Reflective Report: Learning Through Reflection Using Gibbs Reflective Cycle

The Gibbs Reflective Cycle as a Reflective Model

This reflection is based on the critical incident of Week-one event (refer to the Appendix A; Week 1). In order to describe the event in details, the Gibb’s reflective cycle has been selected as the reflective model. As commented by Potter (2015), this model is useful in making us think of all the phases of an experience or an activity. The six step reflective cycle gives an overview of the event along with the evaluation of the event and the learning outcome from the event. This would also help to evaluate the LO1 and LO3 of this course.

The Gibbs reflective cycle:

Description (what happened?): It was on the second week of October, I went off to attend my class like any other day. I had reached the class quite early when there were around 6-7 students. I sat at the classroom for around 10-15 minutes as the professor did not turn up till then. However, I was feeling a bit curious and uncomfortable because I was waiting for my friend and she did not turn up till then and most importantly, I could also not get familiar with the faces those were already present in the class.

At the same time, I took out my timetable to make sure that it was my management class. However, to my surprise I received a text message from my friend for whom I was waiting, and she informed me that I was sitting in a wrong classroom. Upon a wide investigation on myself, I found out that I got a wrong timetable of the Business Management while I am a student of Event Management (refer to the Appendix A; Week 1). Luckily, the professor did not arrive by that time and I left the class immediately and rushed to the Event Management class with my friend. There we attended the hour-long lecture on Event Management.

Feelings (what were I thinking and feeling?): The incident or the experience that I had that day was very embarrassing for me as the students present in the class were looking strangely at me very strangely and I believe that they were sure that I had entered a wrong classroom. I was upset and at the same time scared as well because I was not very familiar with the environment at that time. I always preferred to stay with my friend and do the activities with her. I felt that I cannot do anything without her. I was lacking confidence in myself and could relate it with my future and career (refer to the Appendix A; Week 1). Thoughts came to my mind that will I be able to gather the confidence that is needed for a professional to carry out the professional activities.

Evaluation (what was good and bad about the experience?): The incident that took place on that day might not seem to be a big one but for the very moment, I realised that I lose confidence easily and I seek other’s help to come out of the situation. This is when I realised the fact that it is very important to check every important thing like the timetable. If only I could have checked the timetable before, I might not have to face the situation. Again, I have realised this as well that in life we often have to come across such situations where the moment might not be in our hand but we should not get nervous but we should develop the confidence in ourselves to make sure to combat against the situation (refer to the Appendix A; Week 1).

Description of the Critical Incident in Week-one

As commented by Wilson nad Miller (2018), that self-confidence leads to improved performance and results in more success in life. It is very important to have the highest confidence level in order to be successful in life. When we develop self-confidence within us, our performance automatically improves and it acts as a motivators for ourselves. As pointed out by Bila et al. (2018), self-confidence actually gives a judgemental capability for accomplishing the life goals and it also helps in evaluation of self-reaction to a situation.

Another important factor can be added after this incident that it is foremost important to be responsible towards our work. If only, I had checked the timetable properly and would have taken help of my friend at that very time, this situation would not have aroused. Considering this point, Liu et al. (2017) explained the importance of responsibility at every point of life and how it eventually shapes the professional life as well. In fact, he pointed out that when we are given bigger responsibilities in our professional life, there remains less scope or opportunity to commit a mistake because one has to be enough responsible to hold  a position and then work upon. Thus, this incident also helped me to understand the importance of being responsible towards our life activities.

Analysis (what sense can I make of the situation?): Considering the view point of Wilson nad Miller (2018) I can say that if I had enough self-confidence in myself, I would have definitely won over the situation and that small mishap that happened if only I had the confidence in myself. Instead of going out of the class with my head down, I would have given a smile to others sitting at that room and would have left with confidence. Adding to this, considering the approach made by, Bila et al. (2018) if I had the enough self-confidence at that time I would have easily overcome the situation and shall not wait for my friend to come to the rescue. In fact, I could have asked the existing students of that class if I were in a wrong class and they could help me to overcome the issue.

Thus, eventually I would have improved my performance and there would have been self-satisfaction within me. Analysing the role of being responsible, I have understood that there is no way out in blaming others of the current situation but we should be responsible to check that everything has been done correctly. One should not deny the issues that one faces but instead should show the responsibility towards believing, thinking and doing things right. If one does not take the responsibility, then one has to face some unavoidable situations that might go beyond one’s control.

Conclusion (what else could you have done?): After evaluating and analysing the entire situation that I faced in the recent time, I could easily say that two major factors including self-confidence and responsibility are the two major factors that one should have in order to excel in their lives. The situation could have been easily avoided if I had checked the timetable myself or would have talked with those who were present in the class. However, I completely believe that life gives a second chance to everyone and I have decided that I should have the confidence to face such situations in future with more zeal and confidence.

Evaluation of the Critical Incident

First of all, I will be very careful in whatever I do and will check and recheck everything related to the situation and then shall proceed accordingly. Even if after careful observations and activities, I have to come across such situation like this incident, I would have to show that self-confidence in myself that the situation can be easily overcome and I am confident enough to handle the situation myself without taking help from anyone else.

Action plans (If it arose again what would I do?): In order to build up self-confidence in myself, I would like to read success and failure stories of various individuals that would eventually help to understand the situation of people and how people overcome the situation themselves overcoming the failure. Failure stories are always inspirational and it creates an image that every bad situation can be handled if we show the right approach towards the situation. Apart from this, I would also like to get involved with fellows from other streams as well so that I can be able to know them as well and such situations could be avoided. It is equally important in professional life as well. If we do not take the responsibility of the work that is given to us, then the situation can become worse we would be only hold responsible for it.

Conclusion:

A detailed analysis of a situation has been carried on using the Gibbs reflective cycle as a reflection model. This model has helped to understand the situation and to evaluate the same using various theories and concepts of the authors. It has helped to understand the importance of developing few features like self-confidence or responsibility towards our work. This lesson will definitely help me in my career to carry out the work and activities. I have got a life lesson that will definitely help me in future in all circumstances.

Reflective final report (summative reflection of the 10 weeks) 

Introduction:

This reflective report aims at providing an evidence of the knowledge and the experience gathered from the modules. In the view point of Potter (2015), our life activities and situations give us ample opportunities to learn things, When one learns through reflection, it adds directly to the professional development of a person. It should be understood that the ability of a person to cope up with the professional life depends largely on how well one handles the situation. Thus, learning through reflections provides a guideline that can be followed for professional development as well. This reflective report is based on the summative reflection of the weekly log two of the 10 weeks. The Kolb’s reflective model has been selected to analyse the situation.

The Kolb’s Learning Cycle

The Kolb’s learning cycle argues on the experiences of life on everyday basis. It has a clear indication that learning can be done through reflective observation. This cycle has four stages and can be summarised below:

Experience (Do something): The weekly log two is based on how McDonald’s had tried to gain the maximum number of consumers for its new outlet. Carrying out the summative assessment, I have understood that for any company, it is important to carry out an investigation on the particular region where the company intends to open up a new shop. There are certain measures to be taken while coming up with the suitable spot for the opening of a new shop. This perception can be easily matched with social cognition and social philosophies of what people think about the environment in which they work. There are certain factors that act as important tools to gather more people in a particular place.

Analysis of the Critical Incident

For instance, McDonald’s deals with fast food and thus its primary target group of people are the ones who are fond of the fast food. In order to understand this, it is important to gain the psychological and the socio-cognition state of the people living in that area. I can relate the situation with one of the incidents I had in the Week 2. It was still then that the timetable was changes and I had no clue which class to attend except when my friend told me to attend. This is when I got to know that the professor has even started making groups and we shall be working together for a group project. Knowing this that I was not aware of the entire situation, I got panic stricken and immediately got nervous and started thinking what should I do (refer to the Appendix A; Week 2). These incidences are common to happen but these situations are needed to be controlled.

Reflect (Think about what you did): When I could not find a way to understand what was wrong with the timetable that I was supplied with. I could not understand as why the administration has given me a timetable that was not mine. I had to face such situations when I could not decide the very next step to be taken. In fact, I used to get nervous as well. It was at that time, we were given the summative assessment on McDonald’s where we understood the importance of perceiving the world in a proper way so as to get the right outcome from it.

In order to understand the situation, it is important that we should carry out a detailed investigation of the market or the place where a business is to be run. Considering the importance of market survey and analysing the target group of people before opening up a store. As pointed out by Charness et al. (2018), survey is the most effective way of understanding the preference as well as the perspective of the people living in a particular place. With the help of a survey, we can be able to design the questionnaire as per our need and the people would come up with their point of view correctly.

Conceptualise (Make generalisations): To conceptualise the facts if the means of realising the events and to positively react on those events. Every situation needs a reaction to be made. For instance, after the summative assessment it was clear that there was no scope of getting things at the right place if McDonald’s did not do the market survey and the target group analysis. It is completely based on that survey that the positive or the negative outcome of setting the restaurant could have been made (Kennerley et al. 2016).

Similarly, the way I was not disturbed and was not able to understand what was wrong with my timetable. I also needed to evaluate the factors behind the wrong timetable and how could I have been able to overcome the situation. It has been made clear that in order to achieve the goals of life, kit is important to set out the target for ourself and then to follow the target to meet the life expectations. If it is not done accordingly, then there would be negative consequences and everyone involved in the practice might be affected.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Plan (Bearing in mind your conclusion): After this incident, I have clearly gained the idea that it is not always possible to get a generalised idea on a particular matter and then work accordingly. It is always important to get specific knowledge and information on the topic. The information that is gained from the survey helps in social cognition (Erayd?n and Karagözo?lu 2017). The taste, like and other things are different for different people and we cannot simply assume that a common thing that be used for everything.

This is why, a personalised or a differently made thing is important to be served to the people. In this respect, it should also be understood that the taste and the like of people differ due to the changes in their food habit or the culture.

It requires good level of social perception and cognition to understand the need of the people and to build up a rapport with others. The issues that I faced while talking to others in the class was because that though we were studying in the same class, there were students from different cultural backgrounds as well. This was one of the major reasons that made me uncomfortable more towards others and I could not gather the courage to talk with others. I always looked for my friend to spend time or to discuss any issue.

However, I have realised it properly that our replication of action is important and this can be improved only when we gain a clear idea of social cognition. One should behave in a way that can be considered as the most suitable mode of reaction (Cooper et al. 2016). Thus, it can be said that understanding the social behaviour of the people in the society and then making decisions based on their behaviour is the most likely thing to be considered.

Conclusion:

The weekly log has helped me to keep my thoughts and imaginations clear every week. The logs have helped me to revisit my thoughts in the beginning of the course and how my thoughts and inspirations have changed from time to time. I have understood that in order to carry out the work properly, it is very important to get a detailed knowledge on the surroundings that included people. A survey of the people and the place is important to keep a clear knowledge of them. It is then only we can be able to expect a proper and rigid outcome of the thing we were exploring.

Career and personal development plan 

This task is based on the Personal Development Planning for the coming years in order to make improvements in myself that would directly help to improve my own performance and would definitely turn by weaknesses to strengths.

Entry 2a – Personal Analysis

The Enneagram test has been sued to carry out the personal analysis and to understand about myself. This test is based on human psyche and the questions asked in the test interconnect the personalities of a person. One has to be very true to self while attempting this test. After attempting the enneagram test, I have understood few things about myself and the outcome can be presented in the form of SOAR model.

Strengths	Opportunities
It has been found that I am more of Type 6, type 1 and type 3 in the enneagram test which means I am loyal to my work and friends. Loyalty and ability to work with peers is a strength that adds to the benefits of in both academic and professional life. I scored 20 in problem solving and so I have great problem solving skills. In every phase of life, we might come across problematic situations but it completely depends on the ability of a person to handle the situation properly. Another strength to add is my ability to come up with innovative ideas and suggestions to overcome any hurdle or challenges.	I scored 12 in avoiding and so there is an opportunity of improving my ability to avoid those situations that do not need any attention. I have come across so many situations where I felt that I could have ignored the situation so as to not feel disappointed. For instance, when a few group members did not turn up for  a meeting, I got furious but later realised that the situation does not need any attention from my end (refer to the Appendix A; Week 5).
Aspirations	Results
I have scored good marks in emotional intelligence and thus, I aspire to understand others perspectives and to act accordingly. I believe that in the professional field it is important to keep emotional intelligence to understand others’ perspective as well. The test also revealed that I am an explorer and an innovator and thus, there remain the chances of aspiring new thoughts and ideas. In this respect, it can be added that for a student or professional in the field of Event management, coming up with innovative ideas to beat the increasing competition in this field is important.	From the overall result, I have concluded that there are several areas that need improvement. These include self-confidence and self-motivation within me. These are the two components that are most important in order to carry out the professional life with ease.

Entry 2b – Setting SMART goals

What do I want to learn?	What do I have to do?	What support and resources will I need?	How will I measure my success?	Target date for review of result
To improve my ability of emotional intelligent: Understanding the social and the cultural background of people to improve my ability of emotional intelligence.	In order to achieve this, it is important to meet and talk to people from different social and cultural background. I would make new friends and at the same time I would also like to increase my knowledge and understanding on different cultural groups of people.	In order to achieve this goal, I would require books, magazines or articles those talks about people from different background. I would like to search and read about different cultures over the internet.	If I would be able to cope up with people from different cultural background, and if I become friends or familiar with them, I am sure I would be able to understand the emotional intelligence of the people as well.	It would require around 6 months to achieve the target that I wanted to reach.
To build up self confidence in myself: As observed in various instances that I lack self confidence in myself and it is equally important to build it up in order to achieve great heights in life	Self-confidence can be improved if I open up to people and started sharing my ideas and thoughts to them. Apart from this, gathering knowledge is equally important as it would boost up the confidence in a way	In order to build up self-confidence, I would have to open up to people more widely and that I should consider their perspective as well while making a decision.	If people would be friendly and comfortable with me, it is expected that I would have achieved the objective that I had set for myself.	This is a continuous process and it is expected that around 6 months will be required to improve my confidence.
To build up self-motivation: In the world of tremendous competition, it is important that one is self-motivated and is encouraged enough to meet life expectations.	Motivation is eternal and it can be improved only when I would be involved in those kinds of works where I get interest. Event management is always an area to explore and I am sure that I would build up self-motivation in myself.	I would explore the different areas of event management and how situations are controlled by the one who is involved in the event management. I would like to read books related to event management and also documentaries on similar cases.	It is when I would be able to understand the importance of an event and develop the fascinate within me, it is expected that I would be able to motivate myself to work in this field.	This motivation has also leaded me to continue my study in this field. It would take the time of the course, that is 3 years, to develop more motivation within me.

Entry 2c – Personal Objectives

Short-term goals (next four months)

1. To increase my knowledge and ability of understanding people from different cultural background 2. To improve my communication skills so that I can communicate with people freely without any hesitation.

Long term goals (following 3 to 5 years)

1. To improve my ability of emotional intelligence. 2. To improve my leadership ability that I would be able to take care of the events where I have to work after the event management course.

References: 

Bila, M., Hillman, A. and Levine, A.M., 2018. Is Short-passing Ability Related To Anxiety And Self-confidence In Division Iii Collegiate Soccer Players?: 1371 Board# 179 May 31 9. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 50(5S), pp.329-330.

Charness, G., Rustichini, A. and Van de Ven, J., 2018. Self-confidence and strategic behavior. Experimental Economics, 21(1), pp.72-98.

Cooper, Z., Allen, E., Bailey-Straebler, S., Basden, S., Murphy, R., O’Connor, M.E. and Fairburn, C.G., 2016. Predictors and moderators of response to enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy for the treatment of eating disorders. Behaviour research and therapy, 84, pp.9-13.

Curwen, B., Palmer, S. and Ruddell, P., 2018. Brief cognitive behaviour therapy. Sage.

Erayd?n, ?. and Karagözo?lu, ?., 2017. Investigation of self-compassion, self-confidence and submissive behaviors of nursing students studying in different curriculums. Nurse education today, 54, pp.44-50.

Kennerley, H., Kirk, J. and Westbrook, D., 2016. An introduction to cognitive behaviour therapy: Skills and applications. Sage.

Liu, W., Dong, Y., Chiclana, F., Cabrerizo, F.J. and Herrera-Viedma, E., 2017. Group decision-making based on heterogeneous preference relations with self-confidence. Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making, 16(4), pp.429-447.

Potter, C., 2015. Leadership development: an applied comparison of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle and Scharmer’s Theory U. Industrial and Commercial Training, 47(6), pp.336-342.