What Possible Role Could Consciousness Play?

One theory is that consciousness allows us to reflect before we act. But i put it slightly differently and say it allow us to reflect after we act. We are keen to tell people why we did things and explain our behaviour, but on the other hand these reflections are extremely malleable. So in this case, they are giving justification for something that they haven't actually done. In a sense, as the justification is more important than the act.