How to use After Action Reviews to increase team cohesion and performance
What do US Navy SEAL teams, Pixar and the San Antonio Spurs basketball team have in common?
After Action Reviews (AARs).
AARs are an absolute game changer when it comes to raising team performance and increasing team cohesion.
AARs are essential. Period. But why?
They give you a chance to hit pause, reflect on the good and the bad from the month or a certain project, and seek continuous improvement.
In his book, ‘The Culture Code’, Dan Coyle lists many examples for which this type of tool is used, most notably within the US Navy SEAL teams.
They are simple but incredibly powerful meetings to allow your team members to voice what's going well, and what's not. However, rather than just being a giant session on what's wrong with the business, they also critically hold a space for “what can we change”, which allows for remedies to the issues raised and should create a clear action plan for all of those issues.
Okay, so how do we go about the after action review?
1. Create a safe space for your team
For this to work, everybody needs to be involved. The whole team needs to agree, and understand that anything said is for the advancement of the team; this invites a robust, capability growing, discussion.
It's up to the whole team, not just the leader, to encourage participation and make sure everyone has their voice heard, not just the extroverts. However, as the leader you need to make a safe space for everyone, to ensure all voices are heard.
2. Gather information
AARs are made up of 3 main questions…
What's working?
What's not working?
What can we change or do better?
Set a time frame for each question, usually 10-15 minutes is more than enough. Then slowly start to answer the questions as a team. Giving yourself a tight time frame can sometimes get really interesting outcomes in a short space of time.
Go around the entire group and get their input on each of the questions, ensure everyone is heard and there has been equal participation.
3. Summary report
Once you have all the information, it’s time to start building your report.
Start by grouping the ‘what's not working’ into themes. People will invariably be experiencing similar issues creating themes for you to address as a team.
When your themes are identified, it’s time to open up the conversation about how to remedy the issues raised.. This should be directed by the team - so the whole team has input on the outcomes they see from the session.
At this point, you can now fill in the ‘what can we change or do better?’ section with the responses.
4. Create a plan of action
Finally, with your remedies identified, you can create a list of actions that you can implement.
Many teams forget this vital step. They outline the things they want to change, high five and go on their way… but not you.
You are going to create a plan of action and outline who is responsible for each item.
…now, repeat!
Sorry to tell you, but the job’s not done yet. To get the best results from AARs you need to be doing them consistently. At least monthly or after every project.
And make sure you implement the plan of action - otherwise the whole exercise is just wasted time.
There you go, that’s everything you need to know - now, go, get it done!