Hello Life Mission Leaders:
After a project or an event, it's rare that anyone, either individually or as a team, sits down to reflect on what has unfolded.
Ironically, the learning from an event comes primarily from the debrief rather than from the event itself. That's worth repeating because it is so profound and so often overlooked: the learning from an event comes primarily from the debrief rather than from the event itself.
Doing this type of debrief process regularly on both small and large events allows your team to learn this is part of your leadership style and part of the process of team development. Too often the only time an event is done occurs as a reaction to something that really went wrong. It's a delicate art to conduct a retrospective that's powerful and useful and not a destructive critique.
An effective After Action Review (AAR) is focused primarily on learning and building community. It is founded on two related principles:
~ This is not to judge success or failure (and hence apportion blame) but rather the focus is on what can be learned for moving forward.
~ There's a belief that regardless of what's discovered, the participants understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.
With that in place, there are five simple and profound questions to ask.
1. What did we intend?
2. What happened?
3. What can we learn about it?
4. What should we do differently next time?
5. What should we do now?
Look back on a recently completed project or event from your leadership area. Thinking about what happened, write down your answers to these five questions. If you're feeling bolder, invite the others involved in the process and have the conversation with them as well.
Thanks for reading and thanks to the India Missions Team that recently allow me the privilege of going through a great debrief process together! Ron C.
This blog included excerpts from an article by Michael Bungay Stanier
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1 comment:
On this past Sunday my husband and I were privledged to host the first annual golf outing for the local Compassionate Friends Chapter (parents who have lost children. #1 we inteded to raise money to help them continue sending their news letter to over 400 families who belong to an organization that NO ONE wants to join. #2 We were succesful not only from a monetary standpoint, but were privildged to connect with a couple of families in need who were working the event. #3 I learned that if I continue to be obedient to the Lord's leading I
can be a blessing in any situation.#4 I don't think we would do anything differently.#5 I will continue to really listen to what people are saying....not just hear their words. God Bless, Pam from South Bend
Thanks for the suggestion Ron, I intend to copy your list and share it with my friends who are "event planners"
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