Immersed Reflexivity

In the field of management and leadership there is an array of models, templates, methodologies and frameworks for the practitioner and the researcher. They are offered to enable us to understand our world, communicate our point, to understand and influence others, and to make and justify decisions. However, without the ability to think reflexively they can prove to be ‘empty vessels’, lacking meaning and context. Indeed, we often see the unthinking use of frameworks whereby practitioners ‘shoe horn’, or objectify, their experience into structures they have been presented with or think they have to use, as opposed to giving thought to questions such as: how does this framework help or hinder my understanding of the situation; how has it affected my paying attention to what is happening; how am I responding to what I am experiencing with others; how is my experience now being affected by the sweep of time? We are not advocating the rejection of frameworks and methodologies; they are a vital means by which we understand our world. However, here we describe a way of thinking with others that enables attention to be paid to the disturbing details of what is happening as we do organisational work. Therefore, we are not trying to build another technique (for, say, ‘managing change’) but a way of remaining attentive to experience as we engage with methods, frameworks and templates and each other.