How to Collaboratively Reflect Back to Plan Forward: Stop, Reset, Start - Stoplight Thinking for Educators
- Dr. Nicole Forrest
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Table of Contents
Amid the whirlwind of end-of-year chaos—field trips, report cards, summer planning—there’s one thing all school leaders must make time for: reflection.
What worked this year?
What missed the mark?
What needs a slight tweak to shine next time?
These questions buzz around in my head all year long, but they get especially loud as June creeps closer. And I’ve found the best way to answer them? Ask your people.
At our final professional development afternoon, we carved out 40 minutes to complete a Stop, Reset, Start activity—a powerful tool to determine:
What we need to stop doing
What we might reset or recalibrate
What we should start doing
The insights that emerged? Eye-opening. Validating. Inspiring.
In this week’s post, I’ll explain why this activity should be a go-to in your end-of-year toolkit. Then, I’ll walk you through a simple five-step process to bring it to life—whether you’ve got 30 minutes or an hour, this can spark reflection, ignite collaboration, and move your school culture forward.
Why Bother with a Stop, Reset, Start Activity?
Voice. Collaboration. Empowerment. Reflection.
Need I say more?
When you give staff space to reflect and share their voices through a structured activity like this one, you invite authentic collaboration that leads to sustainable change. You build a culture where everyone feels heard—and when that happens, purpose (one of our core basic human needs) follows.
According to Detert and Burris (2007), when employees feel their input matters, they’re more likely to offer ideas and solutions that drive innovation. When that voice is ignored or dismissed? Well, we all know what that feels like. (Think Eeyore, not Tigger.)
Employee voice is closely tied to organizational trust and psychological safety, both essential for any team looking to grow (Edmondson, 2019).
Reflection, too, is key. When staff pause to consider what’s working and what’s not, they become more self-aware, more professionally engaged, and more invested in forward momentum.
Leithwood et al. (2020) emphasize that effective school leadership means creating systems for teacher voice and reflection. The Stop, Reset, Start activity is one of those systems—simple, impactful, and scalable.
And organizations like the OECD (2020) have found that staff inclusion in decision-making leads to better motivation, improved retention, and greater satisfaction—especially in high-stress environments like education.
Bottom line? If you want to cultivate a responsive, collaborative school culture that motivates people to stay, grow, and lead, this activity is a great place to start.
The 5-Step Process for Running a Stop, Reset, Start Activity
1. Have a Focus
When I first engaged in this activity as an assistant principal, we centered it around our district’s three focus areas:
Equitable Practices
Learning Environment
Innovative Teaching and Learning
That clarity helped guide the conversation and kept the feedback aligned with our goals.
This year, I used our school’s vision as the springboard. And yes—I used ChatGPT to help generate five focus areas based on that vision. Let’s hear it for tech making our lives a little easier! 🤖💙
Keep your focus tight and relevant. It gives purpose to the feedback and helps keep teams grounded in what matters most.
2. Create Teams
Next, decide how you want to group your staff. A few ideas:
Mixed teams to promote cross-grade collaboration
Grade-level teams or similar roles (i.e., specialists, support staff) for more focused insights
Whatever you choose, make sure everyone has space to contribute. Balance the airtime. Honor each voice.
3. Structure the Work
Once your teams are set, it’s time to dive in.
Use simple prompts for each category:
Stop: What should we stop doing in this focus area?
Reset: What needs rethinking or recalibration?
Start: What new practices should we try?
Then choose your format:
We’ve used Jamboard in the past (RIP Jamboard 🪦), but we’ve found that rotating between stations with good ol’ poster paper brings energy and focus to the room.
🕒 Waterfall timing is key! Start with 8 minutes at the first station, then reduce to 7 minutes at the next, and so on. As teams rotate, they read what others wrote, star what resonates, and add their own thoughts. This builds consensus and rich data.
Oh—and if anyone’s absent? Post the charts in a common space for a few days and invite staff to add their input. No voice left behind.
4. Curate the Responses
If you go analog, make sure someone transcribes the feedback into a shared doc. Canva is my personal go-to for curating and organizing responses visually and clearly.
This step is all about transparency. If your staff take the time to reflect and share, honor their effort by showing them that it mattered. Share the responses back out.
5. Plan Forward
Now comes the fun—and sometimes daunting—part: deciding what to act on.
Give time for clarification and discussion. Some responses might need more context, so build in space for that.
Start with the big ticket items—those that came up repeatedly and feel mission-critical. Then grab a few low-hanging fruit wins to keep momentum going.
Whatever you choose to move forward with, make sure the “why” is clear. Clarity builds buy-in. Buy-in builds trust. Trust builds culture.
One Last Thought
As you dive into this process, remember to QTIP: Quit Taking It Personally.
You’ll hear things that sting. That’s normal. But growth never happens in the comfort zone.
If we want real feedback, we have to open ourselves up to discomfort. That’s where change and growth begin.
References
Detert, J. R., & Burris, E. R. (2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 869–884. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.26279183
Edmondson, A. (2019). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Harvard Business Review Press.
Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2019.1596077
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2020). How’s life at work? Well-being and the workplace. https://www.oecd.org/statistics/how-s-life-at-work.htmecd.org/statistics/how-s-life-at-work.htm
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