After Action Reviews (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
So always start your After Action Reviews by getting facts with questions 1 and 2 before getting opinions with questions 3 and 4. • “What went well, and what went badly?” This may seem like a great question for a debrief. After all, it cuts
After Action Reviews have proven so wildly effective that every branch of the military now uses them. And for some units like flight crews and Special Operations Forc- es, AARs are almost a religion. They’ve been called, “one of the most successful organizational learning methods yet devised.” The process of leading a basic AAR is simple. Soon af- ter your team completes a project, gather them in a private space for about 30 minutes, and ask these four questions: 1. What did we set out to do? 2. What did we actually do? 3. How did it turn out the way it did? 4. What will we do differently next time? Why Use These Questions? • Have you ever had a discussion degenerate into a fact- free “war of opinions?” That’s the fate you’ll suffer if you start a debrief by asking for opinions. True, questions 3 and 4 are subjective and do indeed ask for opinions. But notice that questions 1 and 2 are much more fact- based. It may seem silly to ask, “What did we intend to do in this job?” But different people have different goals for the same job. The accountant on your team may have intended to maximize revenue. The safety specialist on your team may have intended to reduce the risk of injuries. The team leader may have wanted to finish the job ahead of schedule and under budget.
straight to the point, right? Here’s the problem. This question nudges us to discuss blame, not improve- ments. And blame stops learning in its tracks. Look at the four After Action Review questions. There’s no hint of fault, failure or blame in any of them. That’s intention- al. After Action Reviews focus on learning, not blame. Make sure you keep that focus in every AAR you lead.
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January 30, 2023
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