Beyond Crazy…
In this guest post Mark Miller explains how to stop banging your head against the wall and get the most out of failure.
I’m crazy – yes, I admit it – and my family, friends, and colleagues can all confirm it.
Like many leaders, I don’t live in the real world. We’re always pursuing and attempting to rally others to a future that does not yet exist. Our success is contingent on our ability to see what others do not see. I think that’s a really good kind of crazy! However, there is another form of crazy I want no part of:
Repeating the same activities and expecting different outcomes.
From my perspective, this is beyond crazy – it is certifiable insanity! The best leaders work diligently to avoid this situation.
Here’s one technique that may help you avoid this type of crazy: After-Action Reviews (AAR).
AAR
An AAR is a structured process in which participants evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and why. Football teams call it reviewing game footage, others a post-mortem, and some a project de-brief. It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you do it. There’s much you can learn from these sessions if they are approached with sobriety, candor, and integrity. The entire group must be willing to face the truth.
After you’ve done your best to sort out facts from fiction, reasons from excuses, and ideas for improvement, you can create a plan to ensure your next attempt — whether it be a project, a performance, a presentation, or a sales pitch — will be better than the last.
Learn from the past – don’t live there.
You will not drift to success; discipline will be required. After-action reviews, executed consistently, can accelerate your journey.
Stay crazy!
What tips do you have for leading AAR’s?
What questions do you suggest for AAR’s?
As someone once said, If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. I agree, you can’t drift to success. Which leads to the next obvious question, how does one define success? What does mean in your particular setting?
I am an educator and usually call our AAR’s a debrief. One tip I have is to always go back to the “why” we did this action and reiterate the criteria for success. A lot of times in our classrooms we talk about what we “feel” went well and how the students “enjoyed” a lesson. We have to focus on the results and evidence of student growth, so the evidence we look at needs to support what it is best for kids.
We do post-project reviews for things done well and things to improve on. The struggle is remembering those things we need to improve on when we go to the next project that is similar in nature. Keeping these front and center will stress the importance.
I have added – what should I stop doing to the other two questions. Has been working well.
Blaming staff is not the objective
I am an educator as well and it always goes back to “mission” for me. And our mission delivery is tied directly to the student experience — that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing — so all questions point back to this, “Was the student experience positively impacted?”
Learn from the past – don’t live there. Timely advice for me this week. Thank you.
I love the quote “Learn from the Past”…don’t live there.
I have used this in our Team Leader Meeting when we are talking about preventing mistakes.
Your books continue to guide a direction of servancy, strength in leaders and common sense deliveries. Can’t wait to read it!
“You will not drift to success; discipline will be required.” So true… book looks great!
This is a great idea! I am going to begin implementing AARs immediately. Simple yet easy way to learn from what worked and what didn’t.
I like the idea of the stop and continue meetings. This seems particularly helpful to me when you’re looking to integrate new ways into routine business processes. Encourages the idea of thinking ok so we done that, but how can it be better rather than simply checking a series of measures that help you check whether key objectives / aims have been met (and then forgotten about)
Ive seen people do ‘stop and continue’ meeting after major projects. The manager/project manager comes to a meeting with an empty canvas with two columns: Stop and Continue.They bring out folks from different areas of the project and ask them to contribute items to these two categories. It brings-out amazing results helpful for the next big gig.
It is not always 1 or 0 which makes it more interesting and forces a third category as ‘continue but needs minor fixes’ …always fun!
Thank you for the great post. I would add that with less than 5% of the Fortune 500 CEO’s being female, and less that 20% of the top executives being female, we need leadership to actively address this issue. Those numbers are even worse when we are talking about women from a diversity prospective. Though there are great male leaders that have advocated for women in business, we have a long way to go. As you say, we can’t keep repeating the same activities and expect different results.
During our project debriefs, we ask three simple questions:
1. What was Good (what went well, what should we repeat in the future, identify successes)
2, What could have been Better (what went wrong, what needs improvement, what didn’t work and how can we avoid the same mistakes in the future)
3. How will we make it better (be as specific as possible)
Sounds like a great resource and encouragement to keep pressing towards the mark!
AAR-interesting and something that folks from PTA to committees to PLC to administrators – many do in an effort to consistently improve via problem solving.
Great quote “learn from the past-don’t live there”
I learned about AARs during my years as a military wife. The military consistently engages in this process in mock simulations – how much more should we civilians in our rewal world dealings?! ‘Good and getting better’ is a primary philosophy of mine, and this action ensures just that!
Thanks, Dan!
Doing de-briefs but do feel like I’m “drifting.” I’ve got to assess why the action may not be delivering what it should.
How do you muster the energy to paint the picture that others have difficulty seeing? I am enthusiastic but sometimes they just drain me.
Love all the comments here! Especially the idea of “good and getting better,” as well as I relate to the energy it takes as a leader to pull along those who have difficulty seeing the picture or who are apathetic themselves. I strive to give lots of positive feedback so that people feel solid going into de-briefs and can hear more constructive critiques.
Would love to read the book!! This post is awesome. I am a female executive and we have to set the example and lift others up.
I learned the process as a standard “maintenance” activity called “oil change”… What worked, what didn’t work, what can we do to make what didn’t work, work next time. That keeps everything action oriented and non-judgmental.
This is an action step that we no we need yet omit. We celebrate the win or bury the dead, but often forget to evaluate the why’s and how’s. Great insight! I will bring this to my team for sure!
In today’s fast paced environment, many fail to look back, re-involve the team and decompress. Its a great reminder to verbalize what worked and what did not and change things moving forward! Excellent words!
What tips do you have for leading AAR’s?
Know, understand, the attributes of success, and the consequences of failure, which in a team concept should already exist. If you are on your own, you have to develop protocols that will identify what matters most, profit, ROI, timely completions, customer acceptance, delays and their causes, poor planning. improper list of task, not fully understanding the scope of work.
What questions do you suggest for AAR’s?
Address mistakes with a priority level from large to small if they exist on that event.
Educate the individuals so they understand their errors and what it costs the team, company or client.
Clarify the intentions are to create a “win-win” solution for all parties involved.
Identify if a pattern is developing either good or bad. Acknowledge what worked and delete what did not, or modify to a satisfactory condition.
The post-issue review is so critical and yet it’s not always easy to get all the players to show up. If upper management doesn’t back the process, it will fall short. Even if a small group of interested leaders moves forward, they still may not be able to make critical adjustments to avoid poor results in the future without that highest level backing. The statement that one must come to such a session with: “….sobriety, candor, and integrity. The entire group must be willing to face the truth.”, says it all. If people start out defensive, the process is doomed. However, if all can be truth-seekers and put the interests of the larger group first….Excelsior!
So True. “Learn from the past, don’t live there” Use of the AAR will provide an opportunity to learn what needs adjusted in the operation to make your vision a reality.
Anytime we have done something along the lines of an AAR, it has been extremely helpful. I think we are crazy for not making it SOP. I’m going to press for that internally. Thanks so much for the reminder, and the extremely timely direction!
it isn’t enough to learn the lessons from the AAR, they have to be applied!
Great thoughts in this post! My organization has been trying to ingrain a culture of constant self-evaluation, and this goes right along with that.
It takes discipline to “stay crazy”! But it’s worth it to get the most our of my failures.
Okay, I’m seriously going to add “reviewing game footage” to my leadership lexicon. It adds a sense of fun to what might be considered a little tedious of a process otherwise. Love it.
I’m totally addicted to starting my day with these Leadership Freak posts! Love the easy to digest format and extremely helpful tips! Keep up the good work!
Thank you – I will start implementing this and am sure it will be helpful.
This is a great post in that it reminds us that so much time is spent outside of the here and now; either in chasing our apirational future or living/reliving our pasts. We must live and lead intentionally within each day.
The idea that we won’t drift into success is key. Discipline is required. But it is difficult to build a leadership culture when the current culture is adrift. Going against the current is what requires the discipline. But as Billie stated, it is draining when others don’t see the big picture.
Great topic. It Should be used in all aspect of life. Those who dwell in the past, get stuck in the past never move forward. I believe reviewing and then letting what didn’t work go. Do not keep going over the same thing that didn’t work. Dwell on what we will do next. If it’s a project plan the steps forward. If you are hurt/embarrassed forgive those who hurt you or yourself. If you can’t forgive and move on the only person it will keep hurting is yourself. Everyone makes mistakes, it’s those who learn from mistakes/failures that keep growing and succeed in life.
Leading requires reflecting, listening and improving–and discipline is necessary…
The book sounds awesome.
The best teams and players are constantly reviewing tape. The best players are constantly reflecting on what could have gone better. Why should it be different for organizations. The AAR strategy sounds like a gold mine.
I heard someone say – It’s Ok to look at the past, but it is not polite to stare. Good message today. Thanks.
Great article, Dan! After all of my projects, I gather the team together for a “lessons learned” session. This is pretty structured in that we walk through the project from beginning to end and document success and failures and the work-arounds. This brings closure to the project itself and strength to the team for the next project – what actions to repeat and what to avoid.
Great advice/guidance
“You will not drift to success; discipline will be required.” Love this reminder!
So many times in the world of work, we think if we ignore initiatives long enough then they will go away. Employees tend to drift in hopes of ignoring the thought that change is inevitable. The drifters end up getting left behind. Such a simple statement, but powerful in its impact!
Looks like a very useful book
Thank you for this post, and thanks for the opportunity to win valuable resources!
I’ve always believed that to embrace change, “crazy” has to be involved because change is somewhat counter intuitive to our nature these days. We can change or be changed by the change. Leadership is hard work and takes discipline, we don’t change on our own. We have to take that first step. We can’t simply throw jello up on the wall and hope it sticks. The daily habits of challenging ourselves beyond the status quo is necessary to grow and be a real leader. And that is somewhat of a “crazy” world in today’s environment.
In the Agile methodology of software development, an Agile Retrospective is a meeting that’s held at the end of an iteration (development cycle), usually every two weeks. During the retrospective, the team reflects on what happened in the iteration and identifies actions for improvement going forward.
Often quoted … Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it.
We always ask .. did we achieve business objectives? And, if not, why not? Activity for activity’s sake is not progress.
Great reminder! Sometimes, we are all so focused on the planning and implementing stages and fail to give enough time for after action reviews. Other questions I’ve seen being used were: things that the team learned during the process, actions they have specifically taken, barriers they’ve encountered and how did they overcome them, and benefits into the future. Thanks!
If we don’t take the time to truthfully and honestly evaluate the past, we can never hope to learn and improve.
I have discovered the more I use AAR strategy in my personal life and seek ways to overcome obstacles as they arise, it gets easier and easier to implement in the workplace. I define it as a self-evaluation in my personal arena and share it with others that cross my path seeking solutions for understanding battles in their own life. With sobriety, candor and integrity the discussion is more comfortable and less feelings of uneasiness, especially when it comes to holding others accountable and responsible. I strongly feel this strategy also holds EVERYONE, including the leader, accountable with shared responsibility. I will definitely use the quote, “Learn from the past–don’t stay there!” Powerful words of wisdom!!!
I would be thankful to have a copy of the new book! I have everyday struggles with leadership and need all the help I can get. Thank you
What an excellent point. You cannot drift to success. It takes drive, direction, motivation, and intention of cause.
I identify with the statement that “We’re always pursuing and attempting to rally others to a future that does not yet exist. Our success is contingent on our ability to see what others do not see.”
The AAR, or debrief, helps us to see what others DO see, that we may not; thereby providing corrective lens to our telescope into the future.
I would like to ask how opposing views in a debrief are resolved or provide input. Do you accept the majority or those with the strongest passion? Continuing with the lens analogy–what happens when the ‘right eye’ has a different corrective prescription and the left eye has a different one? Is consensus necessary in a debrief?
I am crazy to keep the dream of a startup in spite of a prolonged vow of poverty. But I am staying crazy. Good read and affirmation to fellow crazies.
I literally just finished reading Dan’s post of “The 10 Principles of Pain”. Excellent! I would like an opportunity to win a copy of Mark Miller’s Mark Miller’s new book, “Leaders Made Here: Building a Leadership Culture.”
Great post, excellent topic and the book looks like it will be well received. I agree with many of the comments on here, e.g. this AAR approach applied to both personal and work situations, you should ensure that all key people attend, only possible with senior management support and once people are in the room / telephone conference call, it does need an assertive chair-person. The use of tasks that are grouped into Stop (tasks that we should cease because they do not add to the goals of the person/company), Continue (tasks that are being done and should continue as they are of value to the goals) and Start (tasks that we are currently not performing and that will add to the goals). The AAR can easily become places where one group start to blame another for perceived lack of performance. To avoid too many conversations, ensure that a document is sent out to all to gain their comments before the meeting.
Many organizations and management will be afraid of After-action reviews. These types of reviews could point out short comings which some prefer to leave swept under the rug. It takes a good leader to realize the value of an AAR!!
Another great post by the Crazy Leadership Freak!
Learn from the past – don’t live there. I wish more people lived life this way. It’s much easier to move forward when you aren’t looking to fix the past. Focus on the future.
An “after action review” is only one step in an ongoing process of clearly articulating performance or behavioral expectations that include metrics, performance review and evaluation, gap analysis, diagnostics, and improvement planning. It’s all part of the iterative cyclical process that is sometimes referred to a continuous quality improvement.
One thing to be aware of is the nature of some performance issues is related to unrecognized complexity in the system of system in which various performances are imbedded. There are times when the CQI process needs to be augmented with broader conversations with stakeholders in other linked or connected operations or functions.
This is an area of investigation that warrants constant conversation to drive planning.
Always enjoy your posts.
Wonderful post. Agree, you cannot drift to success. It takes hard work and determination.
AAR’s are helpful for fine tuning your journey. Your goal doesn’t change, you just get there sooner using AAR’s.
I’ve always done a keep doing, stop doing, change post mortem on projects. We just called it a lessons learned debrief session. Now I can call it a fancy name!
This fits nicely with the blameless approach of understanding everything as a lesson for the next great thing.
AAR question: Did we put the right people in place, platform them in an empowering way, or not? If not, what would have worked better and why?
This evaluation step is so important. The comments are great, especially the simplified versions. Not every project needs an in-depth process and even a quick review with the right stakeholders is valuable.
Want to win 🙂
I am going to apply the living in the past thought today.
“Stay Crazy”…I appreciate the reminder.
Swimming against the current has admittedly beaten me down over time. I needed the reminder to ‘stay crazy’ and repel the complacency that sets in as the alternative.
Enjoying the posts!
There’s much you can learn from these sessions if they are approached with sobriety, candor, and integrity. The entire group must be willing to face the truth.
After you’ve done your best to sort out facts from fiction, reasons from excuses, and ideas for improvement, you can create a plan…
I like these sessions and when a team trusts each other they work wonderful in planning ahead for the next best thing. More so, I think these sessions are necessary in the midst of the process, be it a project, a meeting, etc. because “Our success IS contingent on our ability to see what others do not see.” Oh, how I miss being a part of a team that trusts one another.
Yes! This is great advice. In my experience, AARs lead to not only a greater understanding of what worked or didn’t work in a situation, but also a greater understanding of all the players…which helps facilitate moving forward. Thank you.
Great article. I found myself forgetting at times the importance of after action reviews. I get so caught up in the development and implementation of a plan that once it is completed, I have already moved on to the next item! I will begin to use AAR’s as an ongoing action item on future meeting agenda’s
Mark says: “The entire group must be willing to face the truth”. A suggestion in this regard is to post two phrases in your meeting room:
Leave your ego at the door.
Leave it in the room.
The definition of insanity – Repeating the same activities and expecting different outcomes. Have always found AAR to be incredibly beneficial and am always surprised when people don’t do them.
Thanks for the opportunity to win the book. Always happy to try out a new author on leadership!
Agreed. AAR’s are learning opportunities for everyone.
We are new to Agile and following Scrum practices. We follow each sprint (which is every 3 weeks) with a retrospective in which we discuss what we should continue doing, stop doing, and start doing. This is great way to keep us all engaged and on the same path. We’re not afraid to say something isn’t working and try a new method.
I enjoy your posts! I intend to give more thought to how we use AAR.
AAR’s are also great tools to evaluate teams members.
“Don’t repeat the same activity and expect different outcomes” is my guiding mantra in so much of what I do. I’ve never understood those who continuously do just that and are disappointed when things don’t turn out the way they want or expect them to. In my workplace, AARs are extremely important to our success. Thanks for the reinforcement!
Hits the nail RIGHT ON THE HEAD. I will be sending this post to all my team members. Even the ones that cannot leave the past in the past. Implementing this has been more of a challenge than I thought it would be because of the “hold overs” from “we always have done it this way”. Breaking that is a big challenge in my group. Lots of GREAT ideas in posts to go along with this and I will be using many of the ideas for my next team gathering.
Great way of framing the practice of what my business partner &a I call our ‘hot wash up’! We think it help us in our 6Ps:’Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance’!!
Loving the journey and appreciating the help along the road!!
‘Readers are leaders.’
Great call to action Dan! We call our AAR’s “Lessons Learned” meeings. I’ve found them to be most beneficial when they are held as timely as possible following whatever the event or project might be. I recommend setting an expectation that everyone takes some time to reflect prior to the meeting, in order to prepare their mindset and feedback towards improvement and growth, not blame-throwing. Thanks!
“So What, Now What” One of my favorite sayings. “So what happened, now what can I learn from it?”
Love the quote learn from the past….don’t live there! AARs are a great way to learn and improve, and too many times are skipped over or rushed. Such insight can be learned if you take time to then brainstorm on what didn’t go well or what we could improve so we learn from the past and not live in it!
Love the “You will not drift your way to success” quote. Agree with this fully!
Those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Positive optimistic leadership. I’m interested in learning more from Mark Miller! 🙂
Great post. We use AARs in the fire service after every structure fire fire or major event. AARs can be very effective in preventing future mistakes as well as pointing out positive actions when conducted correctly.
I look forward to reading the Leadership Freak and also the comments are often valuable, as well. We find it important and incorporate in our culture a debrief always, not just when things “go wrong”, even if very successful, there may be adjustments to further improve, things we want to ensure we keep doing going forward; nothing is every 100% perfect. Reward, encourage, but strive for the improved journey!
What a novel idea: you always evaluate what you learnt from results. Bravo!
Our leadership group has been using a feedback model that consists of 3 questions (similar to a post above):
What went well?
What was tricky?
What would we do differently?
The key, however, isn’t the questions themselves, but finding the time to get the team together to spend the time to thoughtfully consider them. With the pace of our programs, we tend to “move on to the next” – even while we realize that we also need to do this.
We’re trying to improve that by making this feedback loop a part of the schedule instead of an afterthought.
This post included – I have learned so much from this blog. Constantly making my staff remember that we are always in the mode of continuous improvement for ourselves and our veterinary practice.
I would like to know how we can tell the difference between good crazy and just plain crazy. I often times find myself eaten up with frustration resulting from failed attempts to change things and from people being frustrated with me because I see things differently. I go back to the “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”…Am I the problem here?
I am very passionate and full of great ideas, but most people around me are content sitting still. My thinking is: “If we aren’t improving and trying our best, what the heck are we doing?!?”
My point is, I keep catching flack when I want to try to do things differently…maybe this is where “resilience” comes in… but how do I know I’m just a problem?
There are lessons to be learned in most situations, whether the outcome was as desired or not. This is a good reminder to take the time to actually discuss those things to determine what to repeat and what to change.
The AAR approach sounds like an ideal way to evaluate a school SIP plan or partnership action plan. Consistently creating a culture of reflection in education leads to advancements as well as student academic improvement.
I really look forward to reading the “Leadership Freak” mail every morning when I come in to work. The tips are often so simple that one wonders why one did not think of them by oneself.
My tips for AARs are:
Hold them as soon as possible after the event
Find a facilitator who makes the experience come alive – DON’T do it using a printed set of questions that are the same every time
Ensure feelings are given as much time and importance as doings
Guarantee emotional safety (and mean it)
Role model what you expect your people to do
The AAR is a natural follow up of the 2-stage model for brain storming.
“You will not drift to success; discipline will be required” a true leader’s mindset! Thank you for the affirmation that success doesn’t just happen.
I agree that living in the past and doing the same thing and expecting different results is insane! However I also know how hard it is to look into the future and try to get the buy in needed so you aren’t getting the same old results. I’m hopeful that Mark Miller will provide strategies for new and seasoned readers in hi book. I look forward to reading it
“You will not drift to success; discipline will be required” – from a student and future leader thank you for reminder.
Love the topic and words you shared today. After Action Reviews are critical to creating the building blocks of greater success, effectiveness, efficiency, even with Home Run initiatives… it is important to evaluate all aspects of an effort to learn what should be repeated, what can be tuned, and what should be scrapped that may not have added value but took energy “Spent Calories” as we like to refer to it possibly unnecessarily. I love your statement that AAR’s must be “approached with sobriety, candor, and integrity” I might add “Humility” to that statement as a key component of learning and improving. I work with highly specialized IT professionals and I analogize it to working with fighter pilots… there is a certain level of geek bravado, pride, sometimes arrogance that comes with many of these personalities. They are in high demand, well compensated, and often feel they can make a move at any time. It can be difficult to direct introspection and self criticism with these personality types, but if managed in an environment of “What did the team learn? What did the team experience? What could the team have done differently?” it can often diffuse the singularity and the personal focus out of the conversation at least and begin to develop the individual ability to internalize and consider the topics and concepts being discussed without triggering the ego driven defensive mechanisms that often stand in the way. I am brand new to the blog… this is literally my first day and already incredibly excited and appreciative to be part of the conversation. Thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to more and more idea sharing and learning from the team!
Post mortars are a staple of successful projects and team learning. Sharing with future project leaders and avoiding repeated mistakes makes for a strong organization. I have been using this approach for many years.
There was a short but powerful sentence here regarding the AARs (Glad it isn’t called the After-Action Review Process – AARP) that said, “The entire group must be willing to face the truth.” This reminds me that an atmosphere of trust among the group must be established, so that group members who may have difficulty in seeing problems or issues in areas they oversee will trust that the group members pointing them out aren’t attacking them and are for them and the team and just want to see a greater impact and result.
So critical that the team reflects even when the project or “action” goes smoothly. I appreciate the structure of your consistent AAR. We tell our team, “celebrate success without getting caught up in it and learn from your mistakes without dwelling on them.”
I learned to focus on the ISSUES and not people. It is too easy to start the blame and shame game by focusing on WHO rather than WHAT. I spend about a third of the time on WHAT happened and two-thirds on HOW we are going to do it different going forward. That seems to work for my crew.
This is good advice. So many people can’t move forward because they are stuck in the past and can’t let it go. Change is hard but a must in moving forward.
Thrilled to say that my team does this consistently. With business process and with customer interactions! Developing a culture of inclusion where every thought counts is an art with a resulting masterpiece that makes for one well functioning machine, for corporate and for our customer.
This post reminds me of a quote by Albert Einstein – “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Reflecting on what went well and what could have gone better is something we should do daily. As and educator it’s a reflection of ME or the TEAM actions to improve going forward, but should not a time to cast blame. Tying results and revision to purpose makes changes more realistic and doable. I have always embraced the idea of learning from and honoring the past, but not living there. That’s why the windshield is a lot bigger than the rear view mirror!
Tips for successful AARs:
1. Make them safe – if people are afraid, they will not speak up, safety first
2. Make them visual – Use a cause mapping approach to identify what went well and what could be improved (see ThinkReliability on the web).
Looks like a great book to make sure we revisit things and look ahead to making them better!
Have been using AAR’s since I was in the military…always started with what the team saw and did, sometimes it’s different then what YOU saw…great tool that should be utilized after every project.
I like the idea of AAR’s on both successful and unsuccessful sales calls. Great way to test ideas and methods,
In the public safety field, we often do a “hot wash” immediately after an incident where we can highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly. Depending on the incident, it may stop there or the notes from the hot wash will be compiled and expounded upon in the form of an AAR. Those AARs are helpful in pre-planning future event and training for the events that you can’t plan for. To be useful, it definitely needs to be an honest look back and everyone needs to put on their thickest skin, because holding back could mean someone gets hurt (more than just feelings) the next time.
We do AARs for our major campus wide program. I see it as an opportunity to learn even from the smallest failures. However the idea of complacency has a strong hold with our campus partners we’re we should just be happy everything went well. I agree we should celebrate, but we also need to find places for improvement. How can we balance a need for positivity and critical critic?
Great article! Form my time in the Army I’m reminded that the AAR is useless if the people involved don’t take responsibility for the lessons learned and hold themselves accountable to it.
and After Action Review is really something you should be doing every single day with most situations. Everything and every experience in life teaches you something whether you realize it right away or not. Taking time to reflect back in situations will help you grow and learn so much about yourself. I always say You can find the positive in every situation. Even negative situations can be positive. No one is perfect and mistakes are expected. Pay attention to the things you learned, even if what you learned is something you dont like. You still figured something out about yourself.
I agree with both points on not drifting to success and implementing After Action Reviews for continuous improvement, and my struggle has been engaging change-adverse team members in this type of review. I hear either silence or, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” What suggestions do you have on engaging folks in this type of review?
Relevant post! My wife and I do a fair amount of marriage coaching and the phrase we repeat often is this: The two of you will not drift into a great marriage. Humility, a soft heart, intentionality and teamwork are a must. Create a plan, work the plan. Celebrate! Repeat.
Hey Dave,
Thanks for this perspective. I always love reminders about creating a great marriage with my wife. We have only been married just over two years, but I never want to become complacent and like you said, to always be intentional, handling all things in truth and love.
We started using AARs in our organization about 3 years ago ad theyvar very effective when the recommendations are implemented and there is follow through.
One comment above said that the team leader makes a list with a STOP column and a CONTINUE column. also “Learn from the Past…don’t live there” is GREAT advice!
Hey Dan,
It is great to see all these comments. I enjoy reading some of them just as much as the blog. In the military we always do AAR’s. When we have a mission we have the leaders come together and go over the entire plan to get a good idea of how everything should work and what we should do if it doesn’t work. We then bring in the rest of the team members and explain the them what we have planned and we do a back brief so we know they have retain some of the most important parts of the mission. After that there is a lot more prep work and rehearsals and mission execution. After that we all know comes the AAR. I thoroughly enjoy this because nothing is ever going to run perfectly and it is the ways we adapt to situations that makes us that much better. Learning from AAR’s only works is future behaviors are changed.
Your posts are always good , hope the book gives some new perspectives on Leadership
As a leader of an organization, it is always tricky to know when to continue down the road you are leading the group down and when it is time to forge a brand new road.
There is nothing more frustrating than bringing up an issue and having a leader tell you, “I know…” and not try to come up with a different course of action. Acceptance of status quo or employees that are not producing results without per suing every option imaginable is mind blowing to me, yet I face it everyday.
Always great to have practical advice that can be readily implemented. My favorite line was “separate fact from fiction.” It is important to separate the internal story we tell ourselves from reality and then deal with the reality.
As an Instructional Specialist and Teacher Mentor I regularly debrief with teachers individually about their instructional practice. I would love to see this type of debrief happen more frequently and authentically within our teams and whole school. These are vital to an organizations growth but are only successful if a community of trust has been formed. Any tips for a mid-level leader to influence administration that doesn’t want feedback?
It’s a great idea to debrief after a meeting or project, but its also important to use what you’ve learned for future projects. Sometimes after debriefing, the team comes up with several good lessons learned but then those ideas get forgotten when planning for new projects.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. I am a big fan of the AAR, and I wish my team would embrace the concept more wholeheartedly. Frank and candid discussions about what did and did not work is the most effective way to drive process improvement. Otherwise, you are either doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again, or just making random changes, which is akin to throwing a plate of spaghetti at the wall and hoping something (anything!) sticks.
Two challenges to overcome for success with the AARs
1. Ensure there is a commitment to non-retribution for failures highlighted and in fact effective AARs should be part of the overall evaluation of a program/activity’s success.
2. Establishing an effective management operating system for sharing AAR Lessons Learned across large organizations i.e. immediate appropriate cross-functional flow down where near-term risks to be averted per the learning, long-term lessons learned repository with standards for content to enable effective search results / continuous use, development of interval training plan to highlight the best of AAR learning annually or other interval.
I’m a huge fan of debriefing after a major project or trade show or what have you. I worked at one company where no one wanted to debrief or talk about how to improve or what went right, what went wrong. It was considered a waste of time!
This sounds a lot like the definition of insanity if you ask me… What’s crazy is how many of us know this but continue to act “crazy”!
I like the “learn from the past – don’t live there. You will not drift your way to success…” I really hope that I win one of your books.
As an Instructional Specialist and Teacher Mentor, I regularly debrief with teachers regarding their instructional practice. In order to achieve this in teams, or campus-wide, however you must have a community of trust. Any tips for how, as a mid-level leader, to influence an administration that does not want feedback?
Love the idea of the AAR – and it’s so important to not make about blaming anyone. Blame the process and not the person
I would love to have a copy of the book, BTW.
The Military Special Forces groups I think started AARs, and are used widely now over all branches. In the Fire Fighting world, the Forest Service and other agencies have been using AAR’s for a while now too, where I became familiar with it. Our model is similar to the military: What was Planned? What actually happened? Why? What can we do next time? It can take just a couple minutes, or could be longer, typically if things didn’t go quite right.
As a project manager, one of the requirements to close out a project is to do a lessons learned. Not only do you talk about what went well so you can repeat the success, but also what could have been done better. This is so history doesn’t repeat itself. That’s the definition of insanity – repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome.
Learn from the past….don’t live in it. GREAT tip. As a manager I often see my people getting stuck in how we used to do things or “the way things once were”. But they fail to see how far we’ve come and more importantly where we’re going. It takes strong vision casting to allow for our folks to see what is to come and be excited about the possibilities ahead. Thanks for the continued investment into folks like myself.
I love the idea of learning the lessons and then moving forward.
Dan and Mark, Good reminder on the AAR! Thanks! Something I have learned from these review: be careful how you ask questions, not just what you ask. For example, “what can you do better the next time we do this software release?” Is better than “Tell us what you should have done and did not”. I like to keep the discussion future focused even when collecting data from the past.
So many leaders have already posted! I’d better stop drifting!
In my many years in advertising, we employed the “Good Show- Bad Show” review following an event or an advertising campaign we had launched. It was a safe space to comment, whether positive or negative, because the goal was to learn and improve, not criticize or assign blame. Sometimes we included the client if appropriate, because some clients preferred to drift and not try something new. Our commentary and revisions were always based on strategic thinking, not on trying something different just to try something different. I look forward to reading this book!
I am a new (intermittent) leader in an unfamiliar geography with new staff. Our station is extremely short staffed (yet dedicated) which can lead to burn out or frustration when all tasks are not completed. Outside looking in, there has been a communication breakdown due to varied schedules, different priorities, etc. I have implemented weekly staff meetings where AAR takes place to ensure we evaluate what is working, what doesn’t work, lessons learned and tasks for the upcoming week. This is a critical step and also a great team building step which enforces communication and encourages learning from one another. Great post – love the quote – one needs direction and drive to reach success.
I am a literacy leader in my school and think this is a great strategy to help teachers reflect on lessons, units, and policy. Teaching young students develops a sense of maternal/paternal intimacy at this time of year that trying to reflect on our teaching practices feels personal. We begin to FEEL what is best for our students based on their personality and reactions to our teaching instead of looking at it from the perspective of the question, “Are they learning?” If we look at our teaching through a focused lens that addresses our students’ emotional needs and their academic needs and whether or not improvement was made, academic growth will happen. AAR can help with professional growth, reflection, and next steps.
If we’re doing the same thing today we did yesterday it’s probably because we are the same person today that we were yesterday. If we don’t grow we don’t go.
For planning and goal setting I recommend RICH goals to help us be more in addition to SMART goals to help us do more. Reading this post it occurs to me that the questions of the RICH goals could be adapted for use after the fact in an AAR. R – Did we do the Right thing? Did our actions reflect our values and respect their values? I – Were our actions Influential? What changed because of this? C – Was this Challenging for us? Do we have a better sense of who we are and who we are not? H – Was this Heart-thumping? Was this energizing? Are we left saying, “What a ride! What’s next? Bring it on!”
I am an educator who teaches doctoral candidates .Together we are learning about leadership, organizations and change. I completely agree that a AAR, we call these “de briefings ” are great opportunities to learn and grow as long as we maintain our focus of learning and growing and avoid excuses and blaming. Our focus should always be looking for ways to better serve our stakeholders. Reflection and self evaluation are huge here . I learned these three questions from Dr .William Glasser.
“What did we like about …?,What wasn’t as good as we would have liked about …?What did we learn about … and how would we do it differently next time?
We end every class with this reflection.
Love Mark Miller. Thanks for this!
I work with a lot of risk aversive leaders, and it begs the question, “how do you innovate and become a better leader, if you are always afraid to try and possibly learn from failure from time to time?”. Being afraid to try something new and unknown, leaves an organization apathetic, uninspired, and lacking direction.
Great advice! Thank you!
Evaluate/De-brief… It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you do it.
Learn from the past – don’t live there.
You will not drift to success; discipline will be required.
If we do not learn from our past, we can never be better in the future. Be better tomorrow than you were today. To reach a goal, we must do our part.
I completely agree with this suggestion. Very similar to the retrospectives used with Agile – What well went? What could be improved?
Thanks for this opportunity! Having just recently joined this blog, I am getting encouraged and inspired to continue in the field of leadership. Thank you!!
I love the phrase “Learn from the past – don’t live there. I truly believe we can learn from our mistakes but only if we take the time to learn!
Mark Miller does great work and I have enjoyed reading and learning from his previous books. Really looking forward to reading and learning from his most recent work “Leaders Made Here”!!
Would love a copy of this book as a valuable resource to help me continue my own leadership development! Thanks
Great reminder to not just acknowledge past mistakes but to learn and grow from them.
This was perfect timing. I am in higher education and we were just talking about return on investment for some of our projects. The concept of After Action Review will be implemented beginning today.
Debriefing (or After Action Review) provide a different perch to views project, program, or even a hire. While some may view it as ‘Monday morning quarterbacking’ I view it as an effective way to evaluate what went well, what could have improved, and any other lessons learned.
I was just promoted, so this book could really come in handy! Thanks so much!!
This book sounds Great.
I’m a quality improvement coach in Australia & these concepts are my training bread & butter. However personally, this book sounds like just what I need
Measure, review, refiect, adjust, go again
i agree, don’t let your mistakes, challenges, define you! Best advice to live by.
Interesting thoughts in what little I read for these resources.
AAR is a great new way to describe this practice. Thanks! I’ve used this sort of practice for many years when serving in school leadership. What has always been key is good note taking, so that the ideas and conclusions don’t result in simple head nodding and acknowledging of what went well and where we can improve, but rather we see action and change driven by the review. Many times in a school setting, the AAR will be used regarding an annual event, so some of the specifics gleaned won’t apply until planning for the event becomes again relevant, perhaps many months down the road. Not only do good notes need to be recorded, they need to be saved effectively and a process for remembering to access them when useful must be developed. This is part of the organizational practice of an effective leader, developing a system that will work consistently for you.
We called them post-mortems and asked these questions:
1) What worked well?
2) What could we do better?
3) What else did we learn?
4) What should we do different next time?
I like the idea of AAR. What I find to be a challenge is getting in the habit of scheduling time to do AAR right after the project is done.
There’s a tendency to jump from project to project without looking back.
Feedback is a gift and it takes a brave person to realize that and use it to become better. We can’t drift, we have to constantly improve. Can’t wait to read the book.
Another version of the statement which I have on my wall is: “Elder says: Paddle In Life, Don’t Just Drift. Take Charge Of Your Course” On the poster I have a photo of myself at age three and my niece, age four, sitting in a curled birch bark “canoe” with a makeshift paddle at our bush Alaska cabin. I learn a lot from this leadership mentorship blog and appreciate it.
I understand after big events or initiatives doing AARs but how often do you do AARs in the normal routine of business? Is there a place for that and if so what triggers an AAR?
I have been engaged in an intense leadership program for the past 5 months. This very concept has been one of the top premises discussed as we strive for great leadership, purposeful leadership and conscious awareness as leaders. The achievement of this AAR discipline, is just that; a discipline. I recently used this concept, under a different name, in a staff conversation on a failed operations procedure. I apply this principle in various situations by utilizing the mantra, “Did Good / Do Better”. I purposefully invite others in my professional and personal life who have observed any given situation or project to tell me the following: “What did I “Do Good” in that situation, conversation, procedure; etc. and what could I “Do Better” next time. This has been a very effective tool in my leadership and commitment to – forever – growth… Feel free to borrow, as I am sure I heard it from a great leader elsewhere.
Sounds fantastic!
Repeating the same activities and expecting different outcomes.
Learn from the past – don’t live there.
Such crucial points in both the workplace and on personal matters.
1. Write down what we did well and what we can improve.
2. Ask a small team, “What did we do well and what can we improve?”
3. Review the notes before the next activity and make the necessary changes.
Amazing I must say. I work with a Nigerian Bank and have monthly performance review meetings. I guess we should rename the reviews ‘management intimidation sessions.’ We are challenged to work but latent and obvious reasons why branches fail are not addressed. No one is asking
How can we support?
What can we do better?
Why did the processes and strategies of last month fail?
Have you guys on the street identified something that works or an alternative to current offerings?
Sad really. You always leave the sessions depressed and uninspired. It’s an executive bully meeting geared at forcing out performance via intimidation, threats and talking down at subordinates.
Development begins with an idea and is honed by clever use of response and tweaking.
What were the specific steps?
Outcome?
What could have been better?
What specific steps need to look different next time?
How will that be accomplished?
We utilize these after tactical calls in Police Calls. They are concise and provide immediate feedback for potentially fatal mistakes. We suspend rank and focus on behaviors, not individuals so once they are complete, there is closure for all involved.
The mistake, unlike our business counterparts is to focus on what went well before focusing on and correcting mistakes. These de-briefings are critical to team development and tactical competence.
Action is better than inaction, and action is a big improvement on re-action. Acting then reviewing and then choosing a new (even slightly varied) action seems to me a path towards almost any goal. Honest review is not easy though.
Thanks for the offer
So wish leadership teams in every setting (healthcare, academia, corporate, etc.) would provide tangible resources and transparency to the entire community they represent. The hierarchical structures that still dominate illustrate the very point that they don’t understand effective leadership action to enhance and motivate employees for optimal outcomes.
Great post, thank you. Here’s an additional thought for an AAR: Ask participants why what worked did work, why what didn’t work well didn’t work, and why there was a disconnect between what worked and what didn’t work, i.e., ultimately revealing why we benefit from changing what we’re doing going forward.
So enjoy these posts! Thank you!
I coach high school females and I use your blog to help me to instill in them the tools necessary to be strong young women. After EVERY practice and game, so 6 out of 7 days of the week, we debrief in some way about how what we did that day would either bring our team closer to our goals or farther from our goals and why. Sometimes we meet as a team, sometimes I separate the student-athletes in a strategic way to help them work together with others they wouldn’t normally work with. I let THEM discuss and discover a lot to inform our future plans. I try to be a facilitator and not just have them listen to me. I’m trying to develop strong female leaders, not strong female listeners. Thanks for all of your advice. It’s helping me to change the future… at least I like to think that I am 😉
Egos get left at the door. The focus must remain on improving, not assigning blame.
What went well what did not and how do we do better.
“Like many leaders, I don’t live in the real world. We’re always pursuing and attempting to rally others to a future that does not yet exist. Our success is contingent on our ability to see what others do not see.” When presented with an option to which your reply is “I’m/We’re not ready,” it is exactly the option you should choose. If you wait until you are ready, you have already missed the boat.
Leading in the church is a lot like leading in the military where AARs are a fact of life.Sometimes one misstep will result in defeat. There are “true believers”, zealots in both communities convinced they have THE right solution. There are visionaries who see what could be and there are visionaries fixed on the past who only see what was. There are folks in the middle who just want to understand and contribute where they can. This approach, like most of leadership, takes consistency, faith in the people in the room, and patience, both with the team and with yourself. Once this idea sticks, you will see the lights go on in the people who “get it”. Cultivate and grow those folks. For others, if the light doesn’t come on at some point, they need to be somewhere else where their gifts and talents fit the need and they can succeed.
Many workers naturally perform AARs, but they reflect on the negative to criticize others- structuring them to see the good and bad is a way to build cohesive teams.
First introduction to this content, very impressed. Tennis ball example was fantastic, basic enough that my high school students and athletes can relate and meaningful enough that it will stay with them and every time they play with their dog, the lesson is reinforced. AWESOME
AAR is a good term, but long. I like the term “Lessons Learned” for our sessions better than “post-mortem” since the latter seems much more negative. Unless, of course, your projects always die – then I suppose it’s appropriate. 🙂
Tip: Schedule After Action Reviews on people’s calendars at the onset of any project or action.
Be sure to include the driving questions the project and people will be accountable for (e.g., “What EXACTLY are we trying to accomplish here and how will we know we’ve succeeded?”).
In the AAR I like to focus on the: WWW- What Went Well and EBI- next time what can be Even Better If. This keeps the meeting on a positive tone and although there might be room for improvement it is not presented in a negative way and it also keeps the focus on future improvement. AAR’s are a great way to move forward and as you stated: Learn from the past – don’t live there!
We are in the middle of multiple staff changes in our Administration, with more anticipated, which is creating an environment of fresh eyes on old procedures. We are beginning to utilize AARs, informally, as we review current procedures with these fresh eyes and listen to new ideas. The insight and fresh viewpoints gleaned from this Leadership Freak blog has been, and continues to be,invaluable to me in my professional growth during the past two years. Thank you.
It’s sometimes tough to realize that you have to take charge of your project, career, or life. When you do, it’s also empowering.
Something in motion stays in motion. It’s harder to move something at rest than something in motion. I love the picture of the boat, you will not drift to success.
I find the use of AARs critical within our work as it is often cyclical in nature and you may travel once around the sun before repeating a event and the previous learnings are instrumental in improving the next action plan. My tip – complete the AAR as soon as possible after the action/event is over so the information is still fresh.
When I consider making a fundamental change that meets resistance or hesitation from my team I often have to step back and look to see if some are true “resistors” or just plain “soboteurs”….. there is a HUGE difference.
Dan, I’ve been reading your blog now for a couple of years. You have the best leadership guides out there and I commend you on continuing to educate the rest of us. I also value your book choices and try to pick up as many of them as possible to read. I can’t wait to pick this one up as well…
Performing AARs should be done after successful and unsuccessful projects or critical events (power outages, late deliveries, failure to meet a deadline, etc). Also documenting the results of an AAR is important.
“You will not drift to success; discipline will be required.” So true… book looks great!
Inspiring post- I too like your kind of crazy! We often do AARs with a small group, but should focus more on a larger scale collection.
“You will not drift to success; discipline will be required.” – I’ve enjoyed your guest posts on the blog – thank you for sharing!
I share these blogs with peers & colleagues- the messages always seem to be right on point.
We recently conducted an “AAR” after a major event hosted by a subgroup of the organisation I lead with a group of all leaders. Midway into the exercise it descended into a bitter exchange in which I had to step in to calm things down. Those who were the cause of this descent were highly critical and their criticism was neither constructive nor directed at the issues at hand but on the leaders of the subgroup claiming the higher ground. So my tip for an AAR would be; at this stage keep to a review of the process or project and not the people and have a positive approach appreciating the effort and contribution of others no matter how insignificant or insufficient it may look to you.
I find these postings insightful and nice brief reality checks. I am learning a lot about how I lead and opportunities for improvement. I was made aware of “Leadership Freak” by the director of my department.
I will have to remember AAR. It sounds so much better than post-mortem.
Sweet I love anything that may help hone my Leadership tool bag Thanks for the opportunity.
This is a wonderful read. It is something that you can help anyone with even someone that is not in a leadership role. A lot of people are lost out there and sometimes they just need to hear something good like this to lift their spirits.
One of key things I watch for with new organizations is how they approach (or ignore) the value of AAR type post-event reviews. If they say “Oh, we want to take this to the next level”, but then have no process or intention to review their most recent event/action, then my conclusion … no, you will simply repeat what you did last time, in the same exact manner. They they wonder they achieve the same or less results the next time out … mnn …