The power of reflection for would‐be leaders: Investigating individual work reflection and its impact on leadership in teams

Abstract

SummaryThis paper examines the key role that individual work reflection plays in facilitating individuals' leadership in teams. Consistent with the functional perspective on leadership, we argue that individual work reflection allows individuals to better understand their team's needs, and therefore enact higher levels of task‐, relational‐, and change‐oriented leadership behaviors and be more effective leaders in their teams. We first conducted a series of measure development studies to validate a measure of individual work reflection comprising four dimensions of reflection at work: goals‐, methods‐, relationships‐, and self‐focused reflection. Then, across two independent studies assessing individuals in self‐managing teams over time, we found support for our theoretical model linking individual work reflection to peer‐rated leadership behaviors (Main Studies 1 and 2) and leadership effectiveness (Main Study 2). In further support of our theorizing, Main Study 2 also indicates that individual work reflection shapes leadership behaviors and effectiveness via understanding the team's needs, beyond a wide range of related constructs (e.g., feedback seeking, mindfulness, and rumination), as well as commonly studied predictors of leadership behaviors (i.e., the Big Five). Our theory and empirical findings help advance insights on the role of individual work reflection in improving leadership outcomes in organizations.