The importance of Reflection in KM

Kolb learning cycle. Publ;ic domain image from wikipedia

There is a popular quote on the Internet, often attributed to John Dewey, that “We do not learn from an experience … We learn from reflecting on an experience“. It probably isn’t from Dewey, although it is a summarisation of Dewey’s teaching, but it does make the point that no matter how broad your experience, it doesn’t mean you have leared anything.

Let’s match that with another Internet quote, attributed to Paul Shoemaker “Experience is inevitable, Learning is not“. Without reflection, and without change as a result of that reflection, nothing has been learned no matter how many experiences you have.

“Observation and Reflection” is also a part of the Kolb learning cycle, shown here, which is a well-established model for how individuals learn.

Knowledge Management is not so much about Individual learning as about Organisational Learning and Team Learning, but reflection is just as important in the KM context. Reflection  needs to be introduced to work practice through the introduction of reflective processes such as the following:

• Introducing After Action Review as a reflective team process, to allow teams to reflect on, and collectively learn from, actions and activities;
• Introducing Retrospect as a reflective team process, to allow teams to reflect on, and collectively learn from, projects and project phases;
• Introducing processes such as Knowledge Exchange to allow members of a Community of Practice to reflect on, and share, their practice;
• Introducing processes such as knowledge interviews to guide experts through structured reflection on their own experience, and top make this public for others.

It is only through introducing reflective processes such as these, and then acting on the new knowledge gained, that your organisation will stop just Experiencing, and start Learning.