Have you ever wrapped up a major project and immediately moved on to the next big thing? It’s easy to jump from one task to the next without pausing to reflect. However, without a proper debrief, you’re missing out on lessons learned. It’s important to take time to think about what worked, what didn’t go so well and what you want to improve the next time.
Amber Johnson, a development consultant, coach and communications expert, recommends asking 5 questions to debrief after a big project or event. We share her thoughts in this issue of PromoPro Daily.
1. What was the best part of this experience? Whether you’re debriefing a one-night event or a one-year project, Dr. Johnson recommends asking each person to identify the most rewarding, most successful or most engaging part of the experience. When everyone reflects on their experience as a story, it helps put a period at the end of it all. The work is over and now it’s time to reflect.
2. What factors contributed to success? Next, ask your team to think about the best experiences altogether and identify the factors that contributed to success. Maybe the team felt comfortable taking small risks or perhaps sales reps communicated more thoughtfully across departments. Dr. Johnson advises being literal about the question by listing the factors that contributed to success and keeping that list on a whiteboard or shared digital note.
3. If we did this again in the future, what would you keep the same and what would change? Your team members might have some immediate responses to this question. They might know exactly what they would do differently, for example. Just don’t encourage any blaming or finger-pointing in the process. It’s easy enough to pinpoint what went wrong. The real challenge, she says, is figuring out how to avoid it in the future.
4. Based on our plans, what are the 3 most important areas for us to focus on to continue improving? It might be interesting to generate a list of dozens of things you could do. It’s truly transformative, Dr. Johnson says, to narrow that list to 2 or 3 of the most impactful ideas. Remember that when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. So, make tough choices and narrow down what will make the biggest impact next time.
5. Looking beyond this event, what have we learned that will help us in other projects? According to Dr. Johnson, one way to evaluate how your team is doing overall is to ask if you’re getting better over time. For that to happen, you must learn continuously, finding the transferable concepts from one project to the next.
You don’t necessarily need to block off hours of time or establish a formal process for your debriefs. Instead, carve out about an hour to chat with your team and uncover insights from the project. When you start making debriefs a regular part of your process, you’ll naturally build a rhythm of reflection.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Amber Johnson, PhD is a Chicago-based leadership development consultant, coach and communications expert.
