Taking the time to self-reflect gives retail leaders the space they need to slow down and evaluate where they are. Regularly practising self-reflection can strengthen your awareness and help to identify patterns in your decision-making. By reviewing your behaviour, activities and values as a retail leader, you can help transform your company into reaching new ambitions and goals for the future.
Leaders of retail businesses are currently facing uncertainty with inflation and supply chain issues due to the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis. These significant headwinds require strong leaders. And strong retail leadership requires self-reflection to learn and grow as the retail landscape evolves.
Tony Gregg, chief executive of Anthony Gregg Partnership, a leading retail executive search firm, highlights how leaders can adopt a self-reflection process. He also examines the benefits of self-reflection on a leader’s personal development – and how this can enhance business performance and growth.
Why do leaders need self-reflection?
Good leadership requires self-awareness – leaders should be able to identify their strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. This level of contemplation can be achieved through regular self-reflection.
Retail leadership can be difficult, particularly in the retail sector, with a continuous balancing of responsibilities. When facing challenges, confidence, integrity and transparency are key attributes for a great leader. Self-reflection gives leaders the opportunity to work on themselves and search for ways to improve on these attributes.
One of the most important roles of a leader is to mentor team members. This requires a high level of emotional intelligence and understanding of others. This can be a challenging skill to finesse if your own levels of productivity and performance aren’t regularly evaluated. However, after some self-reflection, you’ll be able to use your insights to strengthen working relationships and use daily interactions to guide your decision-making skills.
If retail leaders choose not to reflect on their business decisions, their role as a leader can result in oversights and stunted growth. Business decisions and ongoing activity need to be regularly evaluated to ensure the right actions are being taken, especially in a volatile and uncertain retail market
Five tips for practising self-reflection in retail leadership
- Reflect on a regular basis
Schedule 10 to 20 minutes a week for self-reflection. This should be blocked out on your calendar so that it’s a set time for you to quietly think and it becomes a regular habit.
A quiet and calm place without distractions is ideal for self-reflection. Sometimes, escaping the office environment helps clear the mind. Or, you could even arrive at the office 30 minutes earlier, when it’s quiet, to reflect on the day ahead and what you hope to accomplish.
Ex-US president Obama has frequently expressed the importance of reflection sessions, stating that he found clarity as a leader through his continuous habit of self-reflection and journaling.
Through self-reflection, you’ll be able to see where business activity is heading, resolving issues earlier rather than being in a constant state of ‘firefighting’. Clarity of thought can never be underestimated: it enables you to assess situations rationally and make the best decisions for your team and the business.
- Set up a structure for reflection
Self-reflection can be overwhelming to begin with, as a surge of experiences can spring to mind, without a set focus. It’s worth starting with a single question or topic and then exploring it in more detail. Here are some areas to focus on during self-reflection:
- Week in review — what went well? What did you learn? What might you do differently?
- Highlights — what did you do well as a leader this day/week?
- Leadership — what type of leader do you want to be? Which leaders do you look up to? How does your team see you as a leader?
- Values — what are your key values? Do these align with your organisation’s values?
- Team — what type of leader does your team require? What areas could they improve on?
- Goals — what are the current goals of your organisation? Are you on track? What needs to be done? What must you do as a leader to meet these goals?
- Be honest and realistic
Honesty is essential for true self-reflection. We often tell ourselves different stories about what really happened, reluctant to reflect on the true reality of a situation. You need to exercise honesty and explore all perspectives on a situation, allowing for genuine acknowledgement of weaknesses and setting realistic goals to address issues.
Being able to form a well-rounded viewpoint is a vital leadership skill that results in reasoned conclusions to be drawn. This emotional intelligence will boost your self-awareness, making you a better leader.
- Write your thoughts down
Writing thoughts and ideas down during self-reflection frees up space in your mind and gives you the opportunity to organise your thoughts. You can write these down on paper or type them up – whichever comes more naturally.
Don’t shy away from being descriptive – write down your emotional reactions to events and why you felt this way. This all helps to improve self-awareness and an understanding of yourself as a leader.
Having a record of your self-reflective thoughts means that you can check back in on a regular basis and see how you’ve improved.
- Don’t just SELF reflect…ask reflective questions to your team members
Not only is it your job to self-reflect as a leader, but peer reflection is equally as important. Asking your team for feedback on your retail leadership and performance can be incredibly valuable. It enables you to better understand both yourself and your team.
Whilst self-reflection is key for leaders, your team can also find value in it. Encourage the team to regularly reflect on their own performance – group sessions can be a great way to self-reflect as a team, boosting morale and growth.
Summary
Reflective retail leadership is all about presence, understanding yourself and areas for improvement. Retail leaders who develop a regular self-reflection practice continuously learn and grow – both professionally and personally.
Make self-reflection a habit, write thoughts down and be honest with yourself. And cultivate a culture of learning by encouraging your team to do the same. Follow these tips and you’ll be a much better leader for it.
