Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership

A. Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership.
Martin, et al in the book, “In School Leader Internship”, Reflection is described as, “the ability to think more deeply about a problem, and the ability to take action or make adjustments accordingly.” (Martin, et al., “In School Leader Internship,” p. 104, 2005)
“It allows one to learn from experiences while acquiring administrative skills from a combination of theory and practice.” In School Leader Internship, Martin, et al (p. 105)
Reflection is a process that a leader should take time and be committed for it leads to informed decisions. Dana states that one should schedule time to reflect and do inquiry. (Leading with passion, p.18-19)
This leads to school improvement, curriculum development, professional development for both teachers and principals.

B. Why is reflection an important aspect of action research?
Action research is more of a personal growth system which allows the leader to inquiry, collect date, examine and analyze, take action and then reflect of the outcomes and adjust if necessary. Reflection is part of the process.
It is through time that reflection leads to expertise. Martinet at., goes on to express that reflection is a cognitive process that goes through three stages, declarative (concepts and facts), associative stage (growth in organization and interconnectedness of knowledge), and finally the autonomous stage, (making decisions become more automatic or second nature). This process leads to expertise and is acquired overtime. (105-106).