Do you ever think about scrutiny as reflective practice?

I mentioned it in a development session I was facilitating the other day and it seemed to strike a chord. So, I thought I might share a reflection!

To start with, as I’m sure you appreciate, scrutiny operates in a complex world and there is no simple manual to help guide you. And, as we’ve mentioned before, whilst every committee, council and place is different, so each is also in a constant state of change. What worked in one place and at one time might not necessarily work somewhere else or sometime else.

So, it really helps to keep adapting and it really helps to keep thinking.

It really helps to keep reflecting.

Reflective practice is something you might have come across in health, education or social care. It usually means looking back and thinking about a recent experience and examining it in a critical way. It can also mean being thoughtful about what you are doing ‘in the moment’, although that’s harder I’d say.

Often people will use a framework to help them with their reflective practice and there are many to choose from. I like the ‘Framework for Reflective Practice’ by Rolfe et al (2001) and this can be easily adapted to use in the scrutiny context. It follows this simple structure:

WHAT? (What was the activity? What went well and how did we/I help? What was challenging and how did we/I respond? What was the result?)

SO WHAT? (What might we/I have done differently? What did we/I learn?)

NOW WHAT? (What will we/I do differently in future? What else do we/I need to address in terms of our/my development?)

I also enjoy hearing about how people like to reflect. For example:

• Individually, for example by keeping a journal.
• In 1-2-1s, for example with a mentor or peer.
• As a committee, for example, I know that parliamentary scrutiny committees might have a ‘wash-up’ at the end of a meeting to reflect on what’s happened.
• And all scrutiny councillors might reflect together as part of the process of producing an annual report.

Maybe there are other examples that you know about?

In closing, let me leave you with three questions that you might reflect on:

1. Can you think of an example of when reflection was helpful for your scrutiny work?
2. What opportunities do you get for reflection now, either alone or with your scrutiny colleagues?
3. What new opportunities for reflection might be useful for you and your scrutiny colleagues?

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As usual, I've posted this on LinkedIn. You can find it here in case you would like to see/add any comments.

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P.S. This is my last email for the summer. I'll be back with more weekly reflections in September.