Stopping to Think: Why it Pays to Pause and Reflect (Inside Out Episode 5)
Episode 5 of From the Inside Out: Achieving Better Development Outcomes through Collaborating, Learning and Adapting is now available! Stream it above or subscribe to the USAID Learning Lab podcast wherever you listen to podcasts to be notified when new episodes are available.
In the final episode in the Inside Out series, we discuss a topic that we’ve touched on throughout the series: Pause and Reflect. Taking the time to Pause and Reflect is an essential CLA practice that leads to evidence-based decision making and adaptation.
First, we’ll explore evidence that group reflection leads to learning and decision-making. Next, we will discuss two opportunities for USAID staff and partners to use Program Cycle processes to pause and reflect. In our third segment, we discuss some of the ways that our team has built Pause and Reflect moments into the way we work.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning
- USAID/Zimbabwe's Big Weeks and CLA
- Walking the Talk: LEARN's Pause and Reflect Practices
- Facilitating Pause and Reflect Activities
- After Action Review Guidance
While this series is wrapping up, we’ve got another one in the works! Listen until the end of this episode for a preview of our upcoming series, Leaders in Learning, which will be released starting in mid-June 2018.
The information in this series comes from our effort to build the evidence base for collaborating, learning and adapting. If you’re interested in learning more about this area of work, visit USAIDLearningLab.org/eb4cla.