improvements. So what does this tell me, teach me or mean to me? So what does this tell me, teach me or mean about other people? So what was going through my mind as I acted? So what did I base my actions on? So what other knowledge can I bring to the situation? So what could/should I have done to make it better? So what is my new understanding of the situation? So what broader issues arise from the situation?
Now what?	Identify what needs to be done in order to improve future outcomes and develop learning. Now what do I need to do in order to make things better/stop being stuck/resolve the situation/feel better, etc.? Now what broader issues need to be considered if this action is to be successful? Now what might the consequences of this action be?

Watch: AUT Leadership Introduction to Reflection September 2017 (3:57 Minutes)

Watch the following video which describes the use of the Rolfe model.

A goal is something you want to achieve, have, be or get in the future. It could be anything you aim for, and it requires effort and planning to reach.

Before diving into goal setting, it’s important to reflect on your current situation and experiences. As you learned in the previous section on self-reflection, taking the time to evaluate your strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement can provide valuable insights into what goals will be most meaningful and beneficial for you.

Here are 4 general steps for setting an effective goal:

• The goal is positive: A positive goal motivates you, like passing this course or earning your driver’s licence.
• The goal is important to you: It should be personally meaningful, not just something someone else wants for you. Reflect on why this goal matters to you and how it will impact your life.
• The goal is specific: A clear, specific goal helps you stay focused. Think about exactly what you are working towards.
• The goal is under your control: Set a goal that depends on your efforts rather than factors outside your control, like aiming to improve your skills rather than becoming famous.

By combining self-reflection with these steps, you can set goals that are realistic, meaningful, and aligned with your personal and professional growth.

SMART Goals

A widely used method for setting goals is the SMART model, which is effective for both personal and professional goals. You might already be familiar with this approach, so the upcoming activity will help refresh and reinforce your understanding.

Goals can be challenging, but by setting SMART goals they are more likely to be attained. The following slides explain the SMART goals. Use the Turn button to display each slide's information and use the arrow keys to move between slides.

Professional Development Goals

Professional development goals can be objectives you set for yourself to enhance your skills and advance your career. These self-chosen goals reflect your personal aspirations and interests, such as completing a new certification or developing a specific skill set.

Professional development goals may also be established or expected by your employer as part of your role. These goals are often aligned with your job responsibilities and the organisation's needs, such as completing mandatory training, meeting performance targets, or participating in professional development programmes that support your current role and future career growth.

Balancing both self-directed and employer-set goals ensures that you are not only fulfilling your personal career ambitions but also meeting the expectations of your role and contributing to your organisation’s success.

Examples of professional development goals are:

• Internal and External Training: Enrolling in workshops, courses, or certifications relevant to your field, offered either by your workplace or an external organisation, such as a training college or another health and wellbeing organisation.
• Career Planning and Pathways: Setting objectives for career progression, such as aiming for a promotion or transitioning to a different role within the industry.
• Skill Enhancement: Developing specific skills that are critical for your job, such as improving communication, leadership, or technical abilities.
• Networking and Professional Relationships: Building and maintaining connections with other professionals in your field to share knowledge and open up new opportunities.
• Staying Updated: Keeping updated on the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in your profession.

Te Pou is a New Zealand-based workforce development and research organisation focused on enhancing the quality of mental health, addiction, and disability services. They have developed a framework that outlines the skills and knowledge required for roles in mental health and addiction support, which can also apply to other areas of support work.

Click on this link: Te Whareo Tiki, then click the Download button to view the framework document. You'll notice that the skills and knowledge areas are divided into three levels (foundation, capable and enhanced), each corresponding to the varying requirements needed to support individuals with different levels of complexity. As you scroll through the document, think about how you might apply this information to your own professional goals within your area of support work.

Career Pathways

As a beginning support worker, there may be a range of career pathways and progression opportunities available to you as you gain experience, training and additional qualifications. Understanding these options can help you plan your career and set realistic goals for your professional development. Career progressions and pathways may include:

• Specialisation within Support Work: This could involve advanced practice roles that require further qualifications but offer the chance to focus on a specific area of interest within support work. It may include roles where you support other workers or healthcare professionals in handling complex care tasks and managing patients.
• Educational and Training Roles: Experienced support workers can move into roles where they teach and train new support workers, sharing their knowledge and expertise through formal education or on-the-job training.
• Work in Different Settings: Your skills as a support worker can be transferred to different settings, such as private practice, non-profit organisations, or government agencies, depending on your interests and career goals.

As you gain experience and develop your skills, you may also consider transitioning into other areas of the clinical health and wellbeing sector. Beginning support workers often find that their foundational knowledge and hands-on experience provide a strong base for pursuing careers in related fields. For instance, you might explore pathways into roles such as social work, nursing, counselling, psychology, physiotherapy, or other therapeutic professions.

Personal Development Goals

Your personal development is just as important as your professional growth. Setting goals in this area helps ensure that you maintain a healthy work-life balance and continue to thrive both personally and professionally.

Examples of personal development goals are:

• Self-Care and Wellbeing: Prioritise activities and habits that support your mental, physical, and emotional health such as daily mindfulness practices to manage stress and maintain emotional balance.
• Lifestyle and Work/Life Balance: Set boundaries between work and personal life to avoid burnout. This might involve not reading work related emails or materials during your allocated times for rest and relaxation
• Time-Management: Develop strategies for managing your time effectively, balancing responsibilities, and achieving goals without feeling overwhelmed.
• Reflective Practices: Use methods such as keeping a reflective journal to consider your experiences and insights, to ensure continuous learning and personal growth.

Being aware of your feelings while supporting a person is important. You may have been supporting a person for a while and you will experience feelings of loss if they deteriorate or as they face challenges. It is important for you to recognise these feelings and find a way of dealing with them. You need to find ways to care for yourself if you want to continue to provide care for others.

Understanding the importance of self-care

• Maintaining resilience: Self-care helps you build resilience and cope with the daily stresses and emotional demands of the job. 
• Preventing burnout: The risk of burnout is higher in roles that involve constant caregiving. Prioritising self-care reduces the risk of burnout and helps you sustain your passion and commitment to your work. 
• Improved job performance: When you take care of yourself, you can perform your job more effectively. Your physical and emotional well-being directly impacts the quality of care you provide to your clients. 

Practical self-care tips

The following slides share some ideas for self-care. Use the Turn button to display each slide's information, and use the arrow keys to move between slides.

The whole self

Your whole self includes:

• Physical you (your body): Your tangible structure and five senses that enable you to touch, see, hear, smell and taste the world around you.
• Emotional you (your feelings): Your range of emotions from fear and anger to love and joy.
• Mental you (your thoughts): Your knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, your analytical self.
• Spiritual you (your spirit): Your relationship with yourself, your creativity, your life purpose, and your relationship with a higher power.

If you know your whole self, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, you will be able to recognise if any one of these parts is out of balance.

Iceberg model

The iceberg model (Fundamentals of Palliative Care, 2023) is a good way to describe your wellness. Your current state of wellness is just the tip of the iceberg. Think of an iceberg with a top layer and three more layers underneath.

All of these layers work together to make you the person you are. One aspect can affect all of the others. For example, looking after your physical health will enhance the sense of well-being you project to others. Being aware of these interactions means you can make lifestyle choices that will positively enhance your wellness.

In summary, supporting workers' well-being is crucial for their performance, job satisfaction, mental and physical health, and overall work-life balance. By investing in worker wellbeing, organisations can create a positive and supportive work environment, leading to higher productivity, higher employee engagement, and all-round success.

 Aiming for wellbeing

What are we aiming for? In general it is to feel good most of the time, be able to function well and to have strong social connections. When we have high levels of wellbeing, sometimes called flourishing, we also:

• have better physical health and a longer life expectancy
• are more engaged and productive at work
• have stronger relationships
• have more sense of purpose in life

Our wellbeing is influenced by a range of things including our genetics, what we’ve experienced, and the environments we live and work in. It’s also influenced by the choices we make, the actions we take and the way we think. (Ref: Mentalhealth.org.nz)

Watch: 5 ways to wellbeing video (5:15 Minutes)

Watch the following video for an overview of 5 ways to wellbeing. 

The Mental Health Foundation promotes the Five Ways to Wellbeing in New Zealand.

Activity

In preparation for your site visit, come up with 2 questions that you could ask about their processes or procedures related to personal or professional development, self-care and workplace wellbeing. Examples could include:

• What opportunities do you provide for professional development? 
• What workplace procedures are in place if a person feels stressed?
• Does your workplace have a proactive approach to controlling workplace stress?
• Does your workplace have proactive wellbeing practices in place?

Wellbeing is an important part of your effectiveness as a support worker. Prioritising your wellbeing is not just about personal comfort—it's fundamental to providing high-quality care and support to those you work with.

Our wellbeing is influenced by a range of things including our genetics, what we’ve experienced, and the environments we live and work in. It’s also influenced by the choices we make, the actions we take and the way we think. (Ref: Mentalhealth.org.nz)

Why Wellbeing Matters

Take a moment to think about why wellbeing matters for support workers, then click on the expand button to learn more.

Five Ways to Wellbeing

While wellbeing is different for everyone, there are some common threads. The Five Ways to Wellbeing were developed by the New Economics Foundation in the UK, based on a review of the international evidence on what boosts our wellbeing and helps us feel good and function well. You will already be doing many of these.

Watch this video from the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, that talks about the Five Ways to Wellbeing.

Video Title: 5 Ways to Wellbeing | Power for Good: Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand
Watch Time: 2:12
Post Watch Task: Reflect on the five ways to wellbeing and ask yourself:

• Did I learn anything new about wellbeing?
• Can I think of examples of what I do currently, that connects to each one of the “five ways”
• Could I include any of these strategies to what I already do to take care of my wellbeing?

Source: PowerShop NZ: YouTube

The following activity is adapted from Five Ways to Wellbeing.  Use the Turn button to display each card's information and use the arrow keys to move between cards.

Activity

Using the Five Ways at Work

Ups and downs are a natural part of our work life. Some days or weeks will be great, others not so good. Some things are in our control, and some are completely out of our control. But if you think about using the Five Ways to Wellbeing process at work, there are things we can choose to do that will:

• improve our experience of work
• help us experience more wellbeing, function well and have good relationships
• help us get through the difficult times

End of Topic and Module

You have now completed our learning on professional and personal development. We hope you have extended and added to your tools on how to continue growing in these areas. We have also come to the end of the third module of this programme—Professional and Ethical Practice.

Kua pai tō ako -Well done on your learning! You're now better equipped to manage  your role with a strong sense of professionalism and a commitment to ongoing development. In our next module- Tikanga and Hauora Māori, we will focus on best practices and Māori health.